Grant Maloy Smith
Grant Maloy Smith (born August 28, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and former businessman from Jacksonville, Florida. Early life Smith was born in Jacksonville, Florida and started playing songs of The Beatles with the guitar at an early age. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design but did not complete his tenure there, opting to focus on music. Early music career Smith's first band was called Britannia (1981-1984). In 2008, he and his band opened for the national acts like Elvin Bishop, Steppenwolf, and The Guess Who. Britannia played all original music, written by Smith; one Smith's songs "I'm A Loaded Gun" was included on the 1981 album "Southern New England's Best Rock From JB 105". Smith was married in 1985 and he continued writing music. The family moved to California in 1991, and Smith joined the Songwriters Guild of America, attending song pitching meetings at their Hollywood offices. Filmography Film scoring After returning to Rhode Island in 1995, Smith began scoring indie films, including "Code Of Ethics" starring Melissa Leo, an Academy Award-winning actress. He also scored "Pray for Power," starring Lisa Boyle. He worked frequently with directors Christian de Rezendes and Dawn Radican Natalia. Acting In 2019, Grant appeared in the feature film "Oildale", playing the character Brady Cooper, a musician. In the film he performed one of his original songs "I Come From America", which was sung by character in the film. Full-length movies 1997 Night of the Beast 1998 Boxed Man 1998 Code of Ethics 2001 Serial Intentions 2003 Extra Credit 2008 Solitaire 2010 The Rich and the Poor Are Naked 2011 Pledging Allegiance Short films 2008 PC Noir 2010 Thinking Through the Drink 2010 Duet 2012 Nijinsky's Room 2012 Cat Scratch Video feature-length films 2001 - Pray for Power 2002 - Hope High As an actor 2003 - Extra Credit (feature film) as Jake Lawrence 2019 - Oildale (feature film) as Brady Cooper Television 2009 Mythbusters (Season 7, ep 1) as himself Pop/rock album period From 2008 to 2012, Smith wrote and self-produced with his own label, Small Dog Records, several albums of pop/rock music. The first was Already August, (2008), which blended elements of folk and Americana music with pop and rock ballads. In 2010 Smith released Big Bowl of Courage, with songs that were generally more rock and roll than the previous album. The next album was American Merman (2011), where Smith experimented with reggae structures in several tracks. His final pop/rock album came in 2012, Mister Sparklepants. Americana music period In 2012 Smith transitioned to Americana, or American roots music, a subgenre of country music. He wrote and produced the album "Yellow Trailer" originally released on Smith's own Chinese Sock Puppet Records in 2013, but was remastered and re-released in 2015 on Suburban Cowboy Records. That album was entered into the Grammy Awards the year. In 2014 Smith was asked by producer Art Greenhaw to sing on several tracks of a Roots Gospel album. He contributed with lead vocals