{"id":250083,"date":"2025-09-23T22:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T22:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/250083\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T22:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T22:54:09","slug":"lisa-renee-smith-fort-worth-singer-songwriter-rising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/250083\/","title":{"rendered":"Lisa Renee Smith: Fort Worth Singer-Songwriter Rising"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Lisa Renee Smith<\/a>, music has been part of life for as long as she can remember. She grew up in southeast Arkansas, singing before she could talk, learning the Delta blues and gospel that flowed through her father\u2019s house. Later, in the River Valley between the Ouachita Mountains and the Ozarks, she added alternative rock, progressive metal, hip hop, and dance pop to her personal soundtrack. Those early influences led her to the University of North Texas, where she earned a degree in Jazz Studies and met her husband, bassist Jacob Smith.<\/p>\n

Now a fixture in Fort Worth\u2019s music scene, Smith balances multiple roles<\/a> \u2014 solo performer, member of the all-female \u201csuper group\u201d Homebody<\/a>, and bassist in Mighty Dark To Travel<\/a>, a punk-country hybrid. She\u2019s also part of Songbirds, a songwriting collective that has become a hub for Fort Worth musicians to swap songs, explore craft, and navigate the business of music.<\/p>\n

Her path to this point has been anything but conventional. \u201cI tell people I\u2019m a full-time mom and part-time musician,\u201d she says with a laugh. She left her job at Half Price Books when her son was about one and dove into music full-time. At first, that meant wedding bands and corporate gigs, which she describes as \u201ca good check. It paid well, and it was a fun thing to experiment with, but I had to drink a lot of vodka to get me through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, she decided to focus on the music that felt authentic.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point I was like, ‘I want to play guitar again, so I\u2019m going to try to play guitar in as many of these bands this year as I can,’\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Feeling isolated as a new mom, Smith found her community on\u00a0Instagram. \u201cBack then, I was like ‘I\u2019m going to follow all the local musicians in Fort Worth, and anytime somebody has a daytime gig, I\u2019m going to pack my kid in the car. We\u2019re going to see your brunch gig and I\u2019m going to make connections,’\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

That determination led her to Simone Nicole and Jesse Spradlin and eventually to the creation of Songbirds.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re coming in, you\u2019re playing songs that you wrote for each other, you get to know each other really well,\u201d Smith says. \u201cIt\u2019s so personal\u2026 You\u2019re just being the most vulnerable that you possibly can be in front of each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the group meets monthly at Southside Preservation Hall, combining creative prompts with discussions about songwriting craft and the music business.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just such a fun hang,\u201d she says of Homebody. \u201cBut yeah, that\u2019s a lot of harmonies for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

In every setting, she brings a commitment to connection \u2014 coaxing a crowd into song at a restaurant or harmonizing with friends in a living room jam.<\/p>\n

Her original music is also booming and starting to find its audience. \u201cFoxhole\u201d and \u201cRest Song,\u201d both recorded at Echo Lab with local producer Matt Pence, will appear on an upcoming EP, This Side of the Mississippi, arriving this holiday season. Ahead of that, she\u2019s releasing a standalone single, \u201cHaunt Me,\u201d just in time for spooky season in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to approach it from a place of generosity,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to push it out in the world because I made this art and I want to be generous with it, but I am not really looking for a quantity of listeners as much as quality of listenser.\u201d<\/p>\n

While cover gigs pay the bills and offer a stage, her songwriting is where she stakes her claim \u2014 her art, her expression, her gift to the world.<\/p>\n

Through it all, Smith moves with curiosity and courage. She refuses to wait for permission, letting music guide her life instead of following any prescribed path. In Fort Worth, she has carved out a space that is unmistakably hers \u2014 fearless, collaborative, and alive with sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to keep making art and sharing it with people who actually care about it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s a hundred people or ten \u2014 if it connects, that\u2019s enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n