The first time I saw Lil' Miss Tammy Smith was on stage at The World Famous Palomino Club in North Hollywood, CA, bouncin' up & down in a mini-skirt, sing a gut-wrenchin' version of "Harper Valley PTA," a sight that warmed my heart and serenaded my soul! Finally God Almighty saw fit to put a performer on this earth who knows how to sing a song right and who "gets it." Combine a hauntingly unforgettable and powerful vocal styole with just plain guts, expert showmanship and an indepth knowledge of the intricacies and subtleties of white trash culture and passion for same, and you have Lil' Miss Tammy Smith!

Lil' Miss Tammy Smith grew up in Glasgow, Kentucky 80 miles north of Nashville. Her family was basically poor, especially when her parents divorced when she was nine, and her mother struggled to keep everyone sheltered and fed. She never had her own bedroom, and left home early because there just literally wasn't enough room for her. Ms. Smith went on to get a Bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky in Lexington. She always wanted to live in L.A. and be a big star, and now has made that dream come true! So here she is, ala interview to speak on her own behalf.

Lil' Miss Tammy Smith: My Daddy listened to one kind of music and drank one kind of beer--Country & Sterling. Mama liked Glen Campbell & Tom Jones. I loved Jerry Reed on The Glen Campbell Show, and the best show ever was "Hee Haw"! I loved Junior Samples and Lulu Roman "cause they's good ol' country hicks!

Melba Toast: When did you first realize you wanted to be a performer?

LMTS: I never thought of singing as a profession, but I always dreamed of stardom, though I did write songs when I was little. I wrote my first compositions (called "Indian Song") on the black keys of the piano. The first actual song I wrote was called "My Brush is Gone."

MT: No that sounds like a humdinger, like something I'd like to get my hands on! I know most of the songs you perform are songs you have written from your own life experiences.

LMTS: When I started experiencing heartache was when country songs started pourin' out of me. There's nothin' like country music to tell a tale of heartache. Hell, I filled up a dang shoebox full of songs! I've been verbally, physically, emotionally and financially abused, used and just flat out tricked! 99% of my songs are true stories from my life. For instance,there's this one song I wrote called "Daddy," and it's about ridin' around in the car with Daddy while he's drunk. It's a scary situation to be in, and the words in the song "Daddy, let me drive" have been known to make grown men cry.

MT: Wow! So how are you dealing with all those rough deals life has dealt you?

LMTS: I'm just tryin' to live day by day and survive in trying times. It feels good to get those songs out of me, and when I sing them, it words as a release for all of my pent-up emotions. My audiences tell me they appreciate this, because they feel the intensity of the performances.

MT: Your performances are just riveting! You really know how to take command of an audicence, be it on a stage playing for thousands or in front of a little ol' Woolworth's!

LMTS: Putting' on a good show is more important than anything else. If I'm having a good time and the audience is too, that's what really matters. The main thing is to connect with your audience. If I'm doing my job for them and I get that appreciation back, that makes me feel good.

MT: You also connect with your audience with your tangy personality and those wild wonderful outfits! And that eyeshadow, honey! You go girl!

LMTS: I just love to dress the way I want to. I get to do that on stage. Stage is a safe haven for me, because I get to be and do what I want. I dress skimpy, #1, because it's hot, and sure, I like a loud color now & then, and sure, I paint a toenail now & then and sure, I look cute & sexy. I moved out here to California to be true to myself.

MT: Let's talk about your love affair with White Trash Culture.

