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Perfect 10: The 'Live at Billy Bob's' series celebrates a milestone
Nov 20, 2008 (Fort Worth Star-Telegram - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
The Smith Music Group has no official motto, but it might want to consider this observation from McDonald's entrepreneur Ray Kroc: "The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time and, second, doing something about it."
The Fort Worth-based group, which co-produces the popular "Live at Billy Bob's" series of CDs and DVDs, took Kroc's advice when it formed a mutually beneficial alliance with the world's largest honky-tonk at a key moment in Texas music history.
In 1998, before Texas music had burst into the mainstream -- just try finding Jack Ingram or Pat Green on the CMT network or in the pages of Country Weekly in those days -- Billy Bob's Texas' Chief Operating Officer Billy Minick took a meeting with an entrepreneur who lived in Florida and had Cowtown roots.
"His name was Rick Smith [Sr.]," Minick says. "He looked like John Denver in an Armani suit and tassel loafers. He said, 'I want to make some music.' I said, 'Fine, if we make this deal, get out of that suit, get you some Wranglers, get out of that BMW and [into] a pair of boots.'
"He did that [and] ended up being my best friend. He was borderline genius, [the] most creative guy I've ever met in my life."
What began as "a marketing tool" for Minick and the renowned club blossomed into "Live at Billy Bob's," one of the few consistent, venue-specific collections of recordings in the country. The series of recordings will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2009.
Available as digital downloads, in Billy Bob's gift shop and at Wal-Marts across the country, the "Live at Billy Bob's" collection skims the cream of the Lone Star crop, as well as including some of Nashville's biggest stars, all while showcasing one of Fort Worth's premier performance spaces.
There are other notable North Texas music venues that have played host to live recording sessions -- ZZ Top just released Live in Texas, recorded at Grand Prairie's Nokia Theatre, while guitar virtuoso Lindsey Buckingham unveiled Live at the Bass Performance Hall earlier in 2008 -- but none has the cachet of "Live at Billy Bob's." Smith and Minick took pains to build up a collection of homegrown talent, showcasing Texas artists on the way up and often providing a springboard to bigger, better opportunities.
"I think everybody would agree it was great for their career," says Amarillo-born singer/songwriter Kevin Fowler, who will play Billy Bob's on Friday and whose own entry into the "Live at Billy Bob's" series was released in 2002.
"Billy Minick was really ahead of the curve on this whole Texas thing. He gave us a lot of credibility."
The first recording session for what would become the "Live at Billy Bob's" series took place Dec. 4, 1998.
It featured Pat Green, a then-little-known singer/songwriter from San Antonio with a pair of studio albums under his belt and a single live album, cut at Gruene Hall in the Central Texas town of Gruene and released earlier in 1998.
Green's "Live at Billy Bob's" disc hit stores in 1999, alongside a New Year's Eve concert, recorded just weeks after Green's gig, featuring Merle Haggard.
Initially, the idea of recording a relatively unfamiliar Texas artist was more practical than anything else, as Smith and Minick decided it would be best to practice the recording process before trying to capture better-known artists in concert.
"We started the record series. ... [Rick] came to me and he said, 'We've got to do one of these to practice, that's a smaller act,'" Minick says. "We started in, and it began to move along. It was a little hard to do ... we had some ups and downs. You begin to get smarter if you can stay alive."
Slowly, but steadily, Smith Music Group and Billy Bob's built up the catalog (currently, there are nearly 40 artists represented in the "Live at Billy Bob's" series, a case of quality over quantity), enticing more big and about-to-be-big names to cut a live album under the aegis of Billy Bob's Texas and Smith Music Group. Haggard, Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel and Tanya Tucker are a few of the better known names that have "Live at Billy Bob's" records in their back catalogs, but the bulk of the albums are focused on talent that's more regional than national.
"We still lean toward up-and-coming Texas music acts," Minick says. "The reason we like to do that is that we've got kind of a gut feel around here which next Texas artist is going to break out, and we've been pretty successful at that. We try to get those artists on there and most of those guys go on to get major record deals. The brand has a lot to do with it -- it's a well-recognized brand."
