Frosty Smith hasn`t a clue of his acclaim.  He has a casual attitude toward his accomplishments and his contribution to music.  He co-produces and writes.  He has recorded and/or performed with Lee Michaels, Steve Miller Blues Band, Sly & The Family Stone, Sweathog, Rare Earth, Soul Hat, Delbert McClinton, Omar and The Howlers, W. C. Clark Blues Revue, Guy Foresyth Band, Chris Duarte Group, among others.  He has toured extensively in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan .  The discography on his web site is pages long.  He teaches and does studio recordings for television commercials.  He endorses Aquarian Products, Fives Drum Company, Sabian Cymbals, Toca Percussion and Vader Stick Company.  Now, tell me this guy deserves recognition.

While performing at J&J Blues Bar on August 3rd, Frosty had his right foot in some kind of a cast and he did not use a high hat.  Regardless, his talent is unparalleled.  To steal a word from another talented musician that night describing Frosty`s playing, “solid” is the best description.  (Thanks Danny.)

At the first break, Frosty agreed to sit with me in the beer garden to talk about his history.

Do you live in Austin?

I was working with a guy named Delbert McClinton.  I was finishing a tour with him and then having to leave five days later to go on another tour.  I was living in California and flying back and forth was getting to be a bit much, so I started staying in Austin, which was a lot closer to Fort Worth where he was out of at that time.  Now I think he lives in Nashville.  It was such a nice town with really down to earth people after you`ve lived in LA for eleven or twelve years which is real refreshing to see people just go out and play without having to look just right and say the right thing.  They were just playing music so it was nice.  I ended up being there twenty-two years.  I didn`t plan on being there that long but like I said, it was a pretty nice town.

So, its home to you now?

No, but it is changing a lot.  The music scene is really drying up there real bad.  All the clubs are gone.  It`s just a real bad deal.  But, that`s the way things should be.  They shouldn`t be just one place that has it all, all the time, you know.   Places come and go, Seattle was the grunge scene.  LA had a lot of it and San Francisco in the ‘60`s.  Austin had a big scene from the late ‘70`s until the mid-90`s.  A lot of music came out of Austin, a lot of national acts.  It will show up some where else.

Were you born in LA?

No.  After the Second World War, my family was fishermen and loggers in the Northwest.  And, after the Second World War every body  in the world moved to California.  It was like the Promise Land, because everything was brand new.  Lots of work and it was just developing.  I was raised in the San Francisco Bay area which was real fortunate for somebody that ended up playing music because there were lots of great jazz players, R&B bands.  Everybody came to San Francisco to play.

Did your family have a lot of musical background?

No.  Nobody.  It was just one of those deals.  Like a hybrid of generation of farmers.  Generations move up and then - pow - out comes something new.  Like nobody in my family ever rode in an airplane.  They never went anywhere, they lived in the towns they lived in and they may migrate up to Alaska because of the fish.  But I am the first one in my family to leave the country.  No, there was nobody in the family that played instruments.

Well, how did you get into music or playing the drums?

I started tap dancing at the age of three.  I was a professional little dancer guy.  I did that until I was about twelve years old.

(A young girl walks up to our picnic table out back and says, “I`m really sorry to bother you.  Can I have your autograph?”  She told Frosty that this was her first time to a blues bar and she loved the music.  He signed the CD and she bounced back into the club.)