CW Smith has been composing since 1979, and recording since he founded Sound System in 1986. He began recording with the audubon society (now called Smith & Straughn) in 1988, then as a solo artist in 1989. Other sections of this web site will focus on CW's work with those groups; this section will focus on his solo work.
Recurring themes in CW's music -- regardless of how it was packaged -- include the mysteries of love, the elusiveness of inner and outward peace, the fragility of life, and the rewards and frustrations of the creative process.
CW was born Curtis Wade Smith on January 29, 1969. His parents, Mike and Sheila Smith, died in an automobile accident in 1975. CW and his sister Kristin were raised by grandparents, aunts and uncles until they became adults. CW is an ardent supporter of organizations that fight drunk driving, in the hope that families will be spared the pain of losing loved ones as he did.
CW and Kristin were raised as brother and sister to their two cousins, Doug and Michelle Vanderpool. Doug now works with computers in Florida; Michelle married Olympic wrestler Terry Brands, and lives in Colorado; and Kristin is an anesthesiologist in southern California.
CW has focused on his musical and technical talents, and continues to live in Iowa with his wife Donna and their daughter Rose. He enjoys his time with family, and collects Beatles records and older Macintosh computers.
CW and his longtime business and musical partner, Steve Hudspeth, opened Trifecta Recording Studio in 1992 and operated it together until 2002. They concentrated on production for other musicians, with CW and Steve occasionally being asked to lay down a track of bass, drums, or piano to help complete a client's project. Over the course of this work, CW expanded his talents to include not only guitar and bass, but also drums, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, ukelele, trombone, and piano -- he even tunes pianos!
An important aspect of Trifecta was their dependence on their computers. As CW and Steve migrated to digital recording, they used both Windows- and Macintosh-based systems on a daily basis. Data backups were an obvious necessity, and the ability to use the same backup on Windows or Mac was crucial. Windows-to-Mac networking was pivotal to completing projects. And of course, keeping all the studio's and clients' computers updated and operational was critical. Keeping a stock of spare drives, cables, RAM chips, networking cards, even entire spare computers, became an obsession. As CW learned new techniques and continued to hone them every day, he started building what would become WinMacTech, his Windows - Macintosh technical consulting service.
CW's music from 1986 to 1993 was recorded on analog tape and released exclusively on cassette. CW learned to work around the limitations of the format, to varying degrees of success. CW finally went digital in 1998, releasing a remastered version of South Of Dakota as his first CD. He later remastered his other cassettes in a 4-CD set, Early Works: 1989-1992.
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