Corey Smith Interview

Tim Baker – So when did you really first start playing the guitar?
Corey Smith – I mean I really started playing it seriously when I was fifteen, that’s when I really, I was like yeah I’m going to learn how to play this. But my dad always played guitar, my uncle played guitar, I was always around music so it was like even before I learned how to play, I would have a guitar in my hands and just mess around and my dad would show me little things here and there. I’ve been around a guitar since I was born and that’s why I think it comes more naturally to me.
TB – When do you remember playing your first “live show”?
CS – In high school – I wasn’t really known for anything you know and I talk about it in some of my songs, a nameless face in the crowd. I come from a small town in Georgia called Jefferson and it was always the athletes got all the recognition and I was making my way through school and I came into drama when I was in ninth grade I started doing like plays and stuff and really liked performing and that was the same time I was starting to learn to play the guitar and so I think my sophomore or junior year of high school we did these dinner theaters where we performed these plays that we practiced and then before hand there would be entertainment and so I had like one of the leading roles in the play and also they let me perform a song and up until that point like no one even knew who I was you know and it was like the day after that, so many people just coming up to me saying “that was awesome, we really enjoyed that” and that was just for me, it just turned things around for me. I knew at that point if I was going to make any kind of name for myself I was going to have to do it through music.
TB – I know Jefferson, where you grew up isn’t to far from Athens, Georgia, what were your favorite bars to hangout at?
CS – I had a bunch of them over the years. When I was in school we had a place called Lowry's Tavern which was like a pool hall night club and when I was fifteen I got a fake ID and it was kind of weird that all this started at the same time I started playing the guitar and started writing songs, stuff like that, about the age of fifteen or sixteen. When I was fifteen I got my first fake ID and would sneak up to Lowry’s on Thursday nights and there would be this nickel night, so we would literally save up our change all week and go up there on Thursday’s – and I got kicked out probably more times than I was allowed to stay. Then there was another place called O’Malley’s but Lowry’s was really our place.
TB – You graduated from UGA in 2001, did you major in music?
CS – No, I was a teacher, I was a teacher full time high school teacher and I loved it.
TB – And would you ever want to go back to that?
CS – Yeah, I think there will hopefully be a day when I can go back to it. I always told my kids that, because they always knew I played music, that the ideal teaching job would be one where you didn’t have to worry about money – and maybe when I go back I’ll be teaching music, or music business, or songwriting or something like that.
TB – Was it hard switching from the college life and going out every night to settling down and having a family?
CS – Yeah, I think that whole era, and I think in that first album a lot of that came out, there was a lot of settling – all this pressure that comes along with settling down, getting married, feeling like I’m married and I have a job now so I’m supposed to quit drinking, and I’m supposed to quit saying bad words or whatever. Its real tough and I went through this phase where I thought I needed to tuck in my shirt and wear sweater vests and ties and it just felt for this whole length of time, just so uneasy, and uncomfortable with life because I felt like, I wasn’t choosing anymore because I felt like I wasn’t choosing anymore and it was being forced on me. It was really tough for a while until the music started doing a lot better and I realized, wow I can still – that was another thing, when I settled down and got married, got the teaching job, music was pushed to the side, and it was basically a forgotten dream and I never thought I would do anything with it. I still wrote songs as my way of coping with everything but, it was kind of miserable in a lot of ways.
TB – You taught high school for about two years?
CS - I did it for about a year, a year and a half and then I eased back into music, started going out an playing more. I played music for my kids at school. I thought that because they were so young, I taught mostly tenth graders, so the generation gap between us was like 10 years so I figured they’re going think I’m this lame ass country musician, and they’re not going to listen to me, but I was real surprised when I started going to school and the kids would ask me to play my songs. I would play my songs and some of them would cry, some would laugh – when I saw that I could reach out to that generation and they would accept me, I was like wow.
TB – What do you think your main motivation for being a musician is?
