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Special Report by Mike Greenly<\/strong><\/p>\n Along with Eileen Bluestone Sherman \u2013 playwright, lyricist, theater producer and more \u2013 Grant Maloy Smith<\/strong> founded the Indie Collaborative, which is how I met him. This wonderful organization is for people involved in the music business \u2013 as musicians, artists, composers or in my case, simply as a lyricist. Grant is a Billboard Top 10 recording artist in a genre often called \u201cAmerican Roots\u201d or \u201cAmericana.\u201d Personally, I think of it as a cross between Country and Folk but he\u2019s the authority. Because I admire and appreciate him as much as I do, and because I love writing lyrics, I approached Grant one day and asked if we could write a song together. I\u2019m proud of the result, but I also wanted to learn and share more about him in general. As both friend and collaborator, Grant is an Irish American which represents the best of the Irish diaspora.<\/p>\n Q: For the readers of the Irish Examiner USA, what part of your background is Irish?<\/p>\n GMS: According to my DNA analysis, I\u2019m 55% Irish and Scottish with an especially high concentration of ancestors in Munster, North Munster and West Clare in the southern half of Ireland. That area starts just below Galway on the west coast, ranging down to Waterford and Cork on the east coast, in a large area including Limerick. I have third cousins today in Munster. \u2028\u2028We made a family trip to Ireland in 2007. What a beautiful, incredibly green country – the best vacation I ever had. The next time I visit Ireland I will appreciate it all the more, now that I know how much Irish blood I have coursing through my veins. I suppose that explains my love of Guinness. (We visited the Guinness Store House in Dublin, which was amazing.)\u2028\u2028I hope that some talent buyers read this and want to book me to do some concerts in Ireland. I\u2019d be more than happy to bring my music back to where American Roots really came from.<\/p>\n Q: What connected you to American Roots music? How old were you and how did you get involved with music in the first place?<\/p>\n I was very young when I was exposed to American Roots music by my maternal grandmother, Shirley McIntyre Colwell. She called it \u201cmountain music.\u201d It was based on folk music that the Irish, Scot and English immigrants had brought from their homelands to our young country. In the isolation of central Appalachian hills, it took root and formed the basis of what today has become Country Music, American Folk Music, Bluegrass, and then the ineffable stew called \u201cAmericana\u201d or \u201cAmerican Roots\u201d music, which is what I do.<\/p>\n Q: I read that you played Beatles songs on your guitar when you were a boy.<\/p>\n GMS: Yes \u2013 I was \u201ctorn between two lovers\u201d back then. In addition to old-time country and mountain music, I got infatuated by the Beatles like the whole rest of the world. So here I was, a five-year-old blonde-haired boy living on the Florida panhandle 15 miles from Alabama. Somehow, I got the idea that if I had a guitar, I might be able to play with the Beatles on television. OK, I was just five years old. But the music bug had bitten me hard and what I would do with the rest of my life was a foregone conclusion before I knew it.\u2028\u2028I\u2019ve got a few somewhat embarrassing pictures of me at that age, playing along with records in my living room. I think my guitar strap was just a piece of string, placed completely wrong around my shoulder. I really had no idea what I was doing! At that age, my LP collection was an interesting combination of Beatles, Bill Monroe, Carter Family … along with Captain Kangaroo, Beanie and Cecil and other children\u2019s records.<\/p>\n Q: Your \u201cMan of Steel\u201d has been named the official theme song of the National Veterans Foundation. Say more about that and your support for our Vets.<\/p>\n GMS: I once met a young man at the Charlotte airport. He\u2019d lost his leg in the war in Afghanistan and now wore a prosthetic leg. He was very affable, and we talked quite a bit. The plane kept being delayed so we ended up having a very deep conversation about his experiences in the Middle East and his appreciation for everything he has back at home.\u2028\u2028I was struck by this Veteran\u2019s positive, buoyant spirit. He wasn\u2019t bitter about missing a leg. In fact, he was going to be the first in his family\u2019s history to go to college and was now on his way to a campus visit. The opportunity was only possible because of his military service. \u2028\u2028Finally, the plane started boarding and I never saw him again. But what he told me left a powerful mark on me and I thought about him for days. I got home a week later and was practicing the guitar. I played some random chords and, as happens a lot, I found some that I really liked and began to write a song. After only a few minutes, I realized I was writing about the young man from the Charlotte airport. By an hour later, I\u2019d written most of it.<\/p>\n I hope people understand that the song is not to glorify war at all. That is the worst thing man does to himself. Soldiers who\u2019ve seen war up close understand this truth in a way that only they can. This song, though, is about service, sacrifice and stepping up when others don\u2019t. I dedicate \u201cMan of Steel\u201d to all the brave men and women who serve their countries \u2013 past, present and future. \u2028\u2028When I play it for audiences, I get incredibly emotional reactions. I\u2019ve had a woman come up and tell me, with tears streaming down her face, that she\u2019d lost two of her three sons in the Middle East. I\u2019ve had World War II and Vietnam era veterans come up to me, also with tears running down their faces. I\u2019ve played at VA hospitals where I could barely get through it myself with all the emotion in the room. I was so happy when the National Veterans Foundation chose as their official theme song, because thousands more people would now be seeing and hearing it. \u2028\u2028I hope everyone will look at the video because it\u2019s so powerful. You can watch it on www.nvf.org.<\/p>\n I was also lucky enough to be in a movie called \u201cOildale\u201d which is about music and how we treat our veterans. It\u2019s in festivals and industry screenings now. In it I play my song, \u201cI Come From America\u201d, from my \u201cDust Bowl\u201d album. But on the soundtrack CD for the current Heartland Tour, the producers have included \u201cMan of Steel\u201d because it\u2019s perfect for the movie\u2019s theme. Ironically, I wrote that two months after the filming.<\/p>\n Q: It was only a few months ago that I approached you with the idea of our writing a song for the older people in our society. Share what made you think immediately of our title, \u201cI See You\u201d.<\/p>\n GMS: A few years ago, I was playing shows across Texas. One night I went to a mall\u2019s food court just outside Houston to get dinner. The table next to mine had five men and women in their 80s and 90s. I wasn\u2019t trying to eavesdrop, but it was impossible not to hear them. They were comparing notes about being older, and how they felt about it.\u2028\u2028One lady with an oxygen tank and a walker said she feels \u201cinvisible\u201d when she walks down the street. Her observation hit me like a brick. The oldest of them added that younger people see him as a frail, useless old man. \u201cThey don\u2019t know that I was once in a knife fight with a Nazi in France\u2026and I won!\u201d<\/p>\n That comment was also sobering.\u2028\u2028As a songwriter, these are the kinds of nuggets, large and small, that I file away in my brain for future reference. So, when you asked if I wanted to collaborate on a song about ageism, I immediately remembered those people and how invisible they felt. I knew that our song had to be based on that lyrical hook.\u2028\u2028 Anyone watching the video will see an actress playing that lady with the walker right at the beginning of our song. The title \u2013 \u201cI See You\u201d \u2013 is my way of telling older people that we do recognize that they built the world we live in today, and that we are grateful for what they\u2019ve done for us and all posterity.<\/p>\n Q: I\u2019ll share a few lines from the song\u2019s chorus and the video Grant created:<\/p>\n You feel fragile – but you’re strong
\nThink you’re invisible – but you’re wrong
\nI’ve been inspired by your courage all along
\nI see your whole life shining through
\nI see you<\/p>\n