BWW Interviews: Bruce Smith of Austin Talks of his Passion for Songwriting and Singing

Bruce Smith was born in Detroit, Michigan and has lived all over including Washington, D.C. and New York City, but arriving in Austin, Texas over 12 years ago made Bruce feel at home. It's where Bruce likes to spend his time writing music and entertaining in and around Austin. BWW had a chance to talk with him recently about his musical career and how he almost became a politican instead.

What got you into music in the first place?

Always loved music. I was working on Capital Hill and I was about 23 years old. I played the guitar a little bit but I had a choice between pursuing music a little more fully or staying in politics. It was kind of a crossroads thing and my heart was into pursuing music more than staying in politics and that was crazy but that's the only thing that made sense to me, more sense than anything else and I'm really glad I did that. It was a little bit of a crossroads but it was most fulfilling. I'm originally from Detroit and I've lived in a lot of places. I've lived in Atlanta then moved up to Washington, D.C. Then I lived in New York City for ten years where I met my wife. She's from Texas and she wanted to come back. She said, "Give Austin a year. If you don't like it, we'll go back to New York." We're going to be here 12 years next month. She knew it was going to be fine.

You also write?

That's the thing I enjoy the most. I always had ideas in my head forever and then actually writing my first couple of songs was a great experience. The experience that I never expected was writing a song and having someone react positively to it. That was the best. I never had any anticipation what that was feeling was going to be like and that's the thing that is the most satisfying to me is writing something that it resonates with somebody. That's my favorite part. I aspire to write (for others). There are things in the works, but that hasn't happened yet.

Who do you get your inspiration from?

My heroes are songwriters I grew up listening to; that's Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen. I love the Beatles, John Hiatt, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison. Those are the people amongst many, many, many others that meant a lot to me and that's what I hope to try to do when I write.

Where do yo use yourself in five years?

I'm always going to be playing music and writing in some capacity. I hope touring on a national level and on a global level. Hopefully a song or two have been recorded by somebody else and doing what I love and supporting myself doing what I love is what I look forward to in five years.

Buce is currently working on some more music to share with the people of Austin and the rest of the world. Check out his website: http://thebrucesmithband.tumblr.com/

PHOTO CREDIT: Kathy Strain

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