CS – Now, it’s my family. In the past it hasn’t been, but I think in any field of life I think success depends largely on having your priorities straight. There are a lot of musicians out there who are probably going to keep dreaming and not have a lot of success because they want to do everything for themselves, they want to see their face on TV, and they want to see they’re name in life and get all this attention. To me it’s just not about that. When we had our first kid, and I really realized I was going to have to provide for a family, almost magically when that priority came into place, everything started happening, the way I looked at the world changed. Definitely, one-hundred percent I do it for my family, hoping that I can provide for them financially, hoping that they will be proud of me, hoping that one day the songs I write might leave a legacy and my kids can hear them – and it’s all about them now.
TB – What do you like best about being a musician?
CS – There’s a couple of things. A, obviously the live shows are awesome, to find out that my songs are getting spread out so far and to come to a place like Myrtle Beach, or Jacksonville, Alabama and hear people singing along to my songs, and people coming up to me and telling me how moved they have been – that’s awesome. It really makes me feel alive to be that connected to people and to the audience. Also, having the freedom to write songs now for a living is definitely nice.
TB – Do you let your songs come to you or do you just sit down see what comes out?
CS – It happens different ways, some of them just kind of happen, it’s like everything lines up and they are there and their done. Most of them don’t work that way though, most of them are a lot of work for me. I was one of those guys, who was never a great guitar player, or a great singer, or I wasn’t really good looking, and I didn’t have muscles, I had all these things that were kind of working against me. I didn’t tour with a big band, and I felt like the only way I’m going to do this, is I’m going to have to take my songwriting ability and make the most of it. I made up my mind, I’m going to write the nest songs I can possibly write and so I put a lot of time and thought into them. Most songs, I draw them from life. I’ll get a musical idea, I’ll hear a melody or have a chord progression and an arrangement and the music kind of set out and then I’ll just wait for life to take its course and usually some idea comes to or some words come to me and I just run with them, usually its my way of coping with things.
TB – I know “The Good Life” was released in November of 2005, when do you think your next album will be out?
CS – To tell you the truth, I’m really excited about the new songs I’ve been writing. I just feel like I’ve been able to develop so much as a writer since I’ve been able to do this full time, and I’m just really excited about them. I’ve already got an album’s worth of material, but now we are just deciding on when the best time to do it. Right now I’m touring so much I really don’t have time to go into the studio and do my best. I think we are kind of torn between doing a live album and have it come out in the fall, or rush a studio album. Realistically I think it will be another year before we can get another studio album done, but we will probably have a live album before then.
TB – So you definitely think you have grown with your music, as far as writing about different topics?
CS – I’ve learned how to be honest with myself. I’ve got a lot more courage now. I feel that my fans have been so accepting of my music so far that I just write what I feel, and some of it might be cheesy and some of it might expose my weaknesses as a person, but I think that’s the only reason the fans have really attached to what I’m doing. I’ll just keep doing that and hopefully I’ll keep doing that and hopefully I’ll keep getting better at it and be able to communicate more clearly to the fans.
TB – Have you incorporated any songs that will be on your next album into your current set?
CS – I think a few of them, you will probably hear a few of them tonight. The song maybe next year which is demoed already is on myspace, an acoustic version of it and that will definitely be on there. I’ve got another one called – actually there are several that I don’t even have names for. A lot of times I won’t put a title on the song until I put it on the album. I’ll probably do two or three off the new album tonight.
TB – Do you still have your friends doing your management?
CS – No, I really as my fanbase grew and the business grew over the past few years I had all friends that really helped me out in the beginning and it just grew to be so big we just couldn’t manage it anymore so I have a professional management agency. They are my friends, don’t get me wrong, I have a management company and a booking agency, and an attorney and an accountant – a team of people who I just have to trust with everything.
TB – So you don’t see yourself signing to a label anytime soon?
CS – Well I’m not going to count anything out but I think the relationship between me and the label would have to be right on. I think the problem, especially with people who are more country is that the country acts go to Nashville and sign a record label and they are just wanting to be famous and so the label calls the shots. Well here is what your going to need to do, your going to need to write songs or buy songs that sound like this –
TB – Kenney Chesney.
