ABOUT

     I was born in San Angelo, Texas, a cattle ranching town on the Rio Concho in West Texas about halfway between Lubbock and Austin.  San Angelo prides itself on being the sheep and wool capital of the world.  The town is pretty and with the river and local lakes is called the Oasis of West Texas.  San Angelo sits on the Edwards Plateau, the southern end of the Great Plains.  The Chihuahuan Desert is to the near west.

     As a boy I grew up in the Harris and Irving Street Church of Christ, going to church all the time, or so it seems in my memory--Sunday School, Sunday morning service, young people’s class followed by evening service that night, Wednesday night Bible study, and most every tent meeting in the dry summer heat.  Church all the time.  And, except for the hell-and-damnation part, I’m not complaining--after all, my buddies were there and we got into that kind of mischief that kids get into despite the fire and brimstone.

     The church preaches baptism by total immersion. My total immersion, though, was into music. Today some might call me a backslider, but what remains is the singing.  We sang hymns and songs a capella style, without musical accompaniment.  The songs were mostly simple, easily singable melodies.  When I began playing in bands as the rock & roll revolution swept America in the ‘fifties those songs too, for the most part,  had simple, singable, rhythm-driven melodies but of course with the magic of a real band to boot.

     After graduating from Abilene Christian College in 1965 and moving to Austin to attend law school, I confess to spending more time in the Split Rail on South Lamar, a legendary watering hole, than the law library. I listened to music there and played in a bluegrass group and various country bands.  By the time I graduated Law School and passed the bar in December of 1970 I was playing music full time.  My future career in law was postponed 14 years.

     I have been fortunate to play in some really good bands in my time.  Marcia Ball and I formed Freda and the Firedogs in 1972.   At the time a music critic in the Houston Chronicle wrote, “Freda and the Firedogs, an Austin based band of hill-Williams more intensely, and authentically, into C&W tradition than most groups...with more musicality per square twang than many musicians ever manage to muster.  For anyone seeking musical highs, a whiff of the Firedogs should trip out the staunchest country pop purist.  Freda and the Firedogs may look like freaks, but they pick like corrals full of kickers. With musical savvy."  Freda and the Firedogs drew an unusually strange mix of students, bikers, Mexican families, hippies, hillbillies, and old-time country music fans

     Freda and the Firedogs disbanded after a final performance at Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic in College Station in 1974.  I then partnered with Alvin Crow as his manager, booking agent, and rhythm guitar player. This resulted in an album deal with Polydor, a chart single, and this 1977 year end review by John Rockwell music critic for the New York Times: "The year was full of memorable concerts. Among the best were Alvin Crow at the Lone Star Cafe in New York, City; the Rolling Stones at the El Mocambo Club in Toronto...." Rockwell wrote "the whole group is full of fine musicians, and together they make for an evening that is both vastly entertaining and in a real sense, inspiring, because it makes one realize once again what a wealth of music this country has produced."  

     Alvin and I co-produced the first Alvin Crow and the Pleasant Valley Boys release on our own label, Longneck Records, after all the major labels turned it down. This album subsequently became part of a Polydor multi-album deal and a song from it, "Nyquil Blues" charted in 1977.  Our followup album on Polydor won Country Music Magazine’s Silver Bullet Award.

     In 1978 Alvin and I parted ways and I hooked up with my partner-in-crime Joe Gracey. Gracey and I began to look for other artists to produce and manage, and for the next several years we recorded pretty much anyone who walked in the door of the tiny Electric Graceyland studio in the basement of the old KOKE-FM building on North Lamar. We released several albums on our Jackalope and Rude Record labels, including my 1974 Dry Creek Inn masters, a Skunks vinyl album, and a Best of Electric Graceyland compilation.

     During this time I played bass for a year with Butch Hancock and then Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

     In 1981 Kimmie Rhodes, Joe Gracey and I formed Kimmie Rhodes and the Jackalope Brothers and began performing around Texas together.  Willie Nelson invited us to record an album at Willie’s newly-opened Pedernales Recording Studios and Golf Links and it was released in 1983 as Kimmie Rhodes and the Jackalope Brothers on Jackalope Records with original songs by Kimmie and me.

     I’ve been fortunate to play in really good bands with fine musicians going back to pre-Freda days: Dub & the Dusters, Hill and Hill & Old Taylor, the Ant Hill Mob.   

     In 1984 I decided to dust off my never-used law degree and enter law practice as a criminal defense attorney in Austin, defending desperados for horrible crimes like smoking marijuana.  My first client was a roadie.  After thirty plus years practicing law I took down my law shingle and retired in 2016.  Over those years I never stopped playing my old Martin guitar and found time to record two albums with my old compadre Joe Gracey.

     This album, Calling You Calling Me, was recorded on October 1-2, 2016,  at Sunbird Studio out back of Kimmie Rhodes’ home in Spicewood, Texas.  Her son, Gabriel Rhodes produced the recording sessions.  My son Eric played bass.  He and I woodshedded the songs in advance of the session.  When we were down to picking the tunes for the final cut just a couple of days before the session he asked “Aren’t we going to do ‘Mercy Me Mercy My?’”  Good question.

     The basic tracks were laid down with Floyd Domino on piano, Gabriel Rhodes on guitar, Dony Wynn on drums and percussion, Eric on bass, and yours truly on acoustic guitar and vocals.  Gabe set the tone for the session by halting the first song a few bars into it and suggesting that everyone take care to keep it simple and not play over much.  After that it was nice and easy all the way.  Kimmie and Gabe added vocal harmonies. Carter Greeves was the recording engineer. Carter works fast and clean.  He’s a whiz on the board.

     Gabe exported the basic tracks to Lloyd Maines who added dobro and steel guitar; to Link Davis who added Cajun style accordion; and, to Alvin Crow who laid down fiddle and mandolin licks. Gabe mixed the tracks.  Cris Burns mastered the recordings.  When he handed me the mastered discs he said, “I like the protest songs.”  Until that time I’d never thought much about it but half of the songs are indeed about things I care about: feeding the hungry, gun safety, climate change, and taking care of the refugees in our midst.  I wrote the songs-as-songs but if they also serve a purpose by sounding a message that is all well and to the good.  

     I’m a baseball fan and every time I see the old Lou Gehrig film clip when he says, “ I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth,” it strikes a sympathetic chord deep inside for that is the way I feel.  Judy and I married in 1965 and we have two sons who are married and live close here in Central Texas.  

     I am truly a lucky man to be able to record with such fine pickers and to be able to release this little album to share with you, the listener.

Peace,

Bobby Earl Smith

Austin, Texas 2017

LISTEN TO THE NEWEST ALBUM "CALLING ME CALLING YOU" HERE: https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bobbyearlsmith