Whoop! 'There It Is ...' showcases West Texas pianist

JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
01/19/2005
Tulsa World (Final Home Edition), Page D3 of Music_Previews, Entertainment

The arid plains of western Texas have proven remarkably fertile when it comes to music.

Performers as diverse as Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker and Joe Ely all came from -- and made their initial impact in -- this region of the Lone Star State.

Doug Smith is another West Texas native whose life has been given over to music. Yet Smith differs significantly from those other Texas musicians.

For one thing, he's remained in small Texas towns rather than heading off to Nashville or Los Angeles or New York to make his career.

For another, he's a solo pianist who has had no formal training, whose repertoire is mostly original compositions, although he does not read music.

Still, Smith has managed to create a respectable career for himself, with nine albums released.

In 2003, Ellen Robertson Neal, a producer at the Public Broadcasting System affiliate in Amarillo, Texas, visited Smith at his home in Petersburg. Out of that meeting came "Doug Smith: There It Is . . .," an hourlong documentary on Smith and his music.

It will be shown at 10 p.m. Wednesday on PBS stations in Oklahoma, including KOED channel 11 in Tulsa.

The documentary features Smith talking about his family, his life growing up in various small towns in West Texas, and his obsession with music. But most of the show is given over to Smith performing 11 songs -- 10 of his original compositions, and his own take on Floyd Cramer's classic "Last Date."

Smith credits Cramer and jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi (best known for the music he composed and performed for the "Peanuts" TV specials) as major influences on his own playing.

Yet what makes Smith's music distinctive is the way it blends all sorts of musical styles together -- country, rock, blues, boogie-woogie -- often in a single tune.

These range from compelling, evocative soundscapes like "West Texas" to playful songs like "Swinney Blues." Some of Smith's songs tend to ramble a little too long, but it's obvious that the music he plays comes directly from the heart.