Hard-Headed Fool

With Another Album Released, Corey Smith's Success Surprises Even Him

originally published September 26, 2007

Three weeks ago, I was at the doctor's office, making small talk with one of the receptionists while waiting for an appointment. She asked about my job, and I told her that I worked at Flagpole, covering the local music scene. "Yeah, I heard there's some music here in town. I don't know too much about that," she said. I ran through the typical big names - "Heard of R.E.M.? Widespread Panic?" - to little success.

"You know who I do like, though?" she said. "That Corey Smith. He's from around here, right?" She then proceeded to dissect his songs in detail, mentioning how much she loved listening to them while driving, how they make her remember some good times back in college, how there's nothing "too fancy" about them. She wrapped up the minor rapture by telling me about the time her boyfriend called her up while he was driving down the highway. He held his cell phone up to the car radio so that she could hear the song, and then asked her if she knew who it was because he wanted to buy that album, any album, from that singer. "'Well honey, that's Corey Smith,' I told him," she said, then peered over the glasses she'd just slid down her nose and said, "I told him I'd been telling him about Corey Smith for a good long while, but you know he never listens. Everybody knows Corey Smith."

It seems like that's the case - everybody does know Corey Smith, except those immersed in the same scene out of which he grew. Smith got his start playing in Athens, playing regular acoustic shows at Tasty World and Wild Wing Café and flying under the radar of most of the West Washington Street crowd. He graduated from UGA in 2001 and shortly thereafter released his debut album Undertones, followed by 2005's The Good Life. The style Smith has developed is an easy-going one, decidedly Southern but straddling genres like country, acoustic rock and straightforward singer-songwriter fare. His breakthrough hit "Twenty-One," a reminiscence of carefree college days, epitomizes Smith's core appeal - that of the everyman stumbling too fast through life, sometimes surprised by where he is and usually nostalgic for where he's been.

This week, Smith plays two shows at the Classic Center to celebrate the release of Hard-Headed Fool, his new album. Flagpole recently called Smith and found him in Chapel Hill. He'd just finished playing a show at the Cat's Cradle, and was excited to have sold out his first show in North Carolina.

Flagpole

How's the tour going so far?

Corey Smith

It's wonderful. It's kind of cool, because now when I play at home in Athens, crowds are different these days, just because the folks there have been to so many shows over the past couple years already. Up here, that level of enthusiasm that I remember from Athens has spread around a bunch of places. The last show I played, there's singing along even to new songs that haven't come out yet and are just on the Internet. And folks already know all the words!

Flagpole

You got started playing in Athens with smaller shows at Wild Wing and Tasty World, but now you're at a point where you're having to add additional shows at a place like the Classic Center. How have audiences here in Athens changed?

Corey Smith

Maybe it's hard for me to comment… I haven't played Athens in so long. At the [Georgia] Theatre, everyone was just nuts, singing along, the energy never seemed to drop off. Maybe it's so long since I've played a song there, I forgot what that kind of energy feels like. And every now and then, we'll come across a town or a show like this one in Chapel Hill where it's just as energetic, and that's kind of surprising, but really great.

The Classic Center shows are a little different. Everyone's sitting down, people aren't quite as drunk. You've got families and music lovers who want to enjoy the show mixed in with the ones who want to party, so it's kind of a weird dynamic. Much different than when you pack in the drinking, college-age crowd into a small room. It's a completely different ball game.

Flagpole

Do you get a chance to talk to people and find out how they come across your music?

Corey Smith

After every show, I get out into the crowd to talk to people that hang around. Several of the people I've met have downloaded the new album, and I'll ask 'em what they think. Sometimes they'll say, "Oh, it's really great, you've really grown," or sometimes they'll go, "Yeah, it's okay, but it wasn't quite like your old stuff." A lot of people miss the old stuff, which is kind of what I expected.

With this album, I wanted to branch out and appeal to people who may not be moved by just acoustic guitar and simpler music. A lot of people are used to bigger production, more like what you might hear on the radio, and I wanted to try an album in that direction. Of course, there are the acoustic tracks on there as well.

Flagpole

Talk a little about the recording process for Hard-Headed Fool.

