The true story of Country artist and preacher Monte Stephens and his soul mate Reverend Janice Brown, of "Rough Side Of The Mountain" fame. Mastered by Jeff Silverman with Apple Digital Masters.

The Woman God Made For Me

From the Light Crust Doughboys album "Roots Gospel 'Round the USA," sung by Grant Maloy Smith.

Church In The Valley

In The Garden

Lord Take All of Me

From the Light Crust Doughboys album "Roots Gospel 'Round the USA," this is an original song written and performed by Grant Maloy Smith.

Roots Gospel' Round the USA

Where Main Street Ends (Gospel)

From the album MISSISSIPPI: AMERICAN STORIES
Words and music © 2023 Grant Maloy Smith
All rights reserved
Produced by Grant Maloy Smith
co-produced by Chuck Ebert, Jeff Silverman, and Kabir Sehgal

Mother Mother

Grant Maloy Smith has created his own version of Hank Williams' classic song. This is a cover song.

Hey Good Lookin'

From the album MISSISSIPPI: AMERICAN STORIES
© words and music 2024 Grant Maloy Smith
All rights reserved
Produced by Grant Maloy Smith
co-produced by Chuck Ebert, Jeff Silverman, and Kabir Sehgal

Lord Knows I Cried

If The River Keeps Rising

Headstrong Waters

Fade to Gray

End of the Line

Mississippi: American Stories

River of Ages

All I Gotta Do

You Don't Love Me Anymore

Memphis (feat. Janis Ian)

Grant Maloy Smith on the Beth Williams Indie Americana Songwriter Show

A collection of ballads from Billboard Top 10 recording artist Grant Maloy Smith.

Penny Ballads

Way Down Low

This powerful recording from the duo of Grant Maloy Smith and Kevin Lucas captures the pathos of human suffering and the hope for eternal salvation. It's an imaginative mash-up of the slave song, "Wade in the Water," and the 19th-century Gospel spiritual "Down to the River to Pray." Grant and Kevin have created a masterful arrangement that is sure to give you goosebumps.
​
This song draws deep from the spiritual and folk traditions of early America, merging African American resistance with rural Christian devotion. Running water is a powerful allegory of a physical and spiritual escape from bondage, simultaneously symbolizing purification, guidance, and faith. Together, the lyrics describe a journey toward freedom, with a call to prayer that echoes the resilience of oppressed peoples as they seek deliverance through faith and solidarity.
​
"Wade in the Water" is available now on this website. Starting May 23, 2025, it will be released to all major digital music platforms. You can listen to it using the player below, and buy your own digital download.

Wade in the Water

Wade In The Water

From the album "Dust Bowl - American Stories"
Words and music © Grant Maloy Smith (BMI)
℗ 2017 Suburban Cowboy Music
Produced by Grant Maloy Smith and Jeff Silverman
Mixed and mastered by Jeff Silverman at Palette Music • Studio • Productions (MSP), Nashville, TN
Assistant Producers: Louis Tanner, Kabir Sehgal, Herschel Garfein

Grant Maloy Smith is an American Roots Singer/Songwriter with a country bent. His songs tell heartfelt stories about real people, and are unfailingly optimistic and forward looking. His 2017 album "Dust Bowl - American Stories" is earning rave reviews, including one from NO DEPRESSION, the bible of American Roots music. “Grant’s ability to capture the heartland in his music is amazing ... he has written A heartland masterpiece ... lyrics and music as potent as Woody Guthrie ... sent chills down my spine ... bound to become a classic ... A reminder of the darker period of Bob Dylan, and it’s that good, that memorable...” Grant is a member of the Recording Academy (the Grammys®), the AMA, the CMA, and is a BMI Recording artist.

