Smith Brothers’

Impact on the Bluegrass Industry

The brothers grew up in north central North Carolina near the site of the state’s first bluegrass festival, Camp Springs. They played at the first bluegrass festivals in Fincastle, VA, and appeared on Arthur Smith’s TV Show in Charlotte.  Terry elaborated, “We played as the Smith family. At Fincastle, I was five. My dad put the instruments in our hands. We learned by playing. I remember being excited when I learned a G-run! Mama learned the bass. Billy would hold his head in a certain direction. She watched him: three chords, three directions, so she’d know when to change. Daddy was in demand. We played everywhere. Daddy took us and Mama loved it.”  The brothers also played with their cousin, Alan O’Bryant.  “We were inseparable,” declared Terry. 

As teenagers, the trio played together in a band they called The Camp Springs New Grass Boys with other North Carolina pickers—first with Johnny Ridge, then with the late JB Prince and Mike Aldridge.  Ridge, who now fiddles with the Malpass Brothers, recalled. “Our daddies had played together. I was about 14 and mainly picking guitar, but Pat called me about playing bass. Pat picked banjo, Billy guitar, and Terry mandolin. We practiced and played the Big O Jamboree in Graham (NC). The bass didn’t have a stob so I had to set the bass on a plastic trash can.”

The professional fiddler continued, “Afterward, Terry and I swapped instruments. I played mandolin and Terry took the bass. It was a better fit. Alan came in to pick banjo and Pat played fiddle. Billy and I would play ‘Dueling Banjos’ on the guitar. We took a lot of first place guitar prizes at fiddlers’ conventions.”

At some point, Ridge and the Smiths’ dad exited. Aldridge and Prince took their positions, mandolin and fiddle, respectively, in the band.  Aldridge recalled. “In the early ‘70s, Alan heard me in a jam session at Camp Springs. He really liked my mandolin chop and recruited me for their band. We played a lot of local gigs. I had a really good time with them. I think Carlton (Haney, the festival promoter) named the band, the Camp Springs Boys.”

“We added the ‘New Grass’ part after we heard the New Grass Revival play at Camp Springs,” Billy explained.  Billy carries another fond memory from his youth at the iconic music event.  “I emptied trash cans one year to pay for a pass,” he recalled.  Walking to the top of the hill during the Camp Springs Labor Day weekend festival, the budding songwriter heard a band jamming. They were playing “Love Come Home.”  “I prayed to God that I’d write a jam song like that one day,” Billy recalled.  Little did he know the musical journey that his life would take.

In the early 70’s, the Smith boys relocated to Nashville. Since that move, bluegrass music became their livelihood and their passion. Separately and together, the brothers have made a huge impact on the industry that spans 50 years.  “I never thought about it being my life’s work,” Terry reflected. “I had no idea where it would lead.”

After they moved, the brothers worked on Bill Monroe’s farm.  “We went from our tobacco farm to learning how to skin mules on Monroe’s farm in Goodlettsville, TN. Bill taught us how to talk to them. ‘Gee’ for right. ‘Haw’ for left. We learned how to plow fields with mules,” Billy shared.  Terry added, “We had mules in North Carolina so we had been around them. He had two mules named Liza and Tom. The mules would respect me as good as they did Bill.”

That mutual respect between man and beast landed Terry an unusual gig at Monroe’s festival in Bean Blossom, Indiana, when Monroe devised a plan. “I worked the brake on the wagon and drove the mules around in front of the stage while Bill sang ‘Muleskinner Blues’ on his first set. During his second set, we had the mules at the front of the park and I was sitting in the crowd. I didn’t know he wanted to do it again. When he told the audience that in a minute he was going to sing ‘Muleskinner Blues’ and they were going to see the prettiest site, I ran to get the mules. I slapped those mules to the stage like an old western movie. When I got there, I had missed it and Bill was singing ‘Old, Old House.’ I drove the mules around, but Bill never acknowledged it. Later he said to me, ‘When you pay a man to do something, I expect him to do it.’”

