juzzie smith - new south wales
Juzzie Smiths music steps into blues, folk, and country and then off into a world of its own. Embracing the slide guitar, yidaki (didgeridoo), his customised suitcase stompbox along side his harmonica and vocal performance, Juzzie displays a musical dexterity that will blow you away.
Juzzie Smith started playing the harmonica at the age of thirteen, and by the age of 23 had won the coveted Golden Harmonica at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and the Byron Bay Blues Blowout twice. He has in the course of his musical journey embraced and mastered a range of instruments, and absorbed influence from some diverse musical styles. Juzzie has played in a lot of bands, some fantastic and some forgettable, and supported some of Australias best musicians, including Damon Davies, Jodi Martin, Jeff Lang and Pete Hawkes.
Tired of late nights gigging in smoky pubs, Juzzie quit the band he was playing with at the time, and began to busk at the local markets around his home on the North Coast of NSW. It was around this time that he finished recording his second solo album, Goodvibes, decided to buy an old school bus, packed up his little family and took off on a busking tour of Australia.
They soon dropping the 's' and 'h' from the school bus and made it the ‘cool bus’ and began a great journey into music. Juzzie travelled North through Darwin and then down through WA.
He started off playing to crowds of fifty or so and collecting enough coin to pay for fuel, whilst continually refining his songs, his instruments and his performance. By the time they arrived on the streets of Perth Juzzie was pulling crowds of hundreds of people at a time, busking was starting to look like a viable career option.
Since arriving back on the North Coast Juzzie has continued to grow, relaxing and enjoying life, focussing on playing at heaps of festivals and still busking when there is time.
Now a father of two children, recording his third album and having his music picked up by JJJ and many other radio stations, life has never been busier.
Juzzie’s music is influenced from his many journies and samples from many genres and cultures, a drop of Tamworth, a sprig of Delhi, a dash of Arhnem Land, with a hefty splash of New Orleans. The common thread in Juzzie Smith’s music is what he describes as Good Vibes. It is upbeat, groovy music, that will get your toes tapping and make you feel good.
Soul food for the modern world, served to you by Juzzie Smith.
Today Juzzie stands as his own man, performing all original songs and with a completely original sounds. Juzzie’s journey as a solo performer began about five years ago, but really began to take shape in early 2003, after the birth of his oldest child Olive.
Website:
Soundbite: