Corey Smith – Hard Headed Fool

Corey Smith is an independent artist who is releasing his fourth album off the Broken Bottle Music Label. Hard Headed Fool is being pre-released to iTunes in digital, downloadable format before the hard copy release slated for sometime this fall. For Smith, a former high school Social Studies teacher, this is just another step on the ladder in his musical career. He has been a wildly popular local artist in his home state of Georgia, selling out almost everywhere he plays. His talent has ensured a very loyal and fast spreading fan base, and he's become incredibly popular with the online crowd around the nation. In the Myspace Rankings, he holds the #1 position for an unsigned country artist. But because of his diverse talents, he also holds the #11 slot for unsigned rock artist and is at #30 in popularity for ALL Myspace artists. That figure includes ALL the genres. Smith has over 2.5 million plays on his Myspace page and a friends list that numbers over 50,000. His style is unique and not tied down to any one genre of music. He writes all of his own material, feeling that he can't get behind the song if it didn't come from his heart. His voice carries a gritty earthiness with a hint of smoke and is perfect for the daily life lyrics that make up the album. With his already strong online presence, the digital pre-release makes perfect sense.

I had a chance recently to talk with Smith for a phone interview. I found him very pleasant and down to earth. He is very excited about this project and feels that it is his best effort yet with the music choices he made. With today's technology, being an independent artist isn't the death sentence of the past. Today, a strong online presence can mean as much to a career as radio spins. The number of people who are turning to online streaming, music sites such as Myspace and various other sources outside of radio to hear the music they are missing on the airwaves is becoming a force to take seriously. Smith prefers not to be categorized into one genre label. He just writes and performs music that he is willing to stand behind and it is usually a blend of several genres – his own unique style. Since I'm a fan of the traditional country music, this album is a bit different than I normally listen to, but it quickly grew on me. A couple of the songs that really stood out for me were "What Happened," "I'm No Hank Williams," Hard Headed Fool" and "Sweet Little Boy." All of them are dealing with choices in life and the consequences of those choices. However, the entire album is packed with quality material with nothing that I would consider just filler. I fully expect to be hearing much more from Corey Smith in the future.