Fowler, who says his "Live at Billy Bob's" album still moves plenty of units -- "Every fan seems to have a copy of that record" -- says that as a musician in the Lone Star State, being a part of the series' relatively exclusive club is a point of pride.
"It's right there on the checklist as a Texas artist -- there are certain things you've got to do," Fowler says. "You've got to sell out Gruene [Hall], got to do a 'Live at Billy Bob's' record and by God, hopefully, someday you can play the Houston [Livestock Show and] Rodeo. You do all that and can die a happy man."
But just as the "Live at Billy Bob's" series began to thrive and expand -- aided by distribution to Wal-Mart stores around the country and Smith Entertainment Records, created in 2003 -- Rick Smith passed away, in 2004, after a heart attack.
His brother, Randy Smith, who was a part of Smith Music Group from its earliest days, stepped in as chief operating officer not long afterward, although Rick Smith's son, Rick Jr., continues to be an integral part of the company, which remains headquartered in the Livestock Exchange Building in the Stockyards.
"I really came in doing all the sales, back when we had seven records," says Randy Smith. "The transition was pretty smooth, because I was in the middle of everything anyway. Rick had a kid, and ... he wants to carry this thing on, so we are just moving forward. We say it's all about the music, and we're just a stepping stone in the right direction."
At the end of the day, the club's the thing
The "Live at Billy Bob's" series of albums may be a profitable business venture, a platform for the burgeoning Texas music scene and an archival project, but above all, it's a tangible calling card for the legendary Cowtown club.
"It's marketing Billy Bob's," Minick says. "We put little things in [the CD case so] you can write back and get on e-mail lists ... you'd be surprised -- they come from all over the world. The best business models in the world are you keep 'em simple and stupid."
Of course, many more musicians play the 6,000-capacity club in a given year than appear in the series -- "We've been here 27 years and we do 100-something acts a year, so it's not truly reflective of that," Minick says -- but despite its specific focus, the collection nevertheless manages to capture the soul of Billy Bob's as one of country music's indelible landmarks.
"Rick created this thing -- it literally started out to be the world's largest collection of country music at the world's largest honky-tonk," Randy Smith says. "We've kind of captured a live-music venue's scene, which is pretty much the pinnacle of anybody that's in country music."
He says that the artists, who are almost always approached by the company, are typically without record contracts or are between contracts, meaning they can do a "Live at Billy Bob's" album as a one-off project. This flexibility has allowed Smith Music Group to land some big fish (and helps explain the absence of other A-listers) that might otherwise slip past. By also eschewing a presence in Nashville, New York or Los Angeles, Smith Music Group provides an avenue for up-and-coming artists that provides exposure without gambling too soon on a major-label deal.
"We catch 'em on the way up or we catch 'em on the way down, but we get 'em," Smith says. "We try to grab 'em, especially these young guys before they go on to major label deals, because it helps those guys. I know Nashville -- I don't know if they used to; they definitely do now -- look at who we're recording. ... It makes our sales job to an artist pretty damn easy."
As the 10th anniversary of Smith Music Group's formation and the re-release of the inaugural "Live at Billy Bob's" albums nears, Smith insists that he, along with most of the company's employees, aren't focused on the milestone, although he does allow that some "top-secret, for now" plans are being formulated to mark the occasion.
"We've never sat back -- even though 10 years is coming up. ... To us, it's just another year of trying to get the next guy out in front of [people] because that's what it's all about," Randy Smith says. "We've been lucky as hell. Who would've thought recording live music at a club in Fort Worth would spawn this many successful records and this many successful artists?"
Minick, who hopes listeners "get a little taste of what the world's largest honky-tonk is about," is more succinct, but no less impassioned, in his assessment of the past decade.
"It hasn't been dull, let's put it that way," he says.
Where to buy The "Live at Billy Bob's" albums are available for purchase at Billy Bob's Texas, as well as through the venue's Web site ( www.billybobstexas.com), Smith Music Group's Web site ( www.smithmusic.com) and at retailers like Wal-Mart, the iTunes Store and Amazon.com.
Preston Jones is the Star-Telegram pop music critic, 817-390-7713
To see more of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, or to subscribe to the newspaper,
go to http://www.star-telegram.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Fort Worth
Star-Telegram, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For
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