ShutDownTown
What happens when a small Texas town shuts down for the evening on any given night? It turns into a place where good times and good music is born.
Both Amanda Graves and Cari Smith graduated from Edgewood High School just 5 years apart from each other but had never met. Another 5 years down the road and they have joined musical forces to form ShutDownTown – an explosion of Country, Rock and Roll and Red-Dirt Blues. It’s hard to put ShutDownTown in any musical genre considering that they have been known to cover anything from Merle Haggard to Madonna. Regardless of what category they may fall into, their music speaks for itself.
5 years of college and a degree later, Amanda Graves knew where she was going and there was no doubt that music was the driving force behind it. Since that time, she has accomplished more than most singer/songwriters in that small time frame. Amanda started writing her own songs and learned to play a little guitar and never looked back. She released a solo recording, Nobody’s Fool, and has built quite a reputation for herself among the Texas/Red Dirt music scene. With her demanding vocals and in-your-face attitude, she is right at home as lead singer of ShutDownTown.
Knowing music would be the center of her life, Cari Smith got started as soon as she could. Always having the desire to learn to play guitar, at sixteen years old, Cari used money from her first paycheck at a summer job to buy a guitar and taught herself. After graduating high school in 2002, she formed the Livingston Hill Band, along with her cousin Bryce Valentine as lead singer, and good friend Matt Stevens on the bass guitar. Along with drummers Jeff Deen and later Mike “MadDog” Madden, both from Wills Point, TX, the Livingston Hill Band enjoyed a good 4 years of various shows and performances throughout North and East Texas. Performing a wide variety of cover songs as well as many original songs, Livingston Hill left quite an impression on their hometown of Edgewood and the surrounding areas. After the Livingston Hill Band went on hiatus, Cari continued writing original material and performing solo anywhere she could find a place. With harmony and lead vocals along with lead and rhythm guitar, ShutDownTown is exactly where Cari Smith needs to be.
These two singer/songwriters have already shared the stage with and opened shows for the likes of Mike McClure, Micky and the Motorcars, Wade Bowen, and Randy Rogers. ShutDownTown plans to make 2008 a productive and successful year with plans to record a debut album and an already growing schedule of performances. Along with the awesome talents of MadDog on drums, Matt on bass, and Brandon McEnturff, also from Edgewood, TX on lead guitar, there is no doubt ShutDownTown is well on the right road to make their mark on the Texas Music scene.