Vocals, Guitar, Rain Stick: Grant Maloy Smith
Native American Flute Eagle Bone: Gareth Laffely
Fiddle: Lorenza Ponce
Percussion: Matt Burgess
Wurlitzer, Melotron: Tommy Mandel
Bass: Bill Wittman

℗ 2017 Suburban Cowboy Music
Vocals, Guitar and Rain Stick recorded at Suburban Cowboy Studio, Wakefield, RI
Fiddle, Bass, Melotron, Wurlitzer recorded at PIE Studio, Glen Cove, NY (Engineered by Perry Margouleff and Max Sornik)
Percussion and Gareth Laffely recorded at Palette Studio, Nashville, TN

LYRICS

Isht A Lhampko (Have Strength)

Earth below my blanket
Sky above my head
Just outside my vision
The night was turning red

Water is like our lifeline
Rain is like our blood
Why’s our whole world dying?
Lord, what have we done?

But it’s all right
We’re still breathing
Isht a Lhampko
We’re not leaving

Air has come against
Clouds of humma roll
Listen to the wind song
Singing from his soul

Fire has cooked our rabbits
And lit our sky for years
We will not be beaten
We walked the trail of tears

Chorus

Dust Bowl - American Stories

Isht a Lhampko (Have Strength)

Isht A Lhampko (Have Strength)

This is just a short sample of the song from the Billboard top 10 album "Dust Bowl - American Stories"
You can order the entire album in several ways:
Amazon.com - real CDs as well as downloads
CDbaby.com - real CDs as well as downloads
Apple iTunes - digital downloads
The artist's website - SIGNED copies of the CD
www.grant-maloy-smith.com/DustBowl

So Far Away (sample)

Lily Of The Valley (sample)

Old Black Roller (sample)

A Christmas song about a passel of possums who save Christmas by pulling Santa's sleigh when the reindeer get sick and can't continue on. This song has been developed into a children's book, written and illustrated by Grant Maloy Smith, published September 2018 by Headline Books, and available beforehand for pre-ordering on Amazon, and other major retailers.

https://www.amazon.com/Fly-Possum-Grant-Maloy-Smith/dp/1946664340

Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Headline Books (September 17, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1946664340
ISBN-13: 978-1946664341
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.2 x 8.5 inches

The remarkable EmiSunshine is the featured vocalist, with Grant

Fly Possum Fly
© 2017 words and music Grant Maloy Smith

One Christmas eve he won't forget
Old Santa nearly pitched a fit
When Rudolph came down with the flu
Well, he got weak and he turned blue
Reindeer cried and whinnied
On that rooftop in Virginee
And it looked like Santa Claus was really through

My dad climbed up the ladder
He said "Nick, that just don't matter
I've got some friends with poor eyesight
but they can guide your sleigh all right
Even if it's snowing
Just point them where you're going
I'll hook you up a passel here tonight" 

Fly possum fly
Lift Ol' Santa to the sky
Get those bags of toys to everyone
Fly possum fly
Nature's clean-up crew on high
You got eight more hours to git it done 

With curly tails and pointed snouts
And fifty teeth in little mouths
They flew on from hill to dale
Delivering their special mail
Jacks and Jills and Joeys
Spurred by Santa's ho-ho-ho'ing
With true blue possum hearts they could not fail 

Fly possum fly
Lift Ol' Santa to the sky
Get those bags of toys to everyone
Fly possum fly
Nature's clean-up crew on high
You got six more hours to git it done

Instrumental  

From Illinois to Tennessee
From Muscle Shoals to Abilene
They flew all night on stardust tracks
With babies on their mother's backs
So now you know the skinny
That right here in Virginee
We saved Christmas eve and that's a fact

Fly possum fly
Lift Ol' Santa to the sky
Get those bags of toys to everyone
Fly possum fly
Nature's clean-up crew on high
You got four more hours to git it done

Fly possum fly
Lift Ol' Santa to the sky
Get those bags of toys to everyone
Fly possum fly
Nature's clean-up crew on high
You got two more hours to git it done

Fly Possum Fly

Fly Possum Fly (feat. EmiSunshine) [Bluegrass version]

"I Reckon"
© words and music Grant Maloy Smith
Produced by Chuck Ebert and Grant Maloy Smith
Recorded at OmniSound and Prime Recording studios in Nashville.
Steel guitar recorded at The Cabin Studio, Azle, Texas
Vocals recorded at Suburban Cowboy Studio, South Kingstown, RI
Mixed and Mastered by Jeff Silverman at Palette Studios MSP, Nashville.

