Big Smith

Artist Information

Biography

Springfield, Missouri outfit Big Smith has long cultivated the Ozark hillbilly look, and further it with a tear-ass musical style that puts them in the company of groups like the Gourds and Avett Brothers. They usually look like they've just arrived from a turkey shoot or pig roast, but Big Smith can play high-energy, bluegrass-influenced roots music with anybody on the planet, and everyone in the band can sing like a cherub in a small country church choir. They list their influences as "Grandma, Grandpa and Led Zeppelin," and songs like "Trash," "Burn Down the House" and "12 Inch 3 Speed Oscillating Fan" have all the attention-grabbing, in-your-face energy of a feral hog with a bellyful of loco weed loose in your outhouse. These guys are as feel-good as it gets, so bring your shrink along. They'll cure him, too. — William Michael Smith, Houston Press

Big Smith is a band from Springfield, Missouri composed of five cousins: Mark and Jody Bilyeu, Bill and Rik Thomas, and Jay Williamson. The newest member, fiddle player Molly Healey, brings the total to six creative individuals bound together by blood and harmony.
After coming together professionally in the fall of 1996, they quickly earned a devoted following playing raucous acoustic music that captured the spirit of their native Ozarks, equipped only with an acoustic guitar, mandolin, bass fiddle and washboard. These early gigs demonstrated to unsuspecting audiences what joy and liberation could be found in the raw mojo of indigenous, authentic Ozarks culture; albeit a culture interpreted through the eyes of modern, intellectually astute neo-hillbillies, if you will.
The ten plus years they’ve been together have borne witness to an evolving instrumentation and sonic palate. The original acoustic lineup is still there as a tether to their legacy, but anymore it seems Big Smith simply aspires to be a great American band, regardless of whether the guitars are solid and amplified or woody and earthen.
In 2007 music became the full-time profession for Big Smith, as their expanded touring schedule attests – 2009 will see them playing upwards of 100 shows. They are still adored in their native Ozarks, but years of travel have earned them a place as a Midwest institution. They have made their mark outside their region with several forays to Chicago, Nashville, Austin and Colorado; several tours to the West Coast including two in 2007; and along the length of the Mississippi from the Twin Cities to New Orleans. They have recently enjoyed high-profile opening gigs for the likes of Emmylou Harris, Doc Watson, The Avett Brothers and the Del McCoury band. Summer of 2008 found them traveling to Europe for the 21st Annual Country Rendez-Vous Festival in Crappone, France.
The documentary Homemade Hillbilly Jam, profiling the band and the music of their extended family, has garnered rave reviews and a legion of new fans through numerous screenings at film festivals around the world. The DVD has enjoyed wide circulation in Europe and the U.S.A via distribution through First Run Features.
Big Smith is currently in the studio working on their sixth CD to be released Christmas 2009. Meanwhile they continue to enjoy the success of the first five releases that document their many years together.
Their most recent studio CD is a double disc made with their young fans in mind, Hay to Zzzzzz: Hillbilly Songs for Kids. Prior to Hay to Zzzzzz, Big Smith released Gig, another double CD. Long requested by fans, it is a generous sampling of what one can expect from the band's legendary club appearances. The band has also released two celebrated studio CDs - their self-titled debut, and Big Rock. The catalog is rounded out by and a live gospel CD, Live at Lonestar, that pays tribute to their family's musical roots.

Instrumentation

Mark Bilyeu- acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Jody Bilyeu-mandolin, keyboard
Bill Thomas--bass
Rik Thomas-banjo-uke
Jay Williamson-washboard, drums, bones, spoons
Molly Healey-fiddle
Everybody sings!

