Tex Smith is an

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

-based American singer and songwriter. His style has been compared to

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

Hank Williams Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. W ...

, and

Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping country hits " King of the Road", "Dang Me", and " England Swing ...

Biography

Smith was born and raised in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

, a suburb of Dallas–Fort Worth. Upon graduating from

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

in 1997, Smith moved to

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

where he DJ'ed on local community radio station KNON on the weekly Rockabilly Revue show with Cowhide Cole, while also filling in on the Texas Renegade Radio show occasionally. Smith moved to

Austin, TX Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, where he began playing Kent Finlay's weekly Songwriter Circle at

Cheatham Street Warehouse Cheatham Street Warehouse is a music venue located in San Marcos, Texas. It was built in 1910 as a grocery warehouse along the railroad tracks for a local grocery. In 1974, Texas State University alumnus (1961, 1965) Kent Finlay and business par ...

which would lead to his introduction to Seth Gibbs and Superpop Records in Austin. In 2009 Smith recorded and co-produced his eponymous debut album with Seth Gibbs in Austin at Superpop Records. Contributing artists included Joe Thompson (guitar, banjo, mandolin, piano, vocals), Seth Gibbs (drums, bass, piano), Pete Stafford (lap steel, guitar), Stephen Brady Dietert (guitar), and Patrick Goforth (Guitar). In 2010 Smith recorded To A Bird Singing Woe. Contributing artists included Pete Coatney (drums) of

Jack Ingram Jack Owen Ingram (born November 15, 1970) is an American country music artist formerly signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, six live albums, and 19 singles. Alt ...

's Beat Up Ford Band, Jake Erwin (bass) of

The Hot Club of Cowtown The Hot Club of Cowtown is an American Western swing trio that formed in 1997. History The band's name comes from two sources: "Hot Club" from the hot jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli's Quintette du Hot Club de ...

, Seth Gibbs (banjo, bass, guitar), Joey Thompson (guitar, mandolin), Phillip Foster (piano, keys), Pete Stafford (lap steel), Bill Jeffery (trumpet), Tommy Hale (harmonica), Patrick Goforth (guitar), Stephen Brady Dieter (vocals), and Halleyanna Finlay (vocals). Smith began playing Austin venues such as The Hole in The Wall, Saxon Pub, Jovitas, Sam's Town Point. In 2012 Smith recorded ''A Wayfarer's Lament''. Contributing artists included Pete Coatney (drums), Jake Erwin (bass), Seth Gibbs (guitar), Joey Thompson (guitar), Phillip Foster (keys), Peter Stafford (lap steel, piano, guitar), Ramsay Midwood (guitar, vocals), and Patrick Goforth (violin). In 2015 Smith recorded ''Pink and Black (Sings and Plays Songs About Love)'' and released on his own label Whippoorwill Records. Contributing artists included Pete Coatney (drums), Jake Erwin (bass), Nicholas Young (guitar), Simon Page (pedal steel), Whit Smith (guitar) of

, Matt Thomas (guitar, steel guitar), Maybelle Crawford (vocals, guitar), and Gladys Rose (vocals). In 2016 Smith recorded ''Fair-Weather Friends'' in

Lockhart, Texas Lockhart is a city in and the county seat of Caldwell County, Texas, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 14,379. History The city of Lockhart is named after Byrd Lockhart, an assistant surveyor of Green DeWitt a ...

at Troubadour Studios with producer and artist Steven Collins of Deadman and self-released the record on Whippoorwill Records. In 2019 Smith recorded ''Kinfolk'' in Austin TX at Sweetheart Studios and released on Whippoorwill Records. Contributing artists included

Earl Poole Ball Earl Poole Ball Jr. (born March 12, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter,
''Acoustic Music'' pianist,

(piano) most notably the piano player of

for 20 years, Pete Coatney (drums), Jake Erwin (bass), Simon Page (pedal steel, guitar), Maybelle Crawford (vocals), Gladys Rose (vocals), Seth Gibbs (mandolin, vocals), Matt Ford (guitar), Josh Buckley (guitar), and Tyler Wallace (vocals). Smith also collaborated with songwriters Seth Gibbs, Jon Chamberlain, Peter Stafford, Marc Hoegg, Nate Uhlmer, & Dan Shaw of

The Tossers The Tossers are an American six-piece Celtic punk band from Chicago, Illinois, United States, formed in July 1993. They have toured with Murphy's Law, Streetlight Manifesto, Catch 22, Dropkick Murphys, The Reverend Horton Heat, Flogging Mol ...

on Willy Vanilla's final album ''Gutted to the Studs,'' recorded in the same year. In 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Smith self recorded two EP's: ''Sings The Lonesome Bob Dylan'' followed by ''Sings The Man In Black JOHNNY CASH'' covering the songs of Johnny Cash and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

, as well as releasing the EP ''LIVE! At The Hole in The Wall''.

Discography

Solo albums

* 2009: ''Tex Smith'' * 2010: ''To A Bird Singing Woe'' * 2012: ''A Wayfarer's Lament'' * 2015: ''Pink and Black (Sings and Plays Songs About Love)'' (Whippoorwill Records) * 2019: ''Fair-Weather Friends'' (Whippoorwill Records) * 2019: ''Kinfolk'' (Whippoorwill Records)

EP's

* 2020: ''Sings The Lonesome Bob Dylan'' (Whippoorwill Records) * 2020: ''Sings The Man In Black JOHNNY CASH (Whippoorwill Records)'' * 2020: LIVE! At The Hole in The Wall

Also appears on

* 2020: Willy Vanilla - ''Gutted To The Studs''

References

External links

* * {{Discogs artist, 3412265-Tex-Smith Living people

American male singer-songwriters American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

People from Arlington, Texas University of North Texas alumni Year of birth missing (living people)