Carly Smith: A Humble Powerhouse of a Musician with Deep Musical Roots
By Shirley Stoffer
Carly Smith has music in her blood, and music IS her lifeblood—it’s what makes her tick. “Music is medicine to me. It’s part of every aspect of my life,” she says.
Carly hails from a family that includes professional bluegrass musicians on her father’s side: her grandfather, father, uncles and aunts. On her mother’s side, she is related to the inimitable Cruz family, whose most public members include Nā Hōkū Hanohano and Grammy award-winner John Cruz; Ernie Cruz, Sr., the original “Waimea Cowboy,” who had a string of local hits in the ‘70s; and Ernie Cruz, Jr., widely known for his participation in the popular band, Ka‘au Crater Boys.
Bluegrass and country music resonate with Carly most of all. “Lyrically, country and bluegrass are honest and pure,” she says. “The music tells a story; it’s not so much about radio play and popularity.”
One of the first things that you notice about Carly—besides her sweet, dimpled smile and the tasteful pattern of musical notes tattooed on her neck and shin—is her humility. While I was doing research on Carly for this article, I watched a couple of videos of her playing with the local group, The Girlas, a very successful band in which she played from 2005 to 2009. In these two videos—one of a TV appearance and the other a club gig—two things stood out for me: first, that she was so focused on the music pouring out of her that the audience might as well have been non-existent. Second, that even though her focus was purely on the blend of the group and the delivery of the song, in spite of herself, she was the true “star” of the band. Her talent shone like a beacon. She can’t help it; that’s just the way it is.
Some people are lucky enough to have been given a musical gift like Carly has. Not everyone, however, has the same attitude toward it. “My dad used to tell me over and over, ‘It doesn’t matter how good a musician you are; if you’re not a nice person, NO ONE will listen to your music.’ You know how it is,” she continues. “You just love someone’s music, then you hear or see something about their behavior that just turns you off, and you say to yourself, ‘I don’t like their music!’” Keeping her business relationships professional and positive is always foremost in her mind, “because it really comes back to you,” she says.
Carly’s positive attitude toward people and aversion to “burning bridges” has resulted in many rewarding associations and sometimes surprising opportunities. One of the most recent examples of this good fortune was when Carly was put on the lineup of the 2012 Waiki‘i Music Festival by music promoter Tim Bostock. “I still don’t even know how that happened,” she says. “I saw my name on a poster for the festival before he even called me!” It was a coveted spot, especially because this year was the first time the popular music event, traditionally held every Father’s Day weekend at Waiki‘i Ranch on Saddle Rd., had taken place in seven years. She followed the dynamic Hawaiian musician Willie K on the bill and received such good response from both the crowd and Willie K that the performance may lead to a future musical collaboration between the two.
Carly was born in 1984 in Turlock, California. Her father toured as a bluegrass musician all over Northern California with a group called CS Express. He started his kids on musical instruments when they were very young, and Carly won a fiddling contest when she was 6. “It really made my other two sisters mad,” she says. “They said, ‘You don’t even play fiddle!’” (As I said earlier, folks, she can’t help it.) The girls performed at county fairs and bluegrass festivals with their dad, appearing as Charlie Smith and the Smith Girls. When she was 12 years old, the Smith Girls opened for the famous bluegrass group, Allison Krauss and Union Station.
Her dad had to be convinced to let Carly play guitar; he didn’t think it was “ladylike” for girls to play that instrument. “I wanted to play guitar like he did; I didn’t want to play fiddle like my sisters,” she says. “So when I was 5, I started playing guitar, but my dad would only let me play rhythm guitar in the band. One day, when I was 16, we were jammin’ and I kept asking him, ‘C’mon, Dad, let me have a lead!,’ but he wouldn’t. Finally, he said, ‘Okay, let’s see what you can do.’ But it was more like he meant, ‘Go ahead. Let’s see you fall on your face!’ I played a riff, and he just kind of sighed and said, ‘Okay,’ like he was finally giving up that battle,” Carly laughs.
She now plays guitar, bass guitar (“Uncle Ernie, Sr., always makes me play bass for him when he performs on the Big Island—of course, I know all his songs!”), dobro, mandolin and ‘ukulele. She is a very talented singer and songwriter, with a beautiful voice that instantly commands attention.
When she was 16, Carly traveled to a bluegrass camp in Alaska, where she taught guitar to kids and mingled with the excellent bluegrass group, Bearfoot. She was surprised and delighted to hear that some of the Bearfoot band members come to Hawai’i island twice a year to teach at Keoki Kahumoku’s Aloha Bluegrass Camp. When she was 19, Carly’s cousin Tiffany Cruz enticed her to move to O’ahu, and Carly bought a one-way ticket to “Paradise”.
Soon after Carly arrived on O‘ahu, Tiffany introduced her to some of her talented musician friends, and shortly after that, Carly joined the band, The Girlas, a collective of six young female singer/songwriters. The group got big, to the point of touring the West Coast, playing for huge names like Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder and Jack Johnson. They had recorded an album, recorded tracks on two island music compilations and were in the middle of recording a second album of their own when the band dissolved. “I am so grateful, really,” Carly says, taking a positive approach to that event as she is wont to do. “It was the perfect time for me to be able to get to the Big Island and back to my country roots. The Girlas were playing more of a pop/rock style, and it was hard being on O‘ahu.” Kelli Heath from the band is still her best friend and ended up marrying Carly’s cousin, David Cruz.
Carly is very happy and excited to be starting a new chapter of her own life: she is marrying her fiancé, Derek Kenison, in October. Derek is very supportive of Carly’s music and says he wants to help her to be able to quit her full time “day job” as a manager of Crazy Shirts when they are married so she can focus entirely on her music and recording career.
Carly has begun recording a solo album on O‘ahu at the private studio of Imua Garza, a music producer and musician who was a member of the very popular local band, Opihi Pickers. The album is due out in late 2013.
When asked about her vision for her music career, Carly said, “I want to get an album out that will make the people of Hawai’i realize what the connection is between traditional Hawaiian music and paniolo (country) music—that it’s a true art form. I don’t sing songs in Hawaiian, but I do feel that my country music has an island flavor to it. I think that the “old” country music, before it got commercialized, was very similar to traditional Hawaiian music in a lot of ways.”
“It’s so sad,” Carly says. “I was watching the Nā Hōkūs (the annual Nā Hōkū Hanohano music awards celebration) last night, and there was no category for country/paniolo music! There’s rap; there’s even Latin…but no country/paniolo music? It’s such a large part of Hawaiian culture, it seems to me. That situation needs to be changed.” She gives me a dimpled smile, and says emphatically, “Let’s change it!”
Carly performs at the Hilton Waikoloa Village’s Malolo Lounge on Thursday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. Perhaps surprisingly to some people, the hotel requested that she emphasize country music at her gig there. She also plays at various Kohala Coast, Waimea and Kona venues, performing a wide range of music, including many of her originals, and covers of some of the songs made famous by her Cruz family members. Sometimes she and Grammy-winner/guitarist Charles Brotman present gigs together in Kohala. Carly also has a steady stream of jobs playing for weddings, baby lū‘au and special events on this and other islands. ❖
Contact writer Shirley Stoffer
Photos courtesy of Carly Smith
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