Discography

"Big Smith" self-titled debut
"Live at Lonestar" live gospel CD
"Big Rock"
"Gig" 2 Disc live album
"Hay to Zzzzzz: Hillbilly Songs for Kids" 2 Disc album

Audio

• Brady and Duncan
  Listen  
• Cicada
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• Mountain Man's Lament
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• Go Away, Maggie
  Listen  
• TRASH
  Listen  

Lyrics

• TRASH
• Go Away, Maggie

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Big Smith can play high-energy, bluegrass-influenced roots music with anybody on the planet! [+ Show ]
  

  Get over the Deliverance bib overalls and the Ozark ax-killer faces. The five guys in Springfield, M...Get over the Deliverance bib overalls and the Ozark ax-killer faces. The five guys in Springfield, Missouri outfit Big Smith have long cultivated the Ozark hillbilly look, and further it with a tear-ass musical style that puts them in the company of groups like the Gourds and Avett Brothers. They usually look like they've just arrived from a turkey shoot or pig roast, but Big Smith can play high-energy, bluegrass-influenced roots music with anybody on the planet, and everyone in the band can sing like a cherub in a small country church choir. They list their influences as "Grandma, Grandpa and Led Zeppelin," and songs like "Trash," "Burn Down the House" and "12 Inch 3 Speed Oscillating Fan" have all the attention-grabbing, in-your-face energy of a feral hog with a bellyful of loco weed loose in your outhouse. These guys are as feel-good as it gets, so bring your shrink along. They'll cure him, too. — William Michael Smith,

• Music Row Magazine [+ Show ]
  

  Their strengths abound in the array of instruments that chisel out country-fried melodies. And then ...Their strengths abound in the array of instruments that chisel out country-fried melodies. And then there are the lyrics-fun and flavorful, a real kick in the pants...Big Smith delivers big time.
  

• Country Standard Time [+ Show ]
  

  Big Smith proves that you don't have to come from Appalachia to produce great bluegrass. They also p...Big Smith proves that you don't have to come from Appalachia to produce great bluegrass. They also prove there's better country music in the Ozarks than Branson.
  

• Music City News Magazine [+ Show ]
  

  Big Smith offers good performances of interesting original lyrics, complimented by rich family harmo...Big Smith offers good performances of interesting original lyrics, complimented by rich family harmonies.
  
  

• Infinity Press
  

  Bona fide Hillbilly Band. Forward-thinking, floor board rattling Ozark hill hollering good times.

• Little Rock Free Press [+ Show ]
  

  Big Smith gives you that certain hootenanny in your nook and cranny with a bluegrass style that is u...Big Smith gives you that certain hootenanny in your nook and cranny with a bluegrass style that is unbelievable.
  

• Nightflying [+ Show ]
  

  I had a grand soul-savin' time with Big Smith recently. If you haven't experienced this band, you ne...I had a grand soul-savin' time with Big Smith recently. If you haven't experienced this band, you need to. What you have here are a bunch of seriously good pickers in overalls playing what can only be described as evangelical-turn-of-the-century-electrified-acoustic-rock-and-roll hymns to a bunch of seemingly godless hippies in tie-dyes, and everybody gets off. The crowds following Big Smith are so intense that the fire marshall actually suggested they literally take out all the furniture.
  

• Northwest Arkansas Times
  

  Big Smith sets the area on fire every time it comes to town.

• Pitch Weekly [+ Show ]
  

  When Big Smith-fever hits the crowd...there's enough perspiration, chills, delirious laughter, spilt...When Big Smith-fever hits the crowd...there's enough perspiration, chills, delirious laughter, spilt beer and falling tears to meet the quota of entire festivals.
  

• CHICAGO READER [+ Show ]
  

  HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: Big Smith, a hippie-tinged roots band is the nominal f...HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM DOCUMENTARY REVIEW:
  
  Big Smith, a hippie-tinged roots band is the nominal focus of this documentary, but (it) captures an extended family, descended from Ozark "hillbillies" and bound together by music…the clan keeps the old mountain repertoire alive, singing with a passion and grace that need no elaboration.”
  
  

Setlist

Two one hour-15 minute sets

Basic Requirements

Calendar