Players:
Wayne Killius – Drums
Jimmy Carter - Bass
Jerry McPherson - Electric Guitar
Carl Miner - Acoustic Guitar & Mandolin
Mike Rojas - Piano/B3
Mitchell Smithey - Pedal Steel Guitar

I did my homework every night
I been to college once or twice
Still, I ain’t the sharpest knife in the kitchen drawer
Every time I went astray
I always heard my daddy say:
“Boy, you can’t forget the work that  you were put here for...

Wiser men than me should preach
Still, I got something I can teach
These are things that I’ve found
I’m just passing them on down...

There’s a kinder word to say
A better way to pray
I reckon
There’s hope in every smile
Love in every child
I reckon
The higher up you climb
The bigger hills you find
I reckon
This is what my daddy said
I reckon"

I got a job and I bought a truck
I found a girl who shook me up
We turned those bricks
into a loving home

Bills come, babies cry
We make up after every fight
My dad says “Life ain’t like a TV show”

Chorus

We’ve got a boy, he’s twenty three
He finally opened up to me
He told me, “dad, I need a word or two”

I had faith but I turned it in
I lie awake and wonder what to

I reckon
I reckon
The higher up you climb
The bigger hills you find
I reckon
This is what my daddy said
I reckon
It's what my daddy said
I reckon

Our Country, Vol. I

I Reckon

Download

"Man Of Steel"
© words and music Grant Maloy Smith
Dedicated to all of the men and women who put themselves in harms way, and came back scarred and changed forever in body and spirit. We owe them a world of gratitude for their sacrifice and commitment.

Please help our veterans with a donation to the National Veterans Foundation. You can donate on their website here: https://nvf.org/
Or call them at (888) 777-4443

Players:
Grant Maloy Smith - Lead Vocal
Wayne Killius – Drums
Jimmy Carter - Bass
Jerry McPherson - Electric Guitar
Carl Miner - Acoustic Guitar
Mike Rojas - Piano/B3
Mitchell Smithey - Pedal Steel
Ross Holmes - Fiddle
Produced by Chuck Ebert and Grant Maloy Smith
Mixed by Chuck Ebert at The Cabin Studio, Azle, TX
Recorded at OmniSound Studios, Nashville and
Prime Recording, Nashville
Steel Guitar recorded at The Cabin Studio, Azle, TX
Vocals recorded at Suburban Cowboy, RI

I was born right here
Like everyone
Learned to read and write
Learned to walk and run
And riding in my daddy's truck in Summer
It felt like flying

I was a scrawny kid
Not too good at school
I enlisted then
The next thing I knew
I'm saying my good-byes and trading numbers
And mama's crying

In my soldier clothes
In the blazing sun
Riding dust roads
With my soldier gun
Then the earth rose up
And it spit me out
There was fire and blood
I can feel it now

I'm a Man Of Steel
Made of pins and wire
But these scars will heal
I still got my fire
I'm a Man Of Steel
Ever since that day
But my heart's still real
Can't take that away

It's been three whole months
The nurses say
They're going to ship me home
But I sure want to stay
Because every friend I have
Is going nowhere
But they're still trying

P/C
Chorus
Instr
Chorus

Note: "Man Of Steel" is a trademark of DC Comics.

Man Of Steel

From the album APPALACHIA: American Stories
Words and music © Grant Maloy Smith
Produced by Jeff Silverman and Grant Maloy Smith
https://www.grant-maloy-smith.com/appalachia

Jeff Taylor - Accordion
Grant Maloy Smith - Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Bass, Vocals
Matthew Burgess - Percussion 
Mike Johnson - Pedal Steel
Tim Lorsch - Viola and Cello

"We Got Mountains"

You’ll never see the ocean from Kentucky
You'll never feel the salt mist in your hair
But God gave us forests
Bluegrass for horses
Time to set and breathe the mountain air

You'll never see a poor man in Kentucky
Gold ain't what he's been living for
Kinfolk and good friends
Home fires and children 
Who could rightly ask for something more?

