For any media assets, such as bio, photos, etc. please visit rodsmoth.com/media
ISRC: QT6G82551136
preorder ‘living in nowhere’ here at simprecords.com
Listen to single ‘adding’ out now
Living in Nowhere - rod smoth
Living in Nowhere is about what’s it like to live in a small town—an American nowhere that’s nearly invisible to the discourse at large—and in that solitariness make music that is entirely your own. You might hope for an audience of friends, possibly to catch the ears of some likeminded people who stumble upon your songs on the internet, but mostly you’re creating something that is personal to you, that’s for you. You grow and change, and your music reflects this: it becomes stronger and more beautiful than you knew was possible.
Rod Smoth is the project of Mississippi singer and guitarist Reed Smith. Born into a family of southern gospel singers, Smith first picked up the guitar when he was eight years old. He graduated to heavier music in his teens, playing with various bands across the diverse and fertile Jackson, Mississippi, music scene. He released his debut album Rod Smoth in 2020, a beguiling collection that mixed the eerie quiet of folk music with the darkness of stoner rock. After the release, Smith decamped to an artist residency in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where he worked at a hotel and a feed store in exchange for a place to live. This was an isolating time, and when Covid hit, things got even more isolated. As always in difficult times, Smith turned to music.
“I’ve always worked in collaboration,” says Smith, “but for this record there was no way to do that. There was just me. So I decided to lean into the loneliness, to learn to trust my own ears, my own instincts. It brought out some things in me I didn’t know I had.”
Living in Nowhere simmers with the darkness of everyday experience—the confinement and heartache that comes from struggling in a small southern town in one’s twenties—but it’s far from hopeless. This is an album about reaching out to the world from a kind of self-exile. There’s a new warmth and an openheartedness to Rod Smoth’s music, a clear-eyed look at loss and a longing for something more.
This record is a huge step forward for Rod Smoth, an artist discovering what he does best, exploring new textures, leaning more comfortably into his own voice. Living in Nowhere is about change, about facing one’s self and coming to terms with the good and the bad, and about deciding to keep going, to make music. It’s about the surprise of possibility, the latent beauty of small-town life, and the joy of rediscovering friends after years apart. Music is what sustained Rod Smoth, and it’s music that guides him forward.
Written by Jimmy Cajoleas
Photos by Brent McQuillin
Artwork in photos from Lawson King and Devin Liston
Shows
2/6/26 Jackson, MS - End of All Music JXN w/ Sad Bath and Hospitality State
2/7/26 Memphis, TN - Java Cabana w/ Aquarian Blood
2/8/26 Oxford, MS - End of All Music (in-store)
2/11/26 Birmingham, AL - Seasick Records w/ Joe D. Nelson
2/12/26 Athens, GA - Flicker Theater (Drive-By Truckers after party) w/ Spencer Thomas
2/13/26 Atlanta, GA - house show w/ T. Hardy Morris and Spencer Thomas3/7/26 Durham, NC - The Fuzzy Needle w/ Roku City and SupermuttReleases
February 13 - LIVING IN NOWHERE Full-Length LP PRE-ORDER via Simp RecordsOUT NOW - “Adding” Single and Video
