Bruce Smith
Austin-based, Americana-roots singer and songwriter Bruce Smith recently released his new CD, 1000 Horses. “1000 Horses” is a song about faith, hope, and rockin’ and rollin’, come what may. The other nine tracks are hewn with that notion and offer a rollicking ride through small towns and big cities, staring at stars, riding in fast cars, and love with its constant ups and downs. Smith sings about turning the “gas tank in bone dry and empty,” and 1000 Horses aspire to do just that. The band consists of Bruce Smith (singer, songwriter), Spencer Jarmon (lead guitar), Zeke Jarmon (bass guitar), Conner Church (drummer), and Grammy Award winner Randy Caballero (keyboards). The group initially came together in January 2004 when a few members met at J. T. Van Zandt’s Longbranch Inn’s open mic night along with a dear old friend Matt Hubbard of Willie Nelson and Edie Brickell fame.
Bruce and Randy Caballero (keyboard player and Grammy Award-winning producer) produced 1000 Horses. Omar Vallejo mixed and mastered the album at the 512 Studios in Austin, and Rich Bauer engineered. Besides Bruce's band, other musicians on 1000 Horses include Alex Geismar, Matt Hubbard, Haydn Vitera, Jeff Botta, Jennifer Andrews Smith, Bryan Austin, and Jamie Pender.
Smith hopes to build on the success, and critical acclaim of his last effort, Til The Wheels Fall Off, and the single “‘59 Stratocaster,” and is being considered for the new Buddy Holly biopic, Clear Lake.
Bruce grew up near Detroit, Michigan, downriver, where the local music scene thrives with legendary locals such as Aretha Franklin, Motown, Mitch Ryder, Bob Seger, and more. His family moved to Atlanta before his junior year of high school, where he lived until graduating college, working all types of jobs; paperboy, dishwasher, and a landscaper. Bruce then moved to Washington D.C., worked in the House and Senate mailrooms, was a Congressional intern and staffer, and a Gubernatorial campaign volunteer organizer. Bruce’s father is one of the biggest music fans he has ever known and had all of Elvis’ 45s. Bruce knew all the lyrics to all of the Beatles, Mary Poppins, and Frank Sinatra songs by the time he was 5, or 6 years old. He took Bruce and his siblings to see their first concert, The Who and Toots and The Maytals, in 1975. The Smith clan are huge and knowledgeable music fans; music is essential in their lives.
Bruce is inspired by musical legends such as Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis, The Beatles, Buddy Holly, Motown, Elvis Costello, Aretha Franklin, John Hiatt, and Los Lobos, Van Morrison, Al Green, and John Fogerty to name a few. Non-musical influences include his parents, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and author Tom Robbins. Bruce hopes that his music will have a wide-ranging empathy for listeners. Many of the band’s songs are inspired by a personal experience, with each band member leaving their unique imprint on a song’s ultimate flow and structure.
Bruce was the recipient of the 2019 Buddy Holly Education Fund Scholarship Award; he believes that “if you have someone or something you love, you do whatever it takes,” so he writes about life, love, redemption, and salvation. His performances have been touted by the Washington Post as “powerful folk songs with a conscience,” and praised by Performing Songwriter Magazine. At the same time, Austin’s top talent booker calls him “the fastest rising star in Austin since Los Lonely Boys.” He has played at iconic venues around the U.S.; the Bottom Line, The Bluebird Cafe, the Birchmere, festivals on the Boston Common, and mainstays at the Saxon Pub and Antone’s. He has opened for Gary Clark Jr., Nils Lofgren, Robert Earl Keen, Charlie Sexton, and others. Bruce recently performed at the Beto O’Rourke Rally in Pflugerville, TX, at the Three Legged Goat as part of Beto’s Drive for Texas. Bruce performs the first Friday of every month at Guero's Taco Bar at 1412 S. Congress Avenue in Austin.
“I hope to touch hearts and minds with shared experiences and feelings…mostly I aspire to inspire and hopefully uplift people.” To Bruce, “music and art can speak truth to power and express dreams and aspirations more effectively than anything else. The freedom of speech and expression is our hope for constantly improving.”
Interview: Check out Johnny Goudie’s interview with Bruce Smith on “How Did I Get Here?” Listen to How Did I Get Here?
Press Quotes for Til The Wheels Fall Off (previous release):
“Just as Buddy lives on in his music and the lives he touched and continues to touch, that spirit fills Bruce Smith’s song “59 Stratocaster,” a poignant tribute to Buddy’s beautiful spirit and promise.”
-Maria Elena Holly
“On every level, the album is a masterpiece. It’s the sound of supremely talented musicians
successfully capturing lightning in a bottle, of well-crafted songs brought into reality with all the passion and conviction they demand.
-Mike DeAngelis, There Once Was A Note
“...regardless of tone or tempo, Smith possesses a clear conviction that furnishes each of these ten tracks with an immediate embrace. It’s a riveting, relentless sound that comes across in every one of these resilient refrains and compelling choruses.”
-Lee Zimmerman, The Daily Ripple
“He’s a natural…at his best when the wheel steadies through the marvelous “59 Stratocaster” and growling sway of “Elizabeth and Spring.”
-Doug Freeman, Austin Chronicle
Links:
http://www.artistecard.com/brucesmith2
