Today we’d like to introduce you to Grant Maloy Smith.
Hi Grant Maloy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started playing guitar when I was five years old, but I got real serious when I was 17. I was going to be an artist, but the music bug hit me at that time, and there was no going back. I completely changed my focus from art to music. I taught myself to read and write music when I was a freshman in art college. By the second year, I decided to switch completely from art to music, and I have never looked back. Of course, my art background has helped me immensely with music, because I can design my own album covers and design the books that go with my theme records. It’s been a long, strange journey at times!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
All art forms are difficult. There have been many ups and downs along the way. I have always written my own music, which makes success in the music business exponentially harder. A lot of musicians play cover songs in bars, and they can make some money being background music in effect. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not something that I ever had any interest in. Today, I have two really good friends who are in tribute bands – one for Steely Dan and another for Rush. They are really good and they make more money than I do. But they’re doing someone else’s music. I have many other friends who are session musicians, and they are extremely good. They play on hit records. But again, it’s not their music. For me it’s not about money, it’s about writing my own music and doing what I want.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am known for creating theme records. I started this in 2016 when I did my first one, called DUST BOWL: AMERICAN STORIES. Every song was about the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, when it didn’t rain for nearly 10 years in America’s Great Plains. The heartache and suffering, not to mention the exodus of millions of people, were traumatic to the nation. This album resonated with a lot of people, and I was lucky enough to do very well with it. So I kept on and have since created three more theme albums in the AMERICAN STORIES series. The second one was APPALACHIA: AMERICAN STORIES. That one focused on the unique culture and history of Appalachia, where my family came from. This is a part of America set in the mountains. My family was largely coal miners. Some of them got “covered up” (buried in the mines), or died from black lung after breathing in all that dust for years. It’s one of the most beautiful parts of our country, but also the least understood. Since oil replaced coal in the 1940s, they’ve had a hard time with poverty, poor education, and hopelessness. That led to a serious opioid problem. I love Appalachia, and I wanted to shine a light on its majesty and challenges.
The third album in the series was MISSISSIPPI: AMERICAN STORIES, which focused on the history that happened along America’s most famous rivers. The Mississippi is so old that dinosaurs drank from its waters. In more recent millenia it served as a vital waterway for Native Americans. When Spain, France, and England showed up, there was a cultural clash. Then, when America formed and pushed westward, it changed yet again. The river was critical to the US Civil War, for example. But before that, it was a vital conduit for commerce from the north to the port of New Orleans.
The latest album is WILD WEST: AMERICAN STORIES. This album is about our expansion from east to west in the 1900s. This is my most ambitious work to date. I spent two years researching and writing more than an hour of music and a 90-page hardcover book to accompany the album. It’s available as a boxed set with two vinyl LPs, the hardcover book, and a CD. I also include a link to download the digital files so you can put it on your phone or whatever you listen to music on. I am so proud of this work, and I hope that you will check it out.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I’ve had good luck and bad luck along the way, but I think you make your own luck by working hard and turning over every stone.
Pricing:
- The boxed set of WILD WEST: AMERICAN STORIES is available at the discounted price of $79.95 on my website.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://grant-maloy-smith.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/grantmaloysmith
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/thegrantmaloysmith
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantmaloysmith/
- Twitter: https://x.com/grantmaloysmith
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/grantmaloysmith
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/grantmaloysmith
- Other: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/grant-maloy-smith/273229127
