www.donaldsmith.net
Playing Since: 2007
Experience Level: Just Startin'
Interests:
[Jamming]
Occupation: Ink-Stained Wretch
Gender: Male
Age: 27
My Instruments:
"Lorena" (Gibson RB3W). "Maggie" (Deering Vega No. 2). "Fannie" (Goldstar GF100W). My other little friends: "Big Ma" (Martin D35), "Woody" (Guild D35), "Rambo" - aka "Banjo Eater" (Martin D-28 Marquis), "Annie" (Martin HD28VC)
Favorite Bands/Musicians:
Too numerous to mention. Oh, what the heck. Earl Scruggs, Earl Scruggs Revue, Earl Scruggs with Family & Friends, Flatt and Scruggs, Country Gentlemen, Seldom Scene, Carolina Star, Emmylou Harris, Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Eric Weissberg, Jim Mills, Ricky Scaggs, Tony Rice, Peter Rowan, Susie Burke and David Surette, Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin, Tom Gray and whatever band he's playing in at the moment, Lou Reid and whatever band he's playing in at the moment, Kate and Anna McGarrigle,Carolina Chocolate Drops, Townes Van Zandt, The Chieftans, Mary Black, Robin & Linda Williams, Nanci Griffith, Iris DeMent, Mike & Pete Seeger, Ian & Sylvia, The Carter Family, Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, Chad Mitchell Trio, Whiskey Hill Singers, Tommy Makem, The Clancy Bros., Alex Beaton, North Sea Gas, The Corries, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Old Crow Medicine Show, Crooked Still, Uncle Earl, Chatham County Line, The Infamous Stringdusters, The Woodshedders, John Stewart, Woody Guthrie, Elizabeth Cotten, Muddy Waters, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly, Howling Wolf, Bukka White, B.B. King, Dewey Balfour, Michael Doucet, and Beausoleil. Oh, and Clifton Chenier. And a few more I can't think of right now.
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Profile Info:
Visible to: Public
Created 5/12/2007
Last Visit 7/4/2016
My historical mystery, “The Constable’s Tale” (Pegasus Books, September 2015), involves a volunteer constable in tidewater North Carolina – where my family has farmed and made music since 1695. I grew up mostly in northern Virginia, and now live in the bosom of the Yankee capital. (Occasionally I have to explain to visiting relatives that the reason there are no statues of Confederate soldiers in Washington is on the account of we lost.)
The moment I heard the opening tenor banjo notes of the Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley," I was hooked on folk music. But I went for the guitar instead of the ‘jo. I passed through a serious folk-music phase while in college, playing a lot and hosting a folk-music show on the campus radio station; then moved into old-time, blues, then bluegrass. (Odd route, I know.) Only recently did I come full circle, went out and bought a five-stringer.
I was editor-in-chief and also wrote some of the "script" (wall text) for the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, which opened in Indianola MS in 2008. I turned from that to researching and writing the script and a treatment for the main film for The Earl Scruggs Center: Music & Stories from the American South, which opened in Shelby, N.C. Jan. 11, 2014. It was quite an honor to be chosen for that project, which covers not only Earl's career, but also the history and culture of the region from which he and the whole world of commercial country music sprang: the rolling hills and rushing streams of the Southern Piedmont. I also got to spend a good deal of face time with Earl and his very talented family. Favorite moment: tying Earl's necktie before a concert. See my website for more information: www.donaldsmith.net
'Accessories clean out' 43 min
'Walls by Tom Petty?' 7 hrs
