Old School Groove - Jo Smith
Our next LCM featured artist Country Soul & Pop singer-songwriter Jo Smith is in London today. She is playing a set later this evening (6:45PM) in Canary Wharf for the excellent two-day festival 'Nashville Meets London'. It's a free event if you fancy going along. Our LCM #TrackOfTheDay is the very catchy 'Old School Grove' taken from her 2016 EP 'Introducing Jo Smith'. It's a laid-back toe-tapper with plenty of soul and Wall of Sound-style harmonies, that pay homage to the days of the Ronettes and the Shangri-Las.
Jo is originally from Arlington in Georgia, but is now based in Nashville. Her music is soulful country soul and pop with retro production, layered harmonies and a touch of playfulness. Formerly a major label country artist as Joanna Smith, she released charting singles "Gettin' Married" and "Georgia Mud". Jo Smith has returned with a new EP and some of country's biggest names in her corner. Shane McAnally co-produced her EP with Jesse Frasure, and the four-song set shows Jo following the soul-music footsteps of artists like Maren Morris. While her EP has been out since 2016, feel-good lead single "Old School Groove" was recently released to radio, just in time for the windows-down summer listening season.
Jo comes by her brand of country honestly, coming of age to the music that would eventually inform her solo output. "I grew up in South Georgia listening to my dad’s country and Motown records, and it was so important to me to blend those influences on my new EP," she says. "My single 'Old School Groove' sets the tone perfectly of who I am as an artist, and I'm so proud the world is getting to hear it."