Jim Smoak: At the Depot

Abstract

Recorded live at The Depot Railroad Museum in Salem, Indiana, April 25, 2022.

Jim Smoak grew up surrounded by music and learned to play from his mother at an early age. When he was twelve, he purchased his first banjo from Sears, Roebuck & Co. after winning a 4-H prize in South Carolina. Shortly after his high school graduation, Jim hit the road with his banjo. He spent much of his early career performing live shows both in person and on television, working with bluegrass greats Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Hylo Brown. Jim stopped touring in the 1970s when he met his wife, and the couple settled in her hometown of Pekin, IN. For more than fifty years, he has taught banjo and a variety of other instruments to children and adults and has twice served as a master artist in the Traditional Arts Indiana Apprenticeship Program. In 2008, Jim was recognized as one of the “Pioneers of Bluegrass” by the International Bluegrass Music Museum, and in 2022 he was named an Indiana Heritage Fellow. Now in his eighties, Jim Smoak continues to play music throughout Kentuckiana.

Personnel: Jim Smoak, Banjo and voice

Brian Allen, Guitar

Old Dan Tucker

The Charleston & Western Carolina Railroad

Rattler’s Pup

Louis (Grandpa) Jones, 1958

Carolina Boy

The Waltz You Saved For Me

Back Home Again in Indiana

Reuben’s Train

Nine Hundred Miles

Who’s Going Down to Wilmingtown

Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie

This Heart of Mine

Cumberland Gap

Old John

Don’t Care How

Mama Don’t Allow

I Won’t Let You Down

Sea Anemone

The Lakes of Pontchatrain

Jon Kay, Project Director, Producer, and Field Recording Engineer

Kyle Fulford, Field Recording Engineer, Audio Editing and Liner Notes

Claire Gillett and Katya Chomitzky, Editing and Liner Notes

Emily Bryant, Graphic Designer

Mike Bridavsky, Mastering Engineer