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A Conversation with Mindy Smith (continued)
PM: How many years were you in Knoxville?
MS: I want to say I was there for...about four years. I was there until '98, so I'm thinking at least four years.
PM: So you ran into the music there that helped shape your thinking and your development, right? I mean, we saw a band together the other night that are friends of yours that you knew from Knoxville.
MS: Yeah, Blue Mother Tupelo. And I've been a fan of theirs for years, a fan first, and now I get to be friends with them so [laughs] I would go so far as to say that I'm influenced by them musically.
PM: Right. Yeah, I thought when I heard Micol [Davis] sing that night, that I heard her voice take a few turns and I went, "Oh, yeah, I can see where Mindy might say that she was moved by Micol's singing, and even influenced to some degree."
MS: Yeah, I love her. I can't get enough. She could sing the phone book and I'd be happy. [laughs]
PM: Yeah. I'm hoping that I really get where their record is coming from, because if I do, then I'm going to review it in the same issue where we interview you, because that makes sense. [As it turned out, we were too jammed up already with CDs we were overdue with, so we'll be listening to Blue Mother Tupelo for the following issue.]
Is anybody covering your songs yet? I thought I heard a rumor to that effect, concerning Alison Krauss....
MS: Well, it's not absolutely certain. I mean, Alison, she may or may not put one of my songs on her record. If it comes out, it comes out. If it comes out and it's on the racks, then I know that I've got a cut. I do know she's excited about some of my songs, and if she does put one on the record, that would be great, I'll be ecstatic, and I'll be happy to brag about it then, but... I still walk with great caution through this industry. [laughs]
PM: Yeah, right. It's a small town.
MS: Right.
PM: And it's not a fast-track town, Nashville. Things take time. You were here for some five years and are now hitting some really bright lights. Could we go through any of the steps it took to get here, any of the relationships, the pitfalls or the breakthroughs? For instance, how did you hook up with a publisher, and who was that?
MS: I got hooked up with Kerry and Gary O'Neil through a guy named Gerd Mueller.
PM: Gerd Mueller, he's a great fella.
MS: Yeah. He hooked me up with them for a couple things, and for some reason it didn't pan out. I was going in and I was doing some vocals for John Scott Sherrill. And when the gig was over, I didn't even know about it. I'd been without a gig for a year, living in poverty, on other people's couches, basically.
PM: Here in Nashville?
MS: Yeah, yeah. But even though it didn't work out with Gerd, I'm really fortunate to have gotten a deal. I mean, he set me up with co-writing over there. He was good to me. But nothing really came out of it.
PM: And what company was Gerd with at the time, Blue Water?
MS: Uh-huh.
PM: Where did the deal finally go down?
MS: Big Yellow Dog Music.
PM: And are they your publisher today?
MS: They are.
PM: And who is that?
MS: That's Kerry O'Neil and Carla Wallace.
PM: Okay. So that was one kind of milestone reached and one hurdle crossed, the publisher. But were there other key people along the way before you met, say, Steve Buckingham?
MS: Yeah. [laughs]
PM: Who else played a roll in the evolution of--
MS: Well, a lot of people brought my stuff to him. But I think after I'd done a co-write with a guy here named Eric Silver, he got my stuff to Steve. Steve listened to it and Steve was really excited about it after that. Eric is the guy who instigated--well, actually got the follow-through with that one, yeah.
PM: What a guy. Yeah, I saw him in Provence yesterday. It's amazing, there's always somebody in the story, "They took my stuff to this guy, and this guy took it to that guy." And so Eric Silver is the guy who got the stuff to Buckingham, and your life began to change.
MS: Uh-huh.
PM: And how did it happen from there? Did Steve get the deal with Vanguard?
MS: Well, Steve, he's like the vice president here in town.
PM: That's right, I forgot. Ah, well.
MS: He's vice president of the Nashville operations. He's also a producer. He also helps run this record label with Kevin Welch and the rest of the team there. So he got really excited about it. And apparently, for Steve to get excited about something is a big deal. [laughs]
PM: Right. He's done a lot of things.
MS: He's done a lot of things, and he's incredibly particular about what he does and doesn't like, as I've come to know because I brought stuff to him before. He's really particular about music, and he's good at what he does.
PM: Right. Well, it's a beautiful sounding record. And he produced it, right?
MS: We co-produced it. And then I got really fortunate to actually have worked with Steve on the "Jolene" track, and we co-produced that. We worked really well together. And with his ability--A, his resources; B, his approach to production with a fine tooth comb--it's been a really great experience for me to work with him, with his status and the respect that he has with musicians all over the world.
PM: Yeah.
MS: We worked really well together on this record, I would say. And it was a treat and a privilege to work with him. continue
