Last night was the Aaron Smith Benefit BBQ/Auction/Concert for my brother Aaron. I played music with some of my friends there, and it was a sucessful event. www.AaronSmithBenefit.com should still be up and running for a while. I want to thank those who were able to make it out or contribute!
Hey y'all, so... I got to audition to be on a new reality TV show and got on! It'll debut on April 8th at 8 pm on CMT. Check it out video below and see the more about the show HERE
Hey, its been a while since I have made a news post on the website! Next time I won't wait so long. This winter I broke ground on a new solo acoustic album, and hoped to have it out in the spring. But some exciting new developments have come up that may interfere with my timeline on the new album, so for now, I'll just have to ride it out, and see what happens for a little while. But rest assured, those of you asking about new music, I have been working on a lot of it!
We just got out of a two-week bout of extended sub-freezing temperatures, ice, and snow here in Texas. The Superbowl was happening in Dallas at the same time, and during prep week, some giant sheets of ice slid off the dome of Cowboys Stadium and injured a few workers. It was a big to-do. Luckily the sun was shining and the snow was melting on the actual day of Superbowl, and they cleared all the ice off the dome!
Then last Wednesday, I had a show at Doc's in Muenster, TX. It snowed that day, and stayed around 11 degrees. I was concerned no one would come out to the show, but low and behold, the place was packed! My musician friends, Tom McElvain, Shayne Whimmer, and Lenzie Barthold showed up, and all got up and played. It was a fun night for sure!
The next day, I became an uncle! My oldest brother Aaron and his wife, Sydne had a baby girl, Elizabeth Grace, and we call her Izzie G. She is a cutie, and my mom is happy to finally be a grama ha!
Over the past few days, the weather did a 360 and it has been sunny and around 75 degrees here in good ol' North Texas, and that gave me the just the opportuntiy I needed to catch up on some tree trimming & removal jobs the weather had been keeping me away from. You can't beat working outdoors in conditions like that, especially when everyone around has to break out their grills and smokers, make BBQ, and let it's smoke disperse in the sunny, 75 degree air.
I get a ton of satisfaction from working my tree jobs. I love making music, don't get me wrong... but my other job title is "Arborist." I have a degree in "urban forestry" and am a tree doctor so to speak. I simply go by "The Tree Smith" in that profession, and though the biology, ecology, entomology, soil science and botany that go into it can be complex, the job also requires a lot of just very simple and honest work... like removing, trimming, or planting a tree.
A lot of times when I load my chainsaws, climbing gear and other tools in my truck, as corny as it may sound, the old John Denver tune comes to mind:
"I wouldn’t trade my life for diamonds or jewels; I never was one of those money-hungry fools. I'd rather have my fiddle and my farmin' tools. Thank God I'm a country boy."
My guitar is my "fiddle" and my pieces of tree gear are my "farmin' tools," and the work itself is so basic and honest compared to the highly political job environment a lot of my urbanite friends work in, I feel blessed.
Hey check out Ben Smith Band on Dallas/Fort Worth's NBC News! just click HERE.
Hey everyone,
In late July, NBC 5 in DFW came and filmed us playing a show at Adair’s Saloon, and this week they let us know that they will be airing a bit about us on the 10 pm news this Sunday night, Aug 29th. So tune in and check it out! If you are not in the area, www.nbcdfw.com will have it on their website at some point
Thanks!
Ben Smith Band
Our how at Adair's Saloon, on Thursday July 29th at 10pm WILL BE FILMED FOR TV on NBC 5! That's right people, NBC 5 is coming to film us and do a local TV bit about our band and about Adair's Saloon, so mark this date down and get your butts to the show sporting your Ben Smith gear and brushed up on the words to the songs! Don't know them by heart? Download "Pendulum" from Itunes! It will be an epic night of DFW fun! We will keep you posted on the air date info when we know it.
Spread the word to all your Dallas area friends, and get ready to make some noise!
Ben
Kelly McGuire and I will be playing a Benefit for NOAH'S ARK ANIMAL SHELTER on June 13th at Lake Kiowa, TX. Anyone who has a business that would like to help sponsor this event, or just to make a donation, call DONNA ALLEN at the Cooke Country Appraisals Office: 940-727-2090 100% of donations go to fund the animal shelter!
Thanks!
Ben
Fans, Ben Smith is now on Pandora Radio, a popular internet radio service that allows listeners to shape their own radio stations based off their own preferences. Now we have received a lot of comments from fans who are not pleased with the music the reviewing board at Pandora has used as a foundation to pair Ben's music with. We have been in contact with Pandora requesting a better and more streamlined selections of music to pair with Ben Smith, but they are being real sticklers about their selection, which is too bad. But HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS:
YOU can help make Ben Smith Radio into a better station!
On your laptop, mac, or pc, you can click on the "Add Variety" Tab and add music from the artists you want to hear on the Ben Smith Radio Station. SO FANS.... GO DO THIS on a REGULAR basis!! HELP BUILD THE MOMENTUM!
Add artists like Eli Young Band, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Corey Smith, and other artists that share a lot of Common ground with Ben Smith.
Also, ADD BEN SMITH to THOSE ARTISTS Stations!! All of this will help spread Ben's Music to new fans, and make Ben Smith Radio filled with music from good and fitting artists!
If you are not set up on Pandora Radio yet, go to www.pandora.com and get on it!
The good folks at CountryChart.com wrote a fine review for Ben's album, "Pendulum." Check it out.
http://www.countrychart.com/2009/07/review-ben-smith-pendulum.html
Hey Everyone, My band and I are looking for a good band name. “Ben Smith Band” just lacks something... we need Ben Smith and the “Something Something...” Kinda like Jack Ingram and THE BEAT UP FORD BAND, or Ryan Adams and THE CARDINALS... You get the point. So we are having a FAN CONTEST ! Get creative and help throw ideas out for good band names! Be cool, be funny, be whatever you wanna be. If we get an enrty we like, the person who came up with it will be the winner of THE FIRST BEN SMITH SHIRT EVER MADE. Just go to our website guestlist and put your suggestion in there at http://benfrickinsmith.com/guestbook.html Goodluck! Ben
May 2nd, we had two shows, One at The Cottonwood Art Festival in Richardson at 2:45 then The Big CD Rlease Party at Hat Tricks in Lewisville that night at 10. The band and I (Tom, Cory, Justin and me) all met up at Cottowood park and got out gear loaded into a tent at the Festival around 2 pm. Fred Allen, the stage manager, was there to greet us and help get us set up. That's when it began to rain a little. We started our set and there was still a good number of rain or shine partiers that were ready to get down in the mud... us included! Haha! Or I was at least! My guitarist, Tom, with his broken leg was looking over his shoulder with fear as a puddle of water rolled closer and closer to his power strip! Anyway, four songs into our set we got word that we had to shut it down and that The City of Richardson had called the Festival off due to rain. We were officially rained out... and THAT'S when THE BIG ONE blew in! As the crowd scattered, Fred jumped onstage and it was a mad rush for all of us to get all the gear piled in the center of the stage and get the wall flaps closed up as GOBS of rain just pelted everything and the creeks rose before our eyes! We were huddled under the cover of the stage for about 30 minutes when we received word that The Dallas Cowboys Training Facility had been destroyed by the storm! So there we sat stranded in our little Tent/Stage with ALL of our pricey electronic gear inside thinking, "Oh Shit. Are we gonna die and/or get our stuff jacked up?" Luckily no, the storm passed and we were unscathed... and though the show was bust, we still got paid, Fred told us he wanted us back in October... AND we got to go have our fill at the food tent after we had loaded all our gear out! Luckily I had my pair of Keens out in my truck... kind of a river shoe I use for kayaking and hiking. I put those on and rolled my pants up a little. That was a good thing because between us and the food tent was a GIANT puddle/lake that USED to be the fair grounds! So Tom stood there with his crutches, looking out across the puddle/lake and down at the big cast on his leg like "Umm... well crap." Cory and Justin were finding creative ways to hop around and through the lake/puddle without getting their shoes too wet. The water was about a foot deep in spots. But Tom was out of luck getting to the food tent on his own, so we decided to advance on the food tent Chuck Norris style. I put Tom on my back, crutches and all and trudged through the lake/puddle in my Keens! And when we got across, we feasted at the table of glory! Ha! While we were eating, my friend David DiMuzio called. He is the guy I co-wrote Country Summer Days with and he lives in Nashville. He was calling to say that he was driving down 21st Avenue and right next to him was Kieth Urban driving down 21st Avenue as well! He was like "I'm looking right at him right now. I have a man-crush on Kieth Urban." Haha, a funny side note to our day. Anyway the fun wasn't over. We still had our CD Release Party at Hat Tricks in Lewisville that night! So we planned to rendezvous at Hat Tricks around 9 pm. Justin and Tom both went home for a while, while Cory and I went up to my house in Denton to catch a little rest. The rain was still coming down. We were chilling in the house watching the news when I looked out and saw a CREEK running through our side yard! It was POURING! Behind my house there are some trials that meander through the woods and by Lake Sharron. I run on them a lot. When Lake Sharron gets high, it overflows into what is the headwaters of Hickory Creek. When it rains at all, that little creek rushes so hard it resembles a Colorado snow melt... only the water is green instead of clear. So I told Cory about it and said I bet it was probably a raging mess back there with all this rain and might be cool to see. Cory is always down for an adventure and said "That actually sounds like a lot of fun." So we made panchos out of trash bags and set out through the woods, in the rain. It was about dusk. We could HEAR the spillway long before we actually got to it, and when we did, it was like all hell had broken loose! The Lake was about 6 feet above the spillway and a raging river about 50 feet wide was just PLOWING through the woods and around trees! It was crazy. The ground was so soupy we had to be careful to not sink in it! We got a good look at the river before we decided to head back. We were going to take a different road that runs along the bank of Lake Sharron but found that the lake was so high, it had flooded the road! We tried to wade through it, but when it got thigh-high on my lanky 6'5" frame, I got concerned and so did Cory and his 5'7" self! So we took to the woods and found a trail on higher ground. Once we did, we looked at the clock and were like, "Crap! we gotta get to Hat Tricks! So there we started running. The house was about 3/4 of a mile away. So there we were running on a trail through the woods in a torrential downpour, in the dark! It was AWESOME! We got to the house, put on some dry clothes and got to Hat Tricks just in time to meet Justin and Tom and set up for the show... Despite the rain, swine flu scare, and the fact that Kenny Chesney, Dave Mathews, and Hank Jr were playing in town that weekend, there was a pretty good turnout at the show... but for the rest of the story... I guess you just had to be there.