FIU’s newest defensive coordinator stopped by TSR to talk about his new position at FIU, the faith he has in the future of the UCF program and also how it was coaching under UCF head coach George O’Leary.
ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor Dari Nowkhah also came on the show to talk about Pete Carroll, his impact on USC and the NFL and whether NCAA investigations had anything to do with his departure from Southern Cal.
I know this is off the sports topic, but just thought you all might enjoy the story I wrote on singer/songwriter and Georiga-native Corey Smith for the Central Florida Future. In case you missed it, my link to the interview with Smith is at the bottom of the story.
BY: RYAN BASS, CENTRAL FLORIDA FUTURE
Corey Smith has been almost a decade removed from the days he spent using a piece of white chalk as an instrument of education as a teacher at North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, Ga. in 2001.
The graduate from the University of Georgia chased his dreams of becoming a teacher out of college, but it wasn’t long after that the Jefferson, Ga. native decided to exchange his piece of chalk for a more close-to-home instrument: a guitar.
It was a decision that now in 2010, has made him one of the most popular independent artists, having sold over 100,000 copies of his albums without signing with a major label and with no radio play. At first, the thought of giving up teaching was a frightening scenario for Smith.
“It was certainly scary on a practical level knowing I had been to school and had planned on being a teacher and retiring as a teacher,” the 32-year-old Smith said.
Smith, who performed in front of a packed crowd at the House of Blues in Lake Buena Vista last Wednesday, is on tour promoting his new album, Keeping up with the Joneses, and has come a long way from the raw, country-style acoustic music he made his fame on.
Raised by his grandparents in the rural town of Jefferson, Smith was surrounded by family and was well educed in music. His grandmother was a fan of country while his father was in a rock band. He was a huge fan of the acoustic growing up and, ironically, didn’t care for country music.
“I didn’t like the country,” he said. “It seemed simple, stupid and disingenuous. It wasn’t until much later that I came to appreciate what country music was.”
That country tone began to develop once Smith began recording. His first album, Undertones, which released in 2003, expressed his youth, relating to high school and college students with hit singles like “I’m Not Gonna Cry” and “Twenty-one”. From there, Smith’s appeal with college-aged crowds was born.
“The songs that have become popular with college kids were songs I wrote at the end of my college career or shortly after when I was still very nostalgic and I had access to the kind of experiences that seemed to resonate with people very young,” he said. “When I think back to when I wrote songs like “Twenty-one” or “If I Could Do It Again”, I was just learning how to express myself and I was writing about things I knew.”
The Georgia-based singer/songwriter joined me for a phone conversation about his early life, his music inspirations, how happy he is about his growth in fan base and to talk about his new album, “Keeping up with the Joneses”.
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