CS – Yeah, you end up with this really generic kind of sound that the labels manufacture because it’s a product that they know is going to sell. But most of those people who are in that position who sign those kind of deals, they don’t have any alternatives. They don’t have a fanbase, they’re not touring, they have a pretty voice and a pretty face and maybe some good songs and so they’re willing to what it takes, and if it takes signing their life away, then they will do it. But I feel like, now we are able to do this, and we won’t have a major label – it’s just a couple of guys who care about what is going on. If we get to a point that a label meets us, and they will allow us to do our own thing then that will be a great relationship.
TB – You sold out a show at “The Roxy” in Georgia, what was that like?
CS – That was awesome, those big theaters like The Roxy and The Georgia Theater, because they are so close to home I’ve known the bands, or seen the bands that come there and just to be in that caliber, is pretty rewarding. I think tonight is going to be that way. We aren’t going to sell out the House of Blues, don’t get me wrong, but I think there is going to be a really good crowd here. It’s always great to come to a well known venue like the House of Blues and do well.
TB – Would you rather play a small bar/coffee shop or play a show like the one tonight with a thousand plus people?
CS – I like playing both, I would say it’s like comparing apples and oranges which are so different. I think the amount of energy in a show like this which is a thousand or more people, it’s unparalleled you know? To hear that many people singing along –
TB – But its also cool to do a small show.
CS – It’s great also having a few people in a room who are listening to every word and not singing along and not getting wasted, they’re in there absorbing the music and those are great to. It’s weird, as we have developed, we started out in those kind of venues – coffee shops, small little bars where everyone is quiet and listening. You might only have twenty people in there but they are twenty people who are totally into it. And then we grew to this level where it’s mainly college clubs and everybody’s wasted and there’s cigarette smoke everywhere, and people are singing along but they are also getting wasted beyond belief, half of them can’t remember the show. Then you grow from there and get to a room like this and eventually you kind of get to the point where you can go back to the smaller shows, which is what I’m really looking forward to, which is going back to the shows where I can really connect with the people.
TB – Do you see yourself doing this for the rest of your life or going back to teaching sometime?
CS – I don’t know, I don’t know what the future is going to bring. I would like to think that I will always be playing and singing and writing songs. I’d also like to think that in a few years I’ll be able to chill out more and be at home with my family and raise my kids more. It’s hard to say man, I would have never thought that I would be where I am right now, a year ago, so the future is a really uncertain thing for me right now.
TB – Right now, you just play with Jason, but would you ever consider making your act a full band?
CS – We have talked about that some. Right now, I’ll say me and Jason have a great relationship and I can’t imagine finding a full band of people who click like me and Jason do. Man it’s hard to say it’s so cool though to be able to come to these rooms where it’s normally full bands and be able to do the numbers that we do and have the kind of shows that we have. So many fans seem to like it now, it’s kind of like “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. I’d hate to bring in a full band and then people not like it. It’s definitely a big step, and if we do it, we will definitely do it gradually.
TB – So what have you been listening to in your downtime on the bus while you have been traveling?
CS – I listen to so much now. We listen to a lot of Derryl Scott who’s just a great songwriter that is around now. We have been listening to everything from The Rolling Stones to Paul Simon. I’ve been listening to Will Hoge lately, Bruce Springsteen, but it all changes. When I grew up I was always into everything from Nirvana, to Jodeci, to Tupac, to Hootie and the Blowfish. Now a days, who out there only listens to one kind of music anymore, it just doesn’t work there. With the TV and the internet, people are exposed to all kind of music.
TB – Do you have a preference to the type of beer you drink?
CS – I’m a bud light guy. I drink beer now because the liquor got to much for me. If I really had my choice, I would just want a double shot of Jim Beam but I don’t get to do that so much anymore.
TB – If you could bring back any one band, or artist, who has broken up or is dead, who would it be?
CS – Awe, wow that’s a good question, there is so many of them – Woody Guthrie maybe? That is a tough question, I’ll have to get back to you on that one.