From the Archives: Almost Like Being There
You don't become the most famous honky-tonk in the world without developing a reputation as an excellent tour stop, and by the end of the 1990s, artists like Chris LeDoux and David Allan Coe were recording live albums featuring cuts from the legendary stage.
Listening to your favorite shows from the most famous country music nightclub in the world again and again? The potential was obvious.
As the decade drew to a close, Billy Minick met with record producer Rick Smith to launch the Live at Billy Bob's Texas series of live CDs through the Smith Music Group label. Merle Haggard and a then-unsigned Pat Green launched the series with recordings in December 1998, followed by records by Eddy Raven and John Conlee. "My mission statement when I started was to record one of the largest libraries of live country music today," Rick Smith said in a 1999 interview with The Dallas Morning News. "The venue sets itself up perfectly for that. If we put this thing together, I'd be able to grab the legends of country music and capture them as they sound today in their shows."
Put it together they did. Smith invested his heart and soul into producing high-quality recordings from the venue. He installed a 48-channel digital recording studio backstage and used top-flight production talent like Bob Wright from Nashville to record the best possible sound from the club. Western artist Dave Merrick did musician portraits to give the CDs a trademark look. "Billy Bob's is a pinnacle for a country music artist, and these records capture a snapshot of an artist's career at a certain time," Randy Smith said.
Now, more than a decade after the first CDs came out, the catalog boasts nearly 40 titles (and counting) and is in the neighborhood of the 2 million mark in total CD sales. Merle Haggard's first CD from the club stands as the biggest seller, with Pat Green trailing not far behind. Each of those recordings still sells 5,000 or more copies a year. And, true to Rick's word, it is the largest recorded body of live country music in existence. The label has also made live DVDs a part of its repertoire and has major digital distributors such as iTunes and Amazon MP3.
Sadly, Rick Smith died unexpectedly Aug. 7, 2004, at the age of 47. The label had released 27 titles when Smith died, and he was already thinking of new ideas.
"Rick was a visionary. He was thinking about cellphone ringtones in 2003," Randy Smith, who now runs Smith Music Group, said. "This is his vision, and he was definitely ahead of his time." Rick's son, Rick Jr., is carrying on his father's tradition by working for the label. As the record label has grown, it stays true to the ideals and attitudes with which it began.
The label makes a point of covering the spectrum of true country music – recording local favorites and newcomers such as Green, Cross Canadian Ragweed and Wade Bowen alongside country greats like T.G. Sheppard and Gary Stewart. The live CDs are a time capsule into an artist's career, both new and established. "Billy Bob's is a pinnacle for a country music artist, and these records capture a snapshot of an artist's career at a certain time," Randy Smith said. "It's the next best thing to being at the show."
The CDs are able to connect with fans who have been to a show as well as many who have never set foot in Billy Bob's before. Smith attributes this to the unique experience of the club, the artist and the ability to document when the two come together. "I think it captures them so well, their fan base is amped up and the artist is playing the best stuff of their career," Randy Smith said. "But I'm biased."
So, if he's biased, does Smith have a favorite CD?
"I love all of them," Smith said. "I think I have Jason Boland in my CD player right now. You can listen to this stuff forever!"