Back in Nashville, the brothers formed the band, Blue Haze, named after their mother. It was a four-piece band with Billy on guitar, Terry on bass, Alan on banjo, and Mike Hartgrove on fiddle.  Billy laughed, “Mike used to say that he was living on snuff because we weren’t making enough to eat.”  Terry added, “We did clubs and played conventions at the Opryland Hotel.” 

The Smiths played the Station Inn in lots of different musical ensembles. They also performed at the Bluegrass Inn and at Randy Wood’s Old Time Pickin’ Parlor.  “We would play first, then everybody would jam. We would go to houses five days a week and jam all freaking night,” Terry smiled.

In 1976, when he was just 16, Terry went to work with the Misty Mountain Boys. The band consisted of Earl Snead, Jay Grizzel, Doug Mounts, and young Terry. They played regular gigs in Nashville.  The Smiths picked with lots of A-listers—Roy Acuff, Lester Flatt, George Gruhn, Roland White, Peter Rowan, Shot Jackson, and Buck White and the Down Home Folks.  “I toured with Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass. I played with Earl Scruggs and friends,” recalled Billy. “I knew Earl well. I used to go by and see Earl.”

In 1978, the Smiths, with Billy on guitar and Terry on bass, started playing for Jimmy Martin.  “I worked for the half the price, just to get to play with him,” admitted Billy. “Terry and I learned all his songs, ‘Widow Maker’, ‘Ocean of Diamonds.’ Kenny Ingram picked banjo and Vernon Derrick played mandolin. Jimmy said we were the best band he’d had since JD (Crowe). He also told me, ‘Billy, when you’re with me, I drink a lot less.’”

Then in 1979, Terry joined Wilma Lee Cooper’s band. They played lots of venues including the World’s Fair in Knoxville. “We played weekly on the Grand Ole Opry and gigs around town. I was with her four years. Gene Wooten played Dobro, Stan Brown picked banjo, Craig Duncan first played fiddle, then it was Tater Tate.”

In 1989, Terry became bassist for the Osborne Brothers. He held that position for the next 13 years, followed by a couple of years with Mike Snider.  In 2004, Terry became a founding member of the Grascals, along with Danny Roberts, Jimmy Mattingly, Jamey Johnson, Terry Eldridge, and Dave Talbot.

“The Grascals owe so much to Jimmy Mattingly for our initial success. He was such a force. He played with Dolly. We’d open her show and then be part of her band.”  The younger brother is proud of the Grascals’ sustainability.

“We hit the stage with energy and in eighteen years, we’ve had very little turnover. I feel blessed that we’ve been able to do that. We’ve got a pretty good record of members staying together. A lot is luck. Everybody can bring in songs or ideas. Everyone is professional.”

Terry is grateful for his traveling experiences, too. “Billy got in touch with the State Department. We sent a tape and were accepted. It was a goodwill American music tour. We played Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Liberia, and Congo. There were good crowds at our shows. We went over great.” Billy added, “Terry and I had a Tosco deal with Japan. We played as Grass Section with Ronnie McCoury, Charlie Cushman, Tim Graves, and Glen Duncan. Then we toured the country twice with Craig Duncan. I also toured with the Whites and Harold Morrison in Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Portugal.”

Terry declared, “With the Osborne Brothers, I played on a tour throughout Europe that included Monroe. With the Osbornes, I also played in Germany. With the Grascals, I played in Greece, France, and the Yukon. A guy took us in a plane and I walked on a glacier. I’m a country boy from North Carolina. I’d never have done those things if I hadn’t played bluegrass. I haven’t made a ton of money, but I’ve done things most people only dream of.” (Terry Smith was awarded SPBGMA’s 2022 “Bass Player of the Year” in Nashville.)

When the Smiths weren’t picking, they were busy writing songs and recording, some together, some separately.  The elder brother recalled, “I sang a few demos for Bob Dylan, John Prine, Harland Howard, Tom T Hall, and Guy Clark throughout the years. Not making a living doing it, just pick up work. Also, Brother Terry and I sang on a couple of records for Vern Gosdin, Mike Henderson, and Ken Mellons.”  

