“I have played music all of my life. My brothers and sisters were into music and they taught me everything. We had piles of records. We listened to everything from Hank Snow and Hank Williams to Jim Morrison. I was six when I started playing drums. I now play guitar, bass, accordion, mandolin, violin and piano. I have about 60 instruments. I have had odd jobs to make ends meet, but it has always been about music. I have played in Spain, Egypt, France, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Belgium. We have busked on the streets in many of those places and the last 6 or 7 years Kris has done it with me. Busking is great and they always like us. One of our first places was the Opera Cafe in Paris and they kept asking us back. The operatic singers came in and loved our ‘hillbilly music.’ In Zurich, they filled my hat with big, silver coins. We have a new song named ‘Amstel Sky,’ from our time in Amsterdam that I love to play. I also like our song ‘Yellowstoned,’ about our trip to Yellowstone. We do what we like.”
“I am a classic rock guy and have been playing professionally since I was 14. I played with Everclear several times and sat with Chris Cagle and played for John Prine. My favorite memory was playing with Everclear in front of 100,000 people in Chattanooga. I did the back line for them and started talking to the techs. They made it look like they just pulled up a guy to play. We bonded after that. I played drums Warren Wolf’s ‘Buzz Me’ album and did guitar and vocals for Sam Baylor’s solo album. I also did sound for the Eagles at a private party.”
“I am having to take it slow and can’t play as much as I want to. The cancer seems to be OK right now, but it’s the bronchitis that is giving me problems and keeping me from breathing normally. The scar tissue from my tumor has me where I can’t eat much. Music has been my whole life and it has taken me around the world. It has been fun and I can’t complain.”
“Bud and I skipped school in 8th grade and played ‘In Memory of Elizabeth Reed’ for three hours. Bud had a black Les Paul and it blew my mind that he knew how to play David Gilmour and Jimmy Page. I didn’t know how to play any of that.” (Will Kimbrough)
“When Bud was 12, I told him if he could play Neil Young’s ‘Cortez the Killer’ then he could prove to me he was a real musician. Within about two hours he nailed it. When he was about 6, he got a little electric guitar and an amp for Christmas. A few days later, the family was gathered in the den on Sunday morning and he plugged his little amp and guitar in outside the hall where we couldn’t see him. He leaped into the room like Eddie van Halen and hit the chords for Three Dog Night and sang out the first line “Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog.” We all died laughing, and he played the whole song.” (Teresa, Bud’s sister)
RIP Bud, you will be missed.
Bud I played in a band with Michael Bolt. A three piece band called “The Culprits”. Michael and I believed Bud to be very talented and energetic. We had fun.
I talked to Bud a few weeks ago and told him I loved him before we hung up. He told me how everything in his life was great and then he learned about the cancer. I woke this morning to learn he had gone to the hospital. Only Moments later I learned of his passing. For the past few months I prayed to God to help Bud in his struggles and ease his pain and bring him peace. I know he is at peace now. You won’t be forgotten Bud Smith.
I met Bud when he entered the band in high school(McGill-Toolen). He came in as a percussionist and said that he also played guitar…It seems by time he was a sophomore he moved on from the concert band thing and was part of the band community within the school population…I remember Bud having lots of enthusiasm about music and a sense of determination to be doing it…fast forward 30 years…I saw The Bud’s playing at lucky Irish pub back in the fall…he looked good and played and sang great…with all the loops and gadgetry their sound was impressiv and (as he mentioned above) his drumming on Warrens project was in the pocket and solid…it was easy to tell what he had been up to all those years…”We do what we like”…that’s an honest assessment of Bud…by Bud…(David Padgett…an old friend)