| | Issue #19.27 :: 01/30/2008 - 02/05/2008 | Corey Smith
The Metro Spirit talks with Smith about fans, family, the road and of course, UGA
| BY JEREMY RUGGEGBERG
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AUGUSTA, GA - Friday night, January 25th, at the Imperial Theater, Augusta loved all over Corey Smith. The ever-popular unsigned rock-folk-country star was back in the Garden City for the second time, and his local fans snatched up the opportunity to see him, snatching up all the tickets by Tuesday evening.
Joal Rush, a talented new musician from Charleston, S.C., got the evening warmed up with his catchy melodies and cool voice, set to intervals of awesome rhythmic acoustic guitar “jam-ation.” But, Corey owned the show.
During the 20 minute interval between Joal’s set and Corey’s, there was a mass exodus of bodies moving out of their chairs and to the front of the stage. Georgia Bulldog paraphernalia began to litter the stage, a hat here and belt there, as the crowd grew increasingly excited to see their Jefferson County hero take the “up and center.”
Corey did take the stage, and played a full set list spanning the assortment of songs from his four albums. Through two hours of camera flashing strobe lights, Corey’s every melodic word was sung in FM stereo by nearly every fan in the audience.
Never have I seen an audience so thoroughly enjoy the words and thoughts of their spokesman. Dressed in a simple pair of blue jeans, a black shirt and shades, Smith had the feel of just merely hanging out with his fans... except he was on a stage.
Watching the crowd delight in Smith, I couldn’t help but think back to the conversation I had with him earlier that afternoon, which gave me a new sense of understanding to the man behind music and his message.
Do you mind of we take your picture after this interview?
“Sure, hopefully they’ll turn out well. I’m not very photogenic.”
Is there anything about playing in Augusta that is distinctive to you?
“I’m big into geography and culture, and I love the houses on the river, I love the River Walk, how pedestrian friendly it all is. The people here are all nice.”
Being the teacher that you are, do you often try to learn about the places you travel?
“Yeah, being a writer it’s important to do that to get a sense of “place.” I don't necessarily do a lot of research, but I will always go to the local places to eat and ask a few questions. If there is a cool museum new by I’ll go check it out. But most of the time it’s a real hectic pace so unfortunately, I don’t have that much leisure time. Typically, I’ll get up at 9am, do some writing, walk around and have some coffee.”
What’s your “pre-game” warm-up routine?
“Umm… sounds dorky, but I stretch, warm up a little bit. There are a few little vocal run that I’ll go through. Jump up and down… and drink. I learned how to play in front of people at bars, so its like stage dependent learning I guess. But, you don’t want to get too relaxed out there and say some stupid shit.”
What’s the strangest thing that’s happened to you during a concert?
“Its always strange when people throw their underwear on stage... some people throw their bras. You know what, just being on stage is strange. There comes a time at every show, even if it's a bad show and there not that many people there, where I go, ‘Wow! I’m able to make a living and travel and all these people are here and they all sing along and they came here to see… me.’ I feel really lucky.”
How often are you on the road?
“We do about 200 dates a year. It keeps escalating, the more that I travel, the more that I have to travel. My strategy has been, I started playing in Georgia, my hometown, then Athens. You know, an hour radius. Now I go all the way over to Texas, I’ve been to New England, Chicago several times. So now, the circle is getting larger and what I’m doing is creating new markets. So, the more we tour, the more we travel, the higher the demand. Usually, I’m out for 4-5 nights a week, then get home on Sundays and stay home Mondays and Tuesdays. Increasingly, I go out for 2 weeks at a time. It’s so far away, it’s not practical to come back home.”
How to you handle that as a father and husband?
“I have no idea. I’d be lying if I said ‘we’ve got it all figured out.’ But, you know…its tough, it’s really tough. I miss my kids. I think that I drink, laugh and try to have fun, in order to try not to think about it. I also try to make the most of the time I do have at home. I guess that’s the positive spin on it…but, it’s tough.
How has writing changed since you’ve built an ever-increasing fan base?
“There’s more pressure on me now. Before, I assumed that I wasn’t writing for an audience, I was writing for myself. I try really hard to keep that approach. I have an internal struggle whenever I’m writing now… I’ll try not to control things, but keep it as natural as possible. Now I’m a long more judgmental, I’ll be like, ‘No… people are going to hate that! That doesn’t sound like me. They’re all going to think I’m corny.’ So I find that there’s more pressure and more worries of what the fans will think.
So, as your fan-base grows, how to you remain “pure” in your expression?
