Raised in a part of the country known for farming, Georgia red clay and family values, Joanna Smith had Music City aspirations at an early age. Growing up in Arlington, GA, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it small-town in Southwest Georgia, Smith got the performance bug from an intoxicating combination childhood tape recorder and listening to strong women of country including The Judds, Reba McEntire, and Dolly Parton.
Encouraged by her family, Joanna Smith entered every performance opportunity available and was committed to perfecting her live shows. Asked at an early age what she wanted to be when she grew up she replied, “I already AM a professional country music singer but I just don’t get to get on the stage much!” Fixing that, Smith took to every stage in the Southeast!
She’d had years of practice performing for crowds when at 18 she was tapped to join Mustang Sally, an all girl country band. Smith then decided to head to Nashville and pursue her music full-time, leaving a full scholarship to Auburn University. Despite a short run with Mustang Sally, Joanna Smith had fallen in love with Tennessee and decided to remain here permanently. With no connections and in a new city, she set out writing and singing demos, and in a little over a year signed her first publishing deal with Big Borassa Music. Since then, she has had two songs cut (“Flying By” on Billy Ray Cyrus’ latest record, HOME AT LAST), and has opened for Glen Campbell at the Ryman Auditorium.
Joanna spends her evenings playing on Broadway performing at the famed Tootsie’s and her days networking around the row. Last fall, she signed a contract with Sony Music Nashville, a publishing deal with Sony/ATV-Monument and has begun work recording her first full-length studio record.
“I want to sing country songs that hard-working, real people can relate to. Songs that folks can connect with through the ups and downs of life.” she says, and, after listening to her songs you immediately know; Smith knows how to reach out and touch a universal chord, a natural ability that makes her songs great.
With her professionalism and unadulterated talent, this saucy girl with the Southern twang is destined, and determined, to realize her dream of playing on radios and for country crowds nationwide.