“Terry and I wrote for Major Bob Music. We also had two major record deals. Epic was the first. In the mid ‘80s, on the Epic roster at the time was Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette, and us. We recorded an album. Our first release was ‘Blues Stay Away From Me,’ an old tune written by Wayne Rainey and the Delmore Brothers (Alton and Raybon). CMT was active and playing. We had a number one video on their TV station. We released a second single on Epic, ‘Ease My Troubled Mind.’ The second deal was with RCA where we got lost in the politics.”

“In 1996, we recorded two albums for K-Tel records. First, we did ‘Tribute to the Grateful Dead.’ It was rock-n-roll bluegrass. Then we cut ‘Tribute to Bill Monroe,’ the last studio recording with Monroe. We also recorded an album with Jimmy Martin at The Tracking Station in Nashville, but politics got to it before we could get it released,” Billy mused.

The duo continued to crank out top-shelf bluegrass with impressive collaborations in the music industry.  “We recorded two albums for Toshio Watanabe and Red Clay Records. The label’s name came from the red dirt Toshio found while at Camp Springs Bluegrass Festival. The first record was entitled Grass Section (1992); the second was Voices Of The Mountain (1999). The latter was recorded at Mark Howard’s studio with Dave Fergerson engineering. Earl Scruggs and Guy Clark recorded a song on that record with us; one that I wrote with Clark called ‘Sunday Afternoon.’ In the song, Guy and I sang from two different time periods: one verse the old man was daydreaming, another verse the memory of when he was a young man. Guy sang the older man’s part. I sang the younger. Earl played Maybelle Carter-style guitar on that one. He also played banjo on the cut, ‘Dead Dog On Side Of The Road.’”

While Terry toured, big brother Billy elected to concentrate on songwriting and activities closer to home. His songs have become a staple to many bands’ set lists.  Sammy Shelor, lauded the songwriter’s abilities, “Billy Smith has been a big part of Lonesome River Band’s career with great songs he has written for us over the years. One of latest singles that he wrote with Matt Combs, ‘Cumberland River Shores,’ is a tribute to the late great John Hartford and is so much fun to play live. Two of our most requested songs in our catalog came from Billy as well—‘Crazy Heart’ (co-written with Sharon Higgins) and ‘Hobo Blues’ never get old. They’re fun tunes that the crowds love.”

The elder Smith shared details. “I pitched ‘HoBo Blues’ to David Parmley. He gave it to Tim Austin. Bowman and Tyminski recorded it with LRB.” Billy then related an answer to his teenage prayer. “‘Crazy Heart’ was about me and my ex-wife. It has only two chords. If you want (to write) standards, you’ve got to have them where everyone can play. Ronnie McCoury told me, ‘You wanted to write a jam song. Well, you’ve done it with ‘Crazy Heart.’ Twenty plus years after praying for a jam tune like ‘Love Come Home,’ God gave me ‘Crazy Heart.’ I want to praise Him for giving me that ability. Later, I heard it in a jam and they were killing it. I walked right up and stuck my head right in the middle of it, closed my eyes, and listened. It brought me such joy. They never knew I wrote it.”

The songsmith definitely enjoys his work and the creative process. “When we were writing ‘Cumberland River Shores,’ it was like John Hartford was in the room.”  The prolific songwriter has had more than 300 of his songs recorded. “You write more than gets cut,” he confessed. Yet Billy has had lots.  “Del McCoury just cut song number ten. The Osbornes cut seven.”

Other bluegrass artists to have recorded Billy’s songs include Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Ronnie Bowman, Dan Tyminski, and Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out.  Moore shared, “Billy and Terry Smith have been a thread in IIIrd Tyme Out’s music fabric almost since day one. The title song of our third release on Rebel Records, ‘Grandpa’s Mandolin’ (1993), was written by Billy, Terry, and Mark Irwin. It is still liked and requested today. They’re both talented songwriters and instrumentalists and I’ve enjoyed getting to know them over the years. Other songs we’ve recorded that they wrote, or co-wrote, include ‘I Can’t Stay Here Anymore,’ ‘Giving My Soul Back To Him,’ ‘Snow Angel,’ ‘He’ll Take You In,’ and ‘Whippoorwill.’ They are a class act together and in their own rights and I’m looking forward to recording more of their songs moving forward!”

