Steuart Smith

Steuart Smith
Background information
Origin	Arlington, Virginia
Genres	Rock, country rock, soft rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, producer
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, bass, keyboards, mandolin
Associated acts	Eagles, Michelle Branch
Notable instruments
Music Man Guitars Fender Stratocaster Fender Telecaster Gibson SG

Steuart Smith is a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, writer and producer currently working with American rock band the Eagles. Smith is from Arlington, Virginia.

Current work

Smith was hired by the Eagles in 2001 after Don Felder was fired from the band. Smith shares lead guitar duties with Joe Walsh. Such as the harmonising solo in Hotel California.

In addition to performing live with the band, he co-wrote several songs on the Eagles' 2007 studio album Long Road Out of Eden on which he also shared producing duties with the four band members and drummer Scott Crago.^[1]

Smith is also a member of Don Henley's solo touring band, and occasionally plays concerts with Glenn Frey as well.

His main guitar is a 60s Fender Stratocaster, but also is very fond of Ernie Ball Musicman guitars. The guitar he plays in concert on Hotel California is a custom EBMM double-neck that is one of only two of a kind. The guitar is unusual in that the six-string neck is on top and the twelve-string neck is on the bottom. This is opposite of the way a typical double-neck guitar is set up, because Smith wears his guitars slightly higher than most guitarists, and so requested it be built that way.

History and discography

Smith is a well-respected and sought-after studio musician with credits on many top name albums, actually starting out as a session keyboard player. He is also known for having performed with Rodney Crowell^[2] and Shawn Colvin among others, prior to joining the Eagles. In the early 70s he played small gigs in Baltimore and the DC area. Bands that he played with included Aux, Babe, Liz Meyer and Switchblade.

Over the course of his career, he has worked with John Stewart (Bullets in the Hour Glass) Mary Chapin Carpenter (Stones in the Road), Shawn Colvin (Fat City, A Few Small Repairs, Cover Girl^[3]), Rodney Crowell (Street Language), (Diamonds & Dirt), (Keys To The Highway), (Life is Messy), (Tarpaper Sky) Rosanne Cash (Retrospective), Loudon Wainwright III (Last Man on Earth), Vince Gill (These Days, High Lonesome Sound, I Still Believe In You), Dolly Parton (Something Special), Wynonna Judd (Wynonna, Tell Me Why, New Day Dawning), Trisha Yearwood (Inside Out, Song Remembers When, Where Your Road Leads), Suzzy Roche (Songs from an Unmarried Housewife), The Cicadas^[4] (Cicadas), Terri Clark (Fearless), Darden Smith (Field of Crows), Lari White (Lead Me Not), Crystal Bernard (Don't Touch Me There), Chely Wright (Let Me In), Thrasher Shiver (Thrasher Silver), Kasey Chambers (Wayward Angel), Karen Staley (Fearless), J.C. Jones (One Night), Sonny Burgess, Brady Seals (Thompson Street), Matt Duke (Winter Child), Michelle Branch (Hotel Paper), Lucy Wainwright Roche (Lucy), and others including Charlie Louvin (The Longest Train) and Washington DC music legend Root Boy Slim (Dog Secrets). He played briefly for a DC area band known as "Babe" before joining Rodney Crowell, with whom he played amazing slide guitar, along with Babe drummer Vince Santoro.^[5]

He has one daughter, Sarah Cole Smith.

References