Richard Smith

The winner of the 2001 National Fingerstyle Guitar Champion, 2008 Thumbpicker of the Year and a 2009 National Thumbpickers Hall of Fame Inductee, Richard Smith has performed worldwide and appeared alongside Tommy Emmanuel, Eric Clapton, Albert Lee, Dave Peacock, Martin Taylor, Joe Brown, Ralph McTell and many others. Born in Beckenham, Kent, England in 1971, he initially concentrated on the country picking of Chet Atkins and Merle Travis and later started transcribing classical music, jazz, the gypsy jazz style of Django Reinhardt, bluegrass, ragtime, the blues, Sousa marches and more, at the same time confounding everyone who heard him with his amazing dexterity. Smith first met Chet Atkins when he was eleven years old when Atkins invited him to share the stage with him at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London. Atkins first accompanied Smith in the concert, but later in the show he “just listened in stunned silence while the child played Chet’s own arrangements – perfectly!” By the time Smith reached his early twenties, both Atkins and Jerry Reed began to refer to him as THEIR “Hero.” Guitarist Tommy Emmanuel declared, “If you like my playing, you should hear Richard Smith! The world champion!,” and Atkins called him “The most amazing guy I know on the guitar. He can play anything I know, only better.” Besides his solo work, Smith also performs in a duo with his wife, cellist Julie Adams as well as with the Django Reinhardt gypsy-swing band, Annie & The Hot Club and The HotClub of Nashville.