Bio:
Roxanne Smith is a singer-songwriter from Indianapolis, Indiana. She was born in the midwest and raised in the beautiful rolling hills of small-town Cambridge, Ohio. With deep musical roots of all different genres in her family, she was drawn towards soulful folk-rock with beautiful harmonies at an early age. She remembers singing since the age of 5 and heavy influences started with the music of Carole King's Tapestry album which resonated deeply in her formative years. Harmonizing always came easily and she especially loved harmonizing with her favorite Linda Ronstadt songs during her school years and her passion to be a singer kept growing. She got her Fender acoustic guitar (that she still uses to write songs) at the age of 17. Although she was classically trained as a mezzo soprano in college this was not the kind of music she yearned to sing so she took some guitar lessons in college and has been singing with her acoustic guitar ever since.
Now her own soulful, emotional songs seamlessly blend layers of folk and rock with warm and passionate harmonies. Her deeply insightful lyrics compel listeners to reflect and feel hopeful about their lives as well as soothed and comforted. Her voice has an ease about it and the quality in her vocal tone is sometimes very pure and angelic and at other times it has a beautiful raspy and smokey tone.
She had been writing poetry about love and relationships since age 14 and started putting them to music in 2004. She has now written over 50 songs and calls them Folk Rock Songs For the Soul. She started writing them just for herself and discovered that writing these songs helped her heal deeply within. When she started sharing them with others she was told that they felt the same way--the songs were healing something deep inside.
She says often when writing her songs and lyrics she feels they seem to be given to her from above as she works through a personal challenge. When writing a song she feels hopeful, recharged again, and finds her true voice and true self. Not all of the songs she writes are about her own life--some songs that she writes are purely creative fiction meant to inspire and empower others. She says she gets inspired by everything in life that moves her to speak up about it.
With a Bachelor of Science degree in Child and Family Services, she is also an empathic Life Coach who helps uplift the souls of those needing assistance with healing childhood wounds. From 2010 until 2016, she specialized in inner child healing through her blogs and her business True Voice Life Coaching. She says it was the music that was the most important catalyst in her own healing journey to unblock her creativity and find her own true voice.
In 2013 she collaborated with local musician Wendell Ray for the production of her first 6 songs and the guitar, percussion, and harmonica tracks to 28 of her original songs--this work transpired into her DEBUT ALBUM of 10 original songs entitled A New Beginning. In September 2014 it was released on all music platforms worldwide including iTunes, Amazon, AppleMusic, CDBaby.com and iHeartRadio etc. This album was professionally Mastered and Re-released in May 2017. It is also now available for the first time in professional CD form and will be available for purchase at shows and at the following link: Cdbaby.com/roxannesmith2. Digital downloads of her songs are available for purchase on the Store page on this website.
Her major influences in the development of her singing and songwriting style were Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, and Carole King. Other musical influences were Stevie Wonder, Crosby-Stills-Nash and Young, Stevie Nicks, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, John Mellencamp, Avril Lavigne, Colbie Caillat, and Sara Bareilles.
Roxanne Smith
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Steven Freeman
Roxanne Smith
Wendell Ray on the album
Stuart Ross Johnson
Blake Miller
