Jennifer Jean Smith

It took me a while to figure out that I was a songwriter. I'm not sure why, since I've been a lover of words and music my whole life. Ever since I got my first Osmond Brothers album (yes we had albums back then) I've been a little, shall we say obsessed. I remember my oldest sister complaining, "Jenny listens to a song over and over again until she knows every word!" I guess she saw what was coming! I always sang. I used to have my own concerts singing every Helen Reddy song I knew while swinging on my swing set. As I got older I would do my own shows out in the pole barn where my voice echoed or just out between the barns where I had an attentive audience of dairy cattle. They were as quiet as any audience at the Bluebird Café! I was always a start and stop writer. I'd write poems and short stories, but never really knew what to do with them. I had an amazing Great Aunt who lived on the farm across the road who gave me little blank books to write my poems in. Shes the one who made me feel like it was OK, this strange desire to express myself in a way that was so different from my sisters. After high school, in the summers between semesters at MSU I worked at a truck stop and they always played country music on the radio. My Dad always listened to country but it didnt really sink in until I was hearing those songs all day long at the diner. I realized that my voice seemed to wrap easily around those songs and I loved the stories and stark honesty of the songs. When I finally got around to learning guitar many years later, I had a great guitar teacher for a short time who gave me just enough to get started, then the songs just started coming. I started going to Nashville and learning about songwriting and just fell in love with the whole process. There is much more to tell, but mostly, the songs do the telling for me now. They are like the diary of my life.I hope you like them.BTW...that's my daughter Jac on the harmonies.Peace and Love to you and yours,Jennifer