We’ve got mountains
We've got hollers
We've got rivers ambling through
When it’s my time
Lay me down here
On a hilltop
where the sunshine's painted blue

We got mountains
We got hollers
We got rivers ambling through
When it’s my time
Lay me down here
On a hilltop
where the sunshine's painted blue

You’ll never meet a stranger in Kentucky
You won’t need to roam to find a friend
Porch swings and fireflies
Sweet tea and moonlight
Misty mountain days that never end

Gonna spend my whole life in Kentucky
I'll sing the hills one final song
Sun's still a-burning
World's still a-turning
I know the place where I belong

We got mountains
We got hollers
We got rivers ambling through
When it’s my time
Lay me down here
On a hilltop
where the sunshine's painted blue

Appalachia- American Stories

We Got Mountains

From the album APPALACHIA: American Stories
Words and music © Grant Maloy Smith
Produced by Jeff Silverman and Grant Maloy Smith
https://www.grant-maloy-smith.com/appalachia

Jeff Taylor - Accordion
Grant Maloy Smith - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Bass
Matt Combs - Fiddle
Matthew Burgess - Percussion
Rob Ickes - Dobro
Trey Hensley - Acoustic Guitar

"Sometimes You're The Holler"

Maggie raised her sister June
With their Gram ma Ida Lynn
In a dirt floor, care-worn cabin
that was passed from kin to kin
Maggie dreamed of angels
Who would teach her how to fly
She kept her hopes like pennies
In a painted jar up high

She knew dreams were paper wings
But her heart beat hopeful still
‘Cause sometimes you’re the holler
and sometimes you’re the hill

Sometimes you're the Holler
And sometimes you're the hill
Sometimes you're the 'no I won't'
and sometimes you're 'I will'
Your heart can be an anchor
Or as light as spider silk
Sometimes you're the Holler
And sometimes you're the hill

Summer bent to Winter
and Ida Lynn turned ill
Maggie made her lily tea
And hugged away her chill
Then they watched her soul rise up
And drift out of the room
She soared above the rope bridge
and straight up to the moon

They knew dreams were paper wings
But their hearts beat hopeful still
Sometimes you’re the holler
and sometimes you’re the hill

Chorus

Appalachia - American Stories

Sometimes You're The Holler

From the album APPALACHIA: American Stories
Words and music © Grant Maloy Smith
Produced by Jeff Silverman and Grant Maloy Smith
https://www.grant-maloy-smith.com/appalachia

Frances Cunningham - Bouzouki
Grant Maloy Smith - Bass, Vocals
Jeff Taylor - Concertina
Matthew Burgess - Drums, Percussion
Rob Ickes - Dobro
Trey Hensley - Acoustic Guitar

When folks from eastern KY or TN needed work in the 30s and 40s, some made their way up Highway 23 to Cincinnati and beyond to look for rust belt work in Ohio, Michigan or Indiana. (The interstate highway system did not exist yet.) But most mountain people never fully acclimated to the Midwest, and enjoyed the chance to go home when they could. That's what this song is about. It's also a clear allegory to him dying and going to be with his forebears.

"Lord, Take Me Home"

Made the run in great time
Most of straight line
Highway twenty-three from Ohio
I been gone for so long
Been oh-so lonesome
Five more miles and I’m home

Gonna see my Grammy
The heart of the family
Mountain rope bridge memories in her eyes
Gonna hug my mama
It ain’t much farther
My oh my, Chevy fly

Take me home
Lord, take me home
To the only earthly peace I've ever known
Let me wade
in waters so fresh and so deep
I'll be released
Lord, take me home 

Look at how the moon shines
It's like a new dime
Chasing that ol' owl out from the barn
Gonna have some corn bread
Sleep in my own bed
My oh my, am I fine

