Doug Smith/PBS Documentary

This made for public television documentary entitled "there it is..." contains a one hour 11 song performance and interview presentation featuring Doug Smith, who many believe is the top contemporary southwest pianist/composer of our time. Produced and documented on film by PBS producer Ellen Robertson Neal (of KACV in Amarillo, Texas), this project represents the life of a child prodigy growing up on the plains of West Texas, his love for the piano, and his outstanding gift to compose timeless masterful compositions. Contained are several personal interviews with Doug, friends, colleagues, and family members who are key witnesses to his personal life as well as influences in his music, his recordings, and his very unique and original approach to his piano performances.

Without formal training or professional guidance on the piano Doug has clearly developed into an originator that has taken his God given gift to the highest level. The beautiful setting documents Doug performing the songs which are most dear to his heart and are the ones that have defined him as the artist he has evolved into. Doug admits, "the nine foot Steinway Piano is such a sweet and perfect instrument. When I sit down and address her she responds, reacts, and always rises to a higher dimension of pure piano bliss that never ceases to amaze me. In my mind, it's the most elegant, versatile, beautiful, powerful, and prestigious instrument on earth!" Recently Doug was on the set of KACV, PBS station in Amarillo, Texas, performing and co-hosting their fundraising efforts. In the three hours Doug was on the air they were able to raise more than $28,000 dollars for their station and allowed thousands of PBS fans in the Texas panhandle to be entertained by someone who feels the need to promote and financially support public broadcasting. Doug, who with his wife raises two young children, feels PBS is the best entertainment offered on television today.

Ellen Neal writes, "the first time I heard about Doug Smith - his name, his amazing story, and phenomenal talent - I was half asleep. My early-morning exercise partner had stumbled upon Doug at a private party the previous evening and couldn't stop talking about the performance. A television show was really her idea. I was a skeptic. How could someone with no formal training and living in the middle of a cotton field captivate a television audience with his sound, stage presence, and original music compositions? I had to see and hear him face to face. Within days, a co-worker and I took a two hour road trip to Petersburg, Texas and spent the day with Doug. By nightfall we were hooked. Ideas for the production flowed as we drove home surrounded by the moonlit, ever-reaching flat High Plains landscape that inspires Doug. Production details began to fall into place. I gathered the best photographers, lightening technicians, director, and editor I knew in the business and we went to work. The crew was small and the talent large. The budget was tight but well spent. We borrowed the lovely home of a wealthy local philanthropic couple, Bill and Helen Piehl. The television station traded favors for a Steinway Grand Piano from the Amarillo Symphony and a local moving company donated its crew and equipment to move the Piehl family out of their home and our crew in for a three-day shoot. Set up took us two days, the main performance shoot about five hours, and we struck the set in less than two hours. After 12 years as a documentary producer, I was amazed at the smooth way this production progressed. There were no hiccups or major crises. From concept to premier broadcast, the production spanned four months."

Alan Crossland, who has worked with Doug for 15 years and is the Chief audio engineer on this project, comments that, "in an age of electronic keyboards and digitally manufactured music, Doug Smith is a sobering reminder of the raw power in an acoustic grand piano; which only a master can unleash. People such as Doug Smith are what keep me inspired to record music. In my 15 years of recording, I have never heard another musician draw as much raw sound and emotion out of an acoustic instrument."

If I could leave you with a very meaningful Doug Smith quote, it would be this one:

"The piano sings its own song."

Best wishes,

Doug Smith Music

Read what John Borkowski of Disk Makers, Philadelphia, PA has to say about Doug.