My Life in a Jar - The Book of SMO

Born in Southern California and raised in Middle Tennessee, John Lee Smith followed his childhood dream of becoming a star. While he never set out to become the Boss of the Sticks, he created a style of music for people like himself, earning the title King of the Kuntry. Nicknamed Smo by his childhood buddies, he grew up to become a pioneer in the country rap genre. A captivating tale of coming-of-age, Smo shares his heartaches and successes from signing with a major record label to having his own hit reality tv show. He even includes stories from his loyal fanbase he calls his “Kinfoke”. My Life in a Jar: The Book of Smo is a story of one man's dream turned reality and why he's still the Boss of the Sticks.

“When the National Enquirer called Smo a 'Country Singer,' I almost had a f#$king stroke! What did Neil Armstrong say, 'That was one small step for Big Smo, one HUGE step for the Country Rap genre...' ” (HAYSTAK, legendary Southern Rapper)

“Smo's definitely one of the pioneers. I think what I admired most about Smo was the business sense that he had, and sense to get the reality TV show and get the big deal with Warners. I just remember thinking “That will do a lot for this genre and put this genre on the map where it needs to be.” (Clay Sharpe of The LACs)

“I would absolutely say he's been a pioneer. When you think about the “pillars” that are in this genre, you've got The LACs, Colt Ford, and the Moonshine Bandits, and Big Smo.” (BIRD of the Moonshine Bandits)

“I think he's one of the first people who gave alot of these country boys a voice and made them feel like it was cool to be from the sticks.” (Demun Jones)

Born in Southern California and raised in Middle Tennessee, John Lee Smith followed his childhood dream of becoming a star. While he never set out to become the Boss of the Sticks, he created a style of music for people like himself, earning the title King of the Kuntry. Nicknamed Smo by his childhood buddies, he grew up to become a pioneer in the country rap genre. A captivating tale of coming-of-age, Smo shares his heartaches and successes from signing with a major record label to having his own hit reality tv show. He even includes stories from his loyal fanbase he calls his “Kinfoke”. My Life in a Jar: The Book of Smo is a story of one man’s dream turned reality and why he's still the Boss of the Sticks.Award-winning Music biographer Jake Brown has written 50 published books since 2001, featuring many authorized collaborations with some of rock’s biggest artists, including 2013 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Heart (with Ann and Nancy Wilson), living guitar legend Joe Satriani, blues legend Willie Dixon (authorized w/the Estate), country music legends Merle Haggard/Freddy Powers, heavy metal pioneers Motorhead (with Lemmy Kilmