Carolinabound is led by Chris Smith, a singer-songwriter based in the mountains of Western North Carolina. At the age of fourteen, Chris began writing songs, and picked up his first guitar shortly thereafter. By eighteen he was playing local venues in and around his hometown of Johnson City, TN. Chris moved to Asheville in 2003 to pursue music further, and is still going strong, performing over 100 shows a year both as a solo artist, and under the moniker Carolinabound, where he’s joined by Jeremy Blake on bass and Garry Segal on lap steel.
Carolinabound began recording their first EP, Smoking Gun, in November of 2014. The album is a collection of songs based on love, loss, and life experience seen through the eyes of a man that claims his number one influence is the Blue Ridge Mountains. The EP features the quartet of Chris Smith on guitar and vocals, Jeremy Blake on bass, Leo Grassl of Motel Rodeo on pedal steel, and Halli Anderson of River Whyless on violin.
Smoking Gun brings a fresh, distinctive sound from an old county barroom in a southern ghost town. It conjures up the ghosts of Townes Van Zandt, Gram Parsons, and a number of other sweet but not forgotten spirits. The lyrics are raw, honest, and meet the rural, blue collar family for dinner.