Snapshot: Myron Smith

Instrument: Electric Pedal Steel Guitar

Hometown:

Joined the Band: 2002

Myron's Story

A love of music and some cunning fatherly counsel started Myron Smith on a journey across America performing in country music shows.

It is a bit ironic, though, that Myron wound up playing country. As a youngster growing up in Ohio, he joined a local band, the Swing Teens. Myron was into rock 'n' roll. He was reluctant to audition for The Big National Country Show, which was looking for a drummer.

"My father used some clever reverse psychology and said I probably couldn't do it anyway," he recalls. Myron fell for the trap, auditioned and got the job. It wasn't the first time his father's influence had sway over Myron's musical pursuits. Early on, he had an interest in the trombone. "My dad talked me into playing drums," he says.

While drumming with The Big National Country Show, Myron got the opportunity to play backup for Nashville acts Connie Smith and Grandpa Jones. He also picked up an interest in the electric guitar.

When he was 18, Myron formed his own band, the Buckeye Ramblers. "I hired a pedal steel guitar player, and that really fascinated me," he says. "Within a year, I was playing music for a living at a nightclub in Columbus, Ohio."

In 1971, Myron moved to Missouri and performed for 10 years at a family-style music show called The Country Shindig. During this time, he also traveled for a year with the Judy Lynn Show. Lynn was one of country music's first stars to appear regularly in Las Vegas . The show performed at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas and at rodeos and fairs throughout America.

Myron became musical director of the Ozark Jamboree, a country music show at Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., in 1981. Along with his responsibilities as musical director, he played the banjo, bass guitar and drums. He also sang and did comedy.

With so many varied interests and talents, Myron has well earned his reputation as a Renaissance man. He even had a hand in forming the Carolina Opry, the Myrtle Beach Opry and the Carolina Nights Dinner Theater in Maggie Valley, N.C.

In September 2002, Myron joined the Lawmen as a contract musician. He has come a long way from the young rock 'n' roll Swing Teen who was hesitant about country music, but one thing hasn't changed his love of music. "It didn't take long for me to realize that music was all I really cared about doing in my life," he says.