“I think its definitely an ideal. The ideal of being ‘authentic’ and ‘genuine’ cuts across genres of music and across all art forms. Artists want to be authentic and sincere, they want to be ‘writing from the heart,’ or from divine inspiration. But that’s always an ideal, I don't think anyone is truly ‘authentic.’ To me, the biggest challenge is finding the line between commerce and art, and not crossing over that line. I know I can write a hit pop song and pitch it to Nashville, but to me that’s not art, it goes against some fundamental principles that have guided me. So, I want to make sure that I’m creating ‘art’ and not creating ‘products’ to sell. Even though what I do makes money, I think I’ve succeeded because I haven’t tried to sell anything. I haven’t been forcing this down people’s throats, I haven’t been all over the radio and TV, I didn’t go on tour with someone as an opener and beg their fans to like me. Its all happened for me really organically.
Do “we” then as a people really understand what it means to express an idea artistically? Because we often neglect to think about how integrated we all are to one another, and we can’t help but consider what others will think about what I’m saying or doing?
“That’s exactly it! It’s really about trying to be brave enough to be completely honest. What I’ve found, is that when I’m honest about my problems, my struggles or just about the way I feel towards something, and fans at my shows sing my songs and come up to me and tell me how much my music has meant to them, I realize that we all share the same issues. And I think that’s the responsibility of an artist, to convey those internal things, so that everyone feels ‘normal’ and not alienated.
So, in essence it’s a form of “confession?” And you get to do that every time you’re on stage.
“Yeah. And unfortunately, I don’t know if people always interpret it that way. I have a moral dilemma sometimes, because I worry that I’m influencing kids, when really all I’m doing is describing behavior. I worry that kids think that I’m celebrating these things… or celebrating my flaws. So, either the music is therapeutic or maybe it could be destructive. There’s no way to know. But, I feel deep down that this is my path and that I don’t have a choice in the matter. And I just really hope that I’m not a bad influence. You know, for every drunk kid on the front row, singing at the top of his voice these drinking songs, who is probably missing the point, there is someone else who I’ll meet whose struggled with alcoholism who’ll tell me a song really touched them. So, perhaps a case can be made for both sides.”
Are you planning on signing with a label soon?
“I’m really happy with the way things are working right now. I’m a real open-minded person and I’m open to opportunities, but the economy is changing so much right now with the use of the internet… the music industry is changing so much. I think that the era with the ‘big superstar’ with the ‘big hits,’ is coming to a close. In music right now, there is an emerging ‘middle class,’ whereas before if you ‘made it,’ you were rich and famous, but now there is a whole range of success that really wasn’t even feasible 10 years ago. The line between amateur and professionals is more and more blurry. Hell, I’m an amateur! But, I think it’s great for musicians because we have avenues that we didn't have in the past.”
If you weren’t doing music right now, would you still be teaching?
“I think I’ll go back to teaching at some point… I don’t know what I’ll teach, maybe music; I don’t know. I think I’m a teacher before I’m anything else. And maybe as a songwriter is just another way of teaching?
This is a more technical question, but do you write in mostly prose or story form?
“Both. I journal write with no form whatsoever, stream of conscious, just to get ideas out there. A lot of times I get imagery and content I can use in songs. But equally important for me as the lyrics is the melody. So a song has to start with a melody. Sometimes there is a line with a natural melody to hit, and I’ll think ‘oh, this line is pretty cool.’ But, songwriting is different than poetry because you have to think more about form and what words sound good when they’re sung. There’s a lot less freedom in songwriting than there is in poetry.
What about co-writing?
“I work alone. I’ve tried writing with other people and it just doesn’t work. I’m into duets, though. A duet with Willie Nelson… that’s my ultimate!”
How do you describe your stage presence?
“There’s definitely a different side of me that comes out onstage. Because I tend to be pretty shy and reserved, unless I’m drinking. But when I get on stage, I know that paid money and are here to have a good time, and I know I have to overcome my shyness and be their ‘leader,’ in a way. So I have to be more outgoing. But, I still try to be humble and try to not let them be afraid to see my flaws. I try not to get upset if I flub a note or a chord on the guitar, I just try to laugh and be natural, not so ‘shiny-glossy-thing up on stage,’ like you’d see on TV. We don’t use fancy lights or anything like that, it’s pretty much straight forward, so we can just play and talk a little bit.
Where do you feel most popular?
“That’s a tough question. The Southeast definitely has been, because I’ve played here the most. In terms of enthusiasm, I love being far away from home. We just got back from Texas, and having 500 enthusiastic people in a new place is more exciting to me than 3,000 in a place I’ve already played. s far as numbers and ticket sales, definitely Georgia, Alabama, Florida, the Carolinas and Tennessee. But, we also did really good in Arkansas, even Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania… so it’s growing. I don’t know which place is most popular? I guess Georgia.
Are you most comfortable in the Athens area?
“I’m most comfortable at home. But as far as playing, I love playing in Georgia, though I do feel a bit of pressure here. I feel like people expect me to come out with a Georgia flag on and a Georgia Bulldogs hat. Don't get me wrong, I’m a huge Bulldog fan, I went to UGA. But, I don’t want people to identify me as the UGA guy, though I love Georgia, and still live in my hometown. I just don’t want to be pigeon-holed like that.”
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