LMTS: I am so tired of all of this B.S. White Trash culture is just plain reality to me. I am a proud collector of taxidermy. In fact, when I was little I used to fantasize about being' a mortician. I used to squeeze the blood out of the fat green ticks I'd pull off my dog's head, and then give them a little burial in the back yard usin' a little piece of gravel for a headstone. I am a big time Mopar freak and a Cadillac lover. I've got a '72 El Dorado, and my first caddy was a '65 black hearse I bought in Paris, Kentucky for $400. I could parallel park that car on a dime, too, that's for dang sure! I also got me a '70 Dodge Charger, blue w/ a white vinul top and a 383 Hemi. I love hot rod shows, stock car races... I dream about bein' a Hot Rod Queen Centerfold for NHRA. I was "Miss Used Appliance Queen, South Austin Region" in Texas once. They gave me a bouquet of long stemmed daisies and a title I bore proudly during my reign. I also cook up a mess of White Trash fare like soup beans, corn bread, turnip greens and I take grits to every pot luck dinner I'm invited to. Folks out here is scared of 'em, but I always leave with a empty bowl.....It saddens me to see shallow thrown-together acts make it big. The trouble with the music business today is that it has nothing to do with talent. I am into the reality of real people, not like I'm trying to promote white trash, unlike some people I know (Just kidding, Melba). I just feel that people who have had real experiences and tragedies have something real to say. Like singing' about holdin' things together, struggling' with a broken home, stuff like that. When you've lived a little more than most, you have a little more to say. I'm interested in real people and real experiences. If folks call that White Trash, that's OK. That's just the way it is. Folks hear my southern accent and think because of that, I'm ignorant. I actually know quite a lot.

MT: I know you do. In fact, I know our readers would be delighted if you could offer up any advice to up-and-comers:

LMTS:
#1: Get a college degree in accounting
#2: Don't depend on men fer nothin
#3: Always remember, fun before safety
#4: Live every day like it was your last
#5: Don't get pregnant or sick
#6: Respect your elders

MT: Song-writing Great Dennis Walker told you your songs were great and that he knew you could be a big star.

LMTS: Yes, but he also advised me to re-do my livingroom demos and get professional recordings done, which is what I'm doing now, by producing my own CD. Sherri McGee played drums on all of the tracks and little brother Jon McGee (who is an absolute artistic genious and plays better on every instrument better than anybody I know) played guitars andbass. Also, my Stepdad Greg Martin (of the Kentucky Headhunters) played lead guitar on some of the songs. There were also many others to contribute to the cause. (My only hold up right now is waiting to hear form Dwight Yoakam, who I would love to have sing a duet with me on my new CD.) "Lucky Girl" is out now on "L.A. County Line," a compilation CD on Straw Dog Records produced by Neil Mooney.

MT: You seem to have a very clear vision of what it is you are trying to accomplish.

LMTS: I do. I want to hear my songs on the radio, but it seems that Nashville in the past several years has been promoting the farthest thing from real country music, which is what I do. Don't get me wrong, them stars today have striking good looks and sometimes pretty voices. I'm happy for anyone who finds success. But it ain't country music. And that's what I do. Don't forget---it was them Nashville types that said "No" to Dwight Yoakam. (Dummies!)

MT: Which artists inspired you the most to do what you do?

LMTS: Loretta Lynn 1st and foremost! Just watch "Coal Miner's Daughter." She wrote her songs from a very young age, from her heart. She says it exactly how she feels it. Tammy Wynette had what I call the signature sound voice of female country music. Patsy Cline's voice was beautiful, like K.D. lang, but Tammy's cracks at just the right time to take hold of your gut, squeeze it, and then let it go when she's ready. She makes you feel what she's feeling. Elvis, of course, who did everything right and everything wrong he could do. I also loved variety shows a a child: Hee Haw, of course, the greatest TV show ever, along with Gomer Pyle, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Andy Griffith Show, The Glen Campbell Show, The Sonny & Cher Show, Tony Orlando & Dawn, The Carpenter's, and The Smothers Brothers. You don't find good, clean and very funny entertainment on TV like that anymore. I never turn the TV on. Never. It ain't funny, it ain't entertaining. One of my missions is to bring back the variety show: A little question & answer time, a few skits, musical guest, recipe time & what-have-you. Our country needs it!

MT: And our country needs you too! You are also in the process of teaming up with another great mind, moi, and writing a treatment for a sitcom!

...So come on out & hear Lil' Miss Tammy Smith sometime soon---she sings from the depths of her broken heart, and she'll break yours too, but you will love every minute of it!