When asked what has been his best song, Billy was slow to respond. “It’s like your children (he has three), you don’t know which one you love the most.”  He did admit, “Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out’s (version of) ‘They Called it A Church’ on the Live at the MACC recording (Chateau Music Group, 2006), that cut is a killer!” 

His co-write on the song is quite a story in itself.  “One morning I went out to Tom T and Dixie Hall’s house to write a song. Tom T said he’d been visiting the Carter Fold and out in the mountains somebody took an old tobacco barn and was making it into a church. I wrote down as fast as he was talking. I said there’s our song and it’s practically fill-in the blank. Miss Dixie came in and it took us about 20-30 minutes to write the song.”

Billy, Tom T and Dixie Hall went on to write over 60 songs together. And Billy continues to roll them out.  “I have a regular writers’ appointment on Wednesdays. I also write one or two songs a week myself.” Even with family, friends, and church responsibilities, Billy continues to stay active in the music community.  “I’ve not done a lot of touring,” he admitted. “I pick a lot, but all my gigs are in Nashville.”

Not only does Billy play shows and write songs, he teaches Tai-Chi and martial arts at four different Music City YMCAs, serves as minister of music for his church and holds the position of State Chaplain for the Gideons of TN. During the pandemic, he even started selling honey a couple days a week at a local farmer’s market.

A family man, Billy has two sons from his first marriage and a daughter from his second marriage. His wife, Marilyn, is a Julliard graduate. Terry also has two sons and a daughter, plus two granddaughters. He married his second wife, LuAnn, who occasionally worked the door at the Station Inn, in 2018.

Billy reflected on his second union. “We are a couple of old wore out musicians that found each other late in life. My wife had uterine cancer and wasn’t supposed to have children, but God gave us a child. God made a really good person in Mattie. She is a great songwriter, played Suzuki violin since age four and plays piano and guitar.” 

Billy picks guitar with his wife on bass in two separate bands. They perform with Craig Duncan & Friends and in the newly formed, Tennessee Plow Cleaners.  “Craig and I grew up ten miles apart in North Carolina. Now we’re best friends and play together about once a week.” Duncan shared, “I met Billy and Terry Smith when they were teenagers. Even then they were an active force in the Nashville, Tennessee bluegrass scene. We worked many shows together through the ‘80s and ‘90s including a TV show called Barn Dance with LeVar Burton and Roy Clark. We also toured Japan together as a four-piece bluegrass band. Playing fiddle with the rhythm of the Smith brothers’ guitar and bass is like riding a Rolls-Royce, as they are so tight and smooth, you never have to think about the beat. Terry and I have worked on many recording projects together. In the studio, it is rare for Terry to need to redo or correct a note in his part. Billy and I have toured Scotland three times and Japan once again with our bluegrass band. He is a genuine artist who sings with heart and soul. His songs have been recorded by many bluegrass artists. It is always a treat to hear him sing these songs himself. Billy and I continue to work together averaging about thirty shows a year. Billy and Terry are great friends and continue to leave their mark in bluegrass music.”

Another band mate, David Talbot, who started the Grascals with Terry and now performs in two ensembles with Billy, added, “It doesn’t take me long to sing the praises of Billy and Terry Smith. The Smith brothers are master musicians, singers, and songwriters. Talk about talent and soul…they always FEEL their music, which makes playing with them a fresh experience every time. Billy and Terry are also very open-minded about other musical genres. They are fellow Beatles fans, and they are my brothers.”

The Smiths have held a lifelong bond through brotherhood and music.  Billy relayed, “Terry and I have always had a great love and excitement about great bands that we were part of and ones we dreamed about putting together. We shared a love for the great bands of our day: the Country Gentlemen, Osborne Brothers, and Del McCoury. Of course, the old bands, too, we wasted a childhood listening to them: Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Monroe, and the Stanley Brothers. Terry and I completely agreed about music. I was blessed to have him as my brother.

Reflecting on their lives, Billy felt they have remained close to their roots.  “We never got too far from North Carolina,” he concluded with a smile.