Grant Maloy Smith to Perform at the Ralph Stanley Museum, 11/18

American roots singer/songwriter Grant Maloy Smith will perform songs from his critically acclaimed album "Dust Bowl: American Stories" at the Ralph Stanley Museum in Clintwood, Virginia, on Saturday, November 18.

Smith's appearance is part of "Live at the Old Home Place Stage," an ongoing concert series that raises money to support the nonprofit museum, which honors the musical legacy of the Stanley family.

"Ralph Stanley was influential to me and millions of other fans of Appalachian music because he cut a wide swath across the roots landscape," Smith said. "He considered what he did 'mountain music' more than strictly bluegrass, which he famously said is what his icon Bill Monroe did so well."

Ralph Stanley spent most of his life on Clinch Mountain, a few miles from Clintwood. Though Smith lives in Rhode Island, he also has family roots in Appalachia, which helped shape his musical style.

"My grammy was from Southeastern Kentucky," he said. "She instilled in me a love of acoustic guitar, bass, fiddle, banjo, mandolin and dulcimer. She was a big fan of both Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley."

Smith's "Dust Bowl" album was inspired by the history of the Dust Bowl, the series of dust storms that ravaged much of the Southern Plains region throughout the Great Depression. Each song on the album tells a story about how the disaster affected ordinary people. It has received excellent reviews from No Depression Magazine, The Alternate Root, and the Knoxville News Sentinel among other publications, and spent several weeks in the top 10 of Billboard's Americana/Folk Album Sales Chart and in the top 40 of the magazine's Country Album Sales Chart. The album is available on iTunes, Amazon and CDBaby. Information is available at www.Grant-Maloy-Smith.com.

Grant Maloy Smith will perform at the Ralph Stanley Museum, 249 Dickenson Hwy., Clintonwood, Virginia, on Saturday, November 18, at 6:00 p.m. Admission is $5 at the door. Information is available at www.RalphStanleyMuseum.com or by calling (276) 926-8550.

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