A new take on the familiar Joseph and Emma story has found its way to LDS music in the form of two performers who are descendants of Joseph and Emma Smith. “The Smith Family” is comprised of Kimberly Jo Smith, and her son Bryan Davis. Their first CD, The Journey, was released in November 2011.
A native of Tennessee, convert and great-great granddaughter of Joseph and Emma Smith, Kimberly has embraced a unique sound drawing from her Appalachian roots to express the lives of her ancestors. Essentially, The Journey is the love story of Joseph and Emma. Reaching beyond the mainstream LDS sound this music is unique in its delivery of finely blended harmonies, filling the senses and producing an effect that is deeply poignant.
With four generations of music impacting the Smith family, and Dolly Parton as a double cousin on her mother’s side, Kimberly’s life has been steeped in the traditional sounds of the mountains. “As a performer I want the audience to be able to feel the history of those mountains and the people who carved their lives out in them. It is my hope that the result is a smile and a desire to know more about their own heritage.”
Kimberly and Bryan have toured the United States since 2000 doing firesides about the Smith posterity. In 2010 they expanded their tours to include concerts logging in over 60,000 miles and 155 firesides and concerts within twelve months. They are both ambassadors for the Joseph Smith Jr. and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society. Bryan studies music at BYU. Kimberly is also an author and photographer. But for both mother and son, music is an integral part of their lives, a driving force which inspires them to write and sing.
“Music is that fine mist which settles into the crevices where nothing else can reach.” Kimberly once said, “and it is that very knowledge that moves me to sing whenever and wherever I can.”
The following is their most recent video, Serenity Blue, which was created using footage from the movie, Emma Smith: My Story, artwork by Jon McNaughton, and some photography by Kimberly Jo Smith. It is a very tender rendering of the joys and sacrifices which were experienced so that we could obtain the blessings that we have today through the restored gospel.
You can visit the Smith Family website at www.ldsgenerations.com
