BLAKE: When did your recording career begin? What inspired you to first make music?
BOBBY SMITH: My recording career started in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 25 with my first pop single “Gotta Be Movin Along”. I hired a jazz pianist to arrange the tracks and four musicians performed them. It was later put on a 45rpm record and self distributed to 100 radio stations with my own label "Hit Records". The tracks sounded pretty good but had a little jazz flavor so first I altered that. Then I was ready to go in and sing. I can't remember how many times I had to re-sing the track, but it was a lot.  A lot of reverb helped!  I was horrible and somewhat embarrassed to play it for all my friends! I also had to change the words frequently because they didn't make any sense... It was about a guy who couldn't settle down. A complete FAILURE. Then came the second song. With determination, I had to show my engineer that I could do better, so I practiced singing it and adding my own instruments. Then I started adding backup vocals and a horn section at a later date. I relayed all of the notes that I wanted from my head to the musicians, and then we stacked them. Lots of what you call ping-ponging back then. Needless to say that song as well as the next three or four no one would listen to! Anyway to make a long story short through the years along comes production #27 with Award #12 “I'm Stuck On This Feeling” out of Los Angeles.

BLAKE: Your new single is currently getting a great response on radio. How would you describe your new single?
BOBBY SMITH: Well I had just finished two award-winning ballads, so I told my producer that I wanted to write something that would “Rock The Boat”! Lots of harmonies in the backup vocals, rocking guitars, organ, etc. Make the listener listen all the way through. After doing all of the previous songs I learned quite a bit each time I wrote and recorded one. That would help me on the next one to make it even better. The singing got down to how to sing each syllable as far as being soft, hard, sustaining, or pitch changing. The instruments had to portray what I'm singing as well as the backup vocals. Its like putting a puzzle together, the different categories have to match. Make the song likable as far as the subject, vocals, instruments, and a structure including a bridge and a chorus with the hook. I try to describe my songs just like an author writing a book. The scene, setting, characters, and the story. As far as the song, you have to capture the audience in the first 10 seconds or more than likely they will not listen to the rest of the song. Bottom line it's going to be a success or a failure.

BLAKE: How do you feel your music has changed this past year?
BOBBY SMITH: Well it seems that my producer/musician/engineer and myself can almost read each others minds after recording many songs. I just lay down what I want and he goes from there. When I come in to sing the tracks everything runs as smooth as glass. We can fully put together from scratch a song in an average of 8 to 10 hours. My only problem is that I run out of arrangements and the ones I've used before pop back in my head when I first write it, so I have to try to alter them. I get inspired once in a blue moon and write another, but from the beginning it's not so easy. Lots of things to consider including losing the listener early in the song, so it has to be something "special" that relates to people's lives in a listenable arrangement so that they continue to listen.

BLAKE: What is your creative process when it comes to songwriting?
BOBBY SMITH: First I find a melody with my guitar. Then structure it with an intro possibly, then the first verse, chorus, second verse, chorus,instrumental,bridge, chorus, then ending with a “stretched” chorus. Then I add the lyrics after the music is ready. After that comes the instruments, vocals, mix, etc.

BLAKE: During this creative process, do you feel you work better alone or in a team?
BOBBY SMITH: I work better alone writing the song. Then recording it with my producer/musician/engineer only in the control room. No distractions are a must to make things happen with no mistakes. Complete concentration is an understatement for creativity. Its kind of like making a movie. And in some cases a music video follows!  Build it a track at a time. Don't over-do or under-do anything. Keep it interesting until the very end with the vocals, lyrics, and instrumental changes. Construct the song so that you can perform it live as well.