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 Mindy Smith was in her early 30s before she’d signed her first record deal. After years of grinding away in Nashville open mic nights and songwriter workshops there was nothing to suggest a sudden career growth spurt, and yet there she was, the only unknown artist on a high-profile tribute CD to Dolly Parton (with the lead single, no less) and playing for Leno’s and Conan’s late-night audiences — before she’d even released a CD.
Smith is the adopted daughter of a minister and his church music director wife. Always tugged at by music, young Smith was both enthusiastically encouraged by her mother and bewildered by the stares and reprimands she’d receive from others whenever she burst spontaneously into song. Leaving her north central Long Island home for college in Cincinnati, Smith tested the waters by singing and co-writing in her first band. When her mother died of cancer, Smith moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, with her father; it was there in the South that Smith, 19 at this point, adopted her musical identity, first falling for the region’s rich musical heritage and next developing a forthcoming, autobiographical lyrical style to go with rootsy music that dabbles in acoustic folk, contemporary and traditional country, and rock, frequently with pop melodies and subdued tones.
After a few years in Knoxville, Smith stuffed her only $300 in a pocket and moved west to Nashville, where years of struggle began to subside when she won the Tin Pan South Open Mike Competition in 2000. In 2003 Mindy Smith signed with Vanguard Records and recorded “Jolene” for the Just Because I’m A Woman: The Songs of Dolly Parton tribute collection.
From 2004-2009, Smith co-produced each of her four albums — 2004’s One Moment More (which earned her an Americana Music Award as Best New/Emerging Artist), 2006’s Long Island Shores, the 2007 seasonal collection called My Holiday and Stupid Love in 2009.
Provenance: Smithtown, Long Island, New York
Latest Release: Stupid Love (2009)
© 2009 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
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