'Keeping Up' with progressive country of Corey Smith

With no help from a record label, underdog singer-songwriter Corey Smith has sold well over 150,000 albums and 700,000 singles, a triumph for a small-town storyteller.

Supporting his new album, "Keeping Up With the Joneses," Smith heads to the Music Farm on Friday to sing his autobiography.

As an independent artist, Smith has led an independent lifestyle, basically doing everything on his own and working alone to achieve the success he's gained. Growing up on food stamps in rustic Georgia and later playing around the University of Georgia campus in Athens, music and God were Smith's inspirations.

"From personal experience, I have to write songs to stay healthy, and God is my inspiration," said Smith. "It's acquired through tension, through conflict, and then I get those eureka moments. For the past five years, I've written this way."

Smith said he realizes that success comes with enjoying what you do daily, and not the size of your bank account, although he's quite comfortable anyway. He's experienced and accepted the struggles of the music business and simply chooses to do it his own way and takes his own advice.

"Find joy in the art of it," said Smith. "I do what I do because I love it. You're going to find ways to do it -- real success cannot come from anywhere else."

His new album, "Keeping Up With the Joneses," an autobiographical concept album, was recorded in a two-month period. Smith took four to six months to write the songs. Never writing a complete song in the studio, like most musicians, he tweaks a lot of his music. He also loves the way his sound is illustrated.

"I can easily describe my music as progressive country," said Smith. "It's not pop, not rock, not pop-country, but I sing with a country voice and have a rock-'n'-roll philosophy, but I'm not a country songwriter."

Smith considers Charleston a second home; it's where he takes vacations. He's played many venues in the South and considers the Music Farm to be one of his favorite places to share his music.

"I've always played smaller venues where the entire place is packed out," said Smith. "My friends and family have attended many times to help me out, but when you play a bigger venue such as the Music Farm, which was my first gig in Charleston, and realize by the end of the night you only had 150 people attending, you feel a bit disappointed. But in reality, that's a good amount of people for that size of a venue."