Chorus

Country Rock

Lord, Take Me Home

Fly Possum Fly (feat. EmiSunshine) [Country version]

Samples from the album YELLOW TRAILER
Suburban Cowboy LLC

Yellow Trailer

Signed CD Buy

Starting Today (sample)

Down the Wishing Well (sample)

Don't Wanna Be Lonely (sample)

From the album APPALACHIA: American Stories
Words and music © Grant Maloy Smith
Produced by Jeff Silverman and Grant Maloy Smith
https://www.grant-maloy-smith.com/appalachia

Frances Cunningham - Bouzouki
Grant Maloy Smith - Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Bass
Jeff Taylor - Accordion
Matt Combs - Fiddle
Matthew Burgess - Percussion
Rob Ickes - Dobro
Trey Hensley - Acoustic Guitar

"The Red Haired Girl From Hazard"

You were raised in the hills of east Kentucky
Like your mama and her mama before her
In your best Sunday dress
you felt so lucky
You were through and through a Perry county girl

You were loud
Loud as crickets after supper
Talking miles
Pourin' smiles like lemonade
Harvest air
Running barefoot with your brother
You would leave this all behind
But then you'd wish you'd stayed

And you're still the red-haired girl from Hazard
Even though you left so many years ago
Now some folks say
leaving just don't matter
Then why does coming back
feel like coming home?

You found love
But it wouldn't last forever
You were young
Fresh as buttercups in May
But in time you made three kids together
And you raised them
When your man was far away

Chorus
Instrumental

You got old
And your eyes grew lines from laughing
With your daughters
You would spend your final years
Through it all
All the good and bad that happened
You showed us how to
live right through the tears

Chorus

The Red-Haired Girl From Hazard

The Red Haired Girl From Hazard

Recorded 2018 for the film
From the motion picture "One Little Finger"
https://youtu.be/xtMceQBQBow
http://www.onelittlefinger.com/
https://www.facebook.com/OneLittleFingerTheFilm/

"Standing Up"
© 2011 words and music Grant Maloy Smith

The morning TV shows the tragic sight
He drinks his coffee and he ties his tie
He books a ticket
He takes a flight
So scared about what he might find
But he's standing up for what is right

She still remembers
clear as a bell
The Earth was turning
and the buildings fell
So many children
So little time
Her healing hands were sore in need
And she's standing up for you and me

They're standing up to the dark
For the light inside your heart
And they ask for nothing
Because this time we can't wait
For somebody else

Just stand up
When the waters rise
If you got a place to stay that's warm and dry
You might get taken
once in a while
There are people who have gone astray
But you're standing up anyway

They're standing up to the dark
For the light inside your heart
And they ask for nothing
Because this time we can't wait
For somebody else

You're not alone
There's a hero on the way
You got a home
It's should be more than
Just a place to stay

Stand up for the lonely kids
Who never had a friend
Stand up for the woman
Who's been abused again
If you don't have money
give a little time
There are people in the world who need
Children every where to feed
If we're standing up
We're all free

One Little Finger

Standing Up

One Little Finger - Standing Up

Avalanche

The 2009 Pop/Rock album by Grant Maloy Smith

Already August

Grant Maloy Smith is a Billboard Top 10 American Roots Singer/Songwriter with a country bent. He has performed twice at Carnegie Hall, but he is equally at home in a 50-seat listening room. His songs tell heartfelt stories about real people and are unfailingly optimistic and forward-looking. His album, "Dust Bowl - American Stories," earned rave reviews, including one from NO DEPRESSION, the bible of American Roots music. “Grant’s ability to capture the heartland in his music is amazing ... he has written A heartland masterpiece ... lyrics and music as potent as Woody Guthrie ... sent chills down my spine ... bound to become a classic ... A reminder of the darker period of Bob Dylan, and it’s that good, that memorable...” Grant is a member of the CMA and AMA, and his music is distributed by Sony Orchard.

Grant Maloy Smith

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