BIO

Born Jason Kyle Smith in Pike County Kentucky in 1974 I was raised by my parents Billy Lee and Billie Jean Smith on Alleghaney Rd in the community of Hellier, KY.  My father worked in the computer industry for many years for the banking industry and lastly for Pikeville Medical Hospital before his death.  My mother was a homemaker that went back to school to become a medical transcriptionist until her time of death.   I have one sibling, a younger brother, Marcus.  We grew up next door to my mother's parents.  My grandfather was a school teacher and my grandmother was the greatest cook ever.  Our household was a strict but loving one and I would graduate Millard High School to go onto Georgetown College in 1992.  I studied pre-engineering at Georgetown and would later transfer to the University of Kentucky in 1995 for the continuation of my electrical engineering degree.  I had worked at Oldham lumber while at Georgetown College to help pay for school and continued there as I transferred to UK.  In 1996 the Lumber company was purchased by Russ Griffith who offered me a full time "real job" as a salesperson.  The salary, for a 23 year old, was nice and came with a company vehicle and a cell phone. After four and a half years of college and 148 credit hours I decided to concentrate on being a salesperson in the construction industry and never returned to the university.   I met my future wife Cristy in 1997 through roommates that I shared an apartment with.  We were married in 1998 and with guidance and help from the owner of my lumber company we built our first house in Georgetown in 2000. I lost my father in 2001 before he would be able to see the three sons we would have.  My mother passed in 2011 and I struggled to find a way to deal with the absence of family that I always relied on for advice and support.  For the next few years I buried my emotions in alcohol and partying until 2014.  I had an old guitar that my father had bought me while I was in college that I never learned to play.  It was too hard at that time to learn.  I picked up that guitar and started to play around with it.  After learning a few chords my neighbor who played gave me some advice and I really started focusing and practicing in 2015.  I started to play music that I listened to and found the outlet for my thoughts and feelings through writing lyrics with the chords I was able to play on the guitar.  I would hang out with my friends on the weekend and listen to local artists play in Midway and then try my hand around campfires in my neighborhood.  I became brave enough to start playing open mics in 2017 and participated in open jams with local band Shanghai Express.  I learned to play different styles of music and became a better musician by playing with the group.  In 2018 I played my first performance at the Stave in Millville thanks to a friend that worked  there.  It was my first show and The Stave's first live music performance.  Performing was a new addiction and I practiced and played everyday sometimes multiple times.  All three of my sons now find interest in Music both classically and with various stringed instruments.   I find performing continues to be an important part of my life with my wife by my side at all my shows.  While striving to know and play a variety of songs and genres for people they like to hear I also love to play my own works and tell my story through my lyrics.  Today I find myself very blessed to have the support of many people that I call my friends.  Playing music is many things for me.  I hope that is always the case.  As my neighbor always told me, "Everyone hears music differently in their own way, be you, be out of the box". 

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