Corey Smith

It was a really gradual process over the course of a year, or a little more. I stayed busy writing and whenever I got a handful of songs together, I'd go record a little acoustic demo. I recorded the album in Gainesville at the same place I recorded the past two albums, and worked with the same engineer.

This was the first album, though, where I had the experience in production - as well as the financial resources and the human resources - to really go in and just do everything exactly how I wanted to do it. Before, I didn't have as much money, so I'd have to pick two or three songs that I wanted to put a lot of production on, and I didn't know as many players, so if I wanted dobro or mandolin on a song, I didn't know who to reach out to. So I'm really proud of this album, because for me it's been the first time I've really been able to follow through and produce what I had in my head - exactly how I wanted to produce it.

Flagpole

There's a struggle between "real life" and the musician's life on the song "I'm No Hank Williams." That's something you've addressed before in your lyrics.

Corey Smith

I never planned on doing this, it's been a real surprise. Hell, my wife married a high-school teacher. When I graduated from [the University of] Georgia, that was my plan. I had the retirement plan. This thing kinda happened and just blew me away. Sometimes I have to ask myself whether it's a blessing or a curse, and I think there is that bit of a struggle there. Especially being in this business, it's constant temptation - whether it's drinking or drugs or girls - all this temptation is right there, so it's easy for me to ask myself whether it's a good thing or not.

Actually, with this album, because of that internal struggle, I wanted to convey a positive message over all. I hope that I did.

Flagpole

Can you imagine a time when you go back to that regular life?

Corey Smith

I'll tell you this: I don't ever see a time when I stop writing. It can be therapy for me. I can definitely see a time when I slow down on the touring and just focus on writing songs. That's when I'm happiest, when I can spend a little time on myself, write a bit, do some traveling, experience new things and write about it. To me, that's the core of everything that's happened over the past three or four years. So I hope there's a time I can slow down and hang around the house.

Flagpole

The audiences at your shows are surprisingly diverse. Who you do you see as the Corey Smith fan?

Corey Smith

It all starts with college-age kids. So many of my songs, especially my earlier ones, were about my time in Athens and kind of nostalgic for that time. I wrote them when I'd just graduated and was starting to teach, having a normal 9-to-5 gig, so I thought about my time in college. Essentially, I think it's those nostalgic drinking anthems that appeal to the core fanbase; however, there's a lot more to my music than that and I've got songs that delve into philosophy and religion, and some about family and love.

What I've found is that those songs might bring them in, but then the kids listen to the album and discover there's a lot more to it… they might share them with their parents or family. At shows, you'll see parents there with their college-age kids, and that's pretty amazing to me that there can be such a broad cross-section at places like the Classic Center.

Flagpole

Will you ever be able to come back from playing these large, sold-out shows to play smaller gigs?

Corey Smith

It's weird you ask, because I was just thinking about how I want to go back to playing some small shows if possible. Man, I'd love to play Tasty World again. I miss that coffee-house sit-down-and-talk-about-the-songs thing. I think one challenge to doing that kind of thing now is the momentum we're building in new markets - we need to keep that going.

Also, there are a lot of people now who depend on me to make wise decisions. It'd be kind of selfish of me to play fun, small shows where I don't make any money - it wouldn't be very fair to my management and other folks on my team overall. I'll probably wait a while and try to do smaller things at Tasty World or the Melting Point.

Flagpole

Will the two shows you play at the Classic Center be the same?

Corey Smith

I haven't thought too much about it at this point, but there may be a few songs we won't play one night [that] we will the other, and we may rotate those around. Essentially though, man, there's 10 songs that I have to play. Otherwise, people would leave pissed off. So I don't have too much leeway if I want to keep people happy, which I do…

I've got two guys from Atlanta. My drummer's Marcus Petruska [of the Zac Brown Band], and the upright bass player's Rob Henson [of Telegram]. That's who I tour with. For the Classic Center shows, Lee Davis, the engineer and the guy who played keys on all my albums, will come and sit in, so we'll have some keys on some songs and that'll be something new we haven't done before. Should be fun!

Chris Hassiotis

WHO: Corey Smith, Sam Thacker
WHERE: Classic Center
WHEN: Thursday, September 27; Friday, September 28
HOW MUCH: $20