It was a Wednesday night in a seedy bar filled with smoke. I was deep into my fourth beer, wondering why on earth karaoke had sounded like such a good idea. I have one song for karaoke, maybe two if I throw caution to the wind for the night. I had already sat through a solid portion of the night, alternately cringing and clapping politely. Suddenly, I was bobbing my head and couldn’t figure out why. Did they turn on the jukebox?
I leaned back in my chair—way back. Fell over. Got back up. And saw him: tall and broad and absolutely killing it with Marvin Gaye’s seminal “Let’s Get It On.”
I reached over the bar to flag down the busy bartender, shouting to be heard. I pointed, obviously and rudely. “Who is that?”
“Oh, him? His name is Jay Smooth.”
I was smitten. Smooth is right. Smooth and soulful and so damn good. I made him my friend immediately, because I collect talented people in the hopes that it will rub off on me somehow. Though it hasn’t worked yet, listening to Jay Smooth sing nevertheless lightens my mood. The man can sing anything. From country to alternative to everything in between, and he can sing it all very, very well. After learning about the album he’s currently working on, I sat down with him and his producer Jerry Michael of Michael Entertainment to have a little chat.
Jerry met Jay about four years ago at a wedding, where he sang the first song of the night.
“The place was packed and somebody came out and said, ‘Man, you need to come out and hear this guy.’ I said, ‘OK, I’ll be right out.’ So I went out there and I heard him and I thought yeah . . . this guy can sing.”
Granted, Jay has been singing since the second grade. He grew up listening to country in his father’s barn, influenced by the likes of Ronnie Milsap and George Jones. From there, he says, “It just grew.” From the fifth grade through his high school years, his background lies in jazz. But always there is soul. It permeates every note. It runs through the core of his being. You can hear it in his voice; see it in the way he works a crowd: country-soul.
About fifteen years ago he started working the circuit, singing at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in Shelbyville, then at Conrad’s inside the Holiday Inn, where he gained popularity as Jay Witherspoon. Until, that is, singing for Dugger at Puffing Billy’s.
“I used to sign my slips Jay Spoon [because my name is Jay Witherspoon] and he said. ‘No, you can’t be Jay Spoon. Your name is gonna be Jay Smooth.’ He called me that one night and it just . . . stuck.”
Jerry has more to say on the subject of Jay’s singing. “I’ve worked with some great singers and that is what he is – he’s a great singer.”
It’s easy to agree with him. Yes, he can reproduce the sounds you know and love. (In fact, he’s been taking requests for years.)
“I can be singing something country and someone will walk up and ask me to sing something alternative and I’m just like, ‘Where did you hear that?’ Country is what I like to sing but I’m the type of person that gets in where he fits in, so whatever’s going on I just jump right in it and have myself some fun. I just melt into the song. When I met Jerry [my producer], I told him: when you find a song, I’m your piece of clay; you mold me into whatever you want.”
But it’s more than that. You always know when Jay is singing. It’s not just the cacophony of applause or the excited shouting that erupts when his name is called. It’s the cadence and style, the sweet, dulcet tones and the easy movement between emotion and fun, unimpeded by genre or decade. His versatility and enthusiasm, coupled with kindness and humility, is unmatched in Tennessee, much less in Murfreesboro.
When I learned he was releasing an album—very soon, in fact—I insisted on sitting down with him for the express purpose of sharing him with as many people as possible. For those of you who know Jay Smooth: you know what I’m talking about. For those of you who don’t: you can find him at any number of nightly bars in and around Murfreesboro until the release of his album and his inevitable skyrocket to fame and fortune.
