Richard Smith

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Richard has toured around the world, surprising audiences everywhere with his genius, showcasing a repertoire spanning an incredible range of musical styles from country, bluegrass, mainstream jazz, modern pop and rock, to classical guitar. Richard also plays several of John Phillip Souza's marches and, incredibly, comes close to sounding like an entire marching band, drums and all. Richard first met his hero, the "Godfather" of finger style guitar, Chet Atkins when he was only eleven and was invited by Chet to play with him on stage at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in front of an audience of about a thousand. He played Chet's arrangement of "Whispering," and Chet played along with him. Then the audience went mad and Chet asked him to play another one. Before Richard could decide what to play, someone shouted "Little Rock Getaway." and Richard played Chet's arrangement of it while Chet, not playing this time, watched him in amazement playing to a stunned and appreciative audience. By the time he reached his early twenties, both Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed began to refer to Richard Smith as their "Hero" and still do. Apart from his guitar virtuosity, he is also an accomplished banjo and violin player.

All photos © 2009 by Don Shorock