Valerie Smith

For the first few decades of its existence, relatively few female vocalists were able to achieve high profile and visibility in the world of bluegrass music, a field viewed by many as being male-dominated over the years in much the same way as the wider country music business as a whole. The appearance and success during the '80s of headliners like Laurie Lewis, Alison Krauss and Lynn Morris began a trend of wider acceptance of women fronting their own bands, and as bluegrass moved on toward the end of the century, more and more bright, new talents like Valerie Smith began to emerge. Although jazz and pop fans may be familiar with another woman of the same name who sang and recorded with the likes of Natalie Cole, this Missouri native who exploded onto the bluegrass scene in the late '90s won a devoted following among even the most die-hard fans of Bill Monroe's music. Located in the heartland of western Missouri, some 25 miles northeast of Kansas City, the small farming community of Holt was hometown to Valerie, daughter of musical parents David and Jean Stevens. A natural performer, she was about five when she began singing in church and developing a passion for music, particularly the country music on the radio that ranged from the classic sounds of the Carter Family to the contemporary fare of artists like Emmylou Harris. As a teenager, she suffered a severe allergy attack that robbed her of her voice for a time, so she took up the fiddle as an added outlet for her talents, but she was eventually able to sing again. After graduating from high school, she was dead set on trying her luck right away in the Nashville career grinder, but was convinced by her parents that college would be a wiser course. She enrolled at the Conservatory of Music at the Kansas City campus...