Grant Maloy Smith Brings 'Dust Bowl' to Bakersfield

When the Dust Bowl roared through the Southern Plains states during the Great Depression, countless people fled their dirt-ravaged communities and headed west, many settling in California's San Joaquin Valley. Since then, the Bakersfield area has been inextricably linked to the history of that environmental disaster and the unique style of country music known as the Bakersfield sound that evolved from it.

Now, American roots recording artist Grant Maloy Smith, whose recent album "Dust Bowl: American Stories" was inspired by the Dust Bowl, is planning two performances in Bakersfield-first, at the Kern County Museum on Sunday, January 14, and then for students at Bakersfield High School on Wednesday, January 17.

"Our juniors are currently studying the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl Era as it pertains to Kern County," said history teacher Ken Hooper. "We are excited to have Grant Maloy Smith performing here, because his music brings this period to life."

One of Smith's songs, "I Come from America," celebrates the diversity of Dust Bowl refugees, and specifically mentions Bakersfield. See the music video:

Smith's performance at the Kern County Museum will take place at the historic Hotel Fellows in the museum's Pioneer Village, and will be free of charge, although donations will be accepted for the museum's Curatorial Department for the Dust Bowl Collection.

"More than three million people came through Kern County from America's southeastern states during a five-year period," said Mike McCoy, executive director of the Kern County Museum. "The great untold story in our county has been this historic migration. Our museum is working to do a better job of telling the story of this important chapter in the nation's history."

"Dust Bowl: American Stories" has received excellent reviews. No Depression Magazine called the album "as potent as Woody Guthrie, as intense as John Trudell and dusted with the trials and tribulations of Tom Joad - Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath." The Knoxville News Sentinel described the album as "sweet, sad, defiant and full of sentimentality." The album was also in the top 10 of Billboard's Folk/Americana Album Sales chart and the top 40 of the magazine's Country Album Sales Chart for several weeks.

"My main goal in writing this album was to capture the hardy nature of people who endured so much, set against the backdrop of the real-life drama of the Dust Bowl," Smith said. "My album is a cautionary tale, but it's also about the triumph of the human spirit in the face of great adversity."

Grant Maloy Smith will perform in the historic Hotel Fellows at the Kern County Museum's Pioneer Village, 3801 Chester Avenue, on Sunday, January 14 at 7:00 p.m. Doors open at 6:00. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted. Smith will also perform at Kern County High School on Wednesday, January 17, at 9:00 a.m. That program is open to BHS students only.

Information about Grant Maloy Smith is available at www.GrantMaloySmith.com. His music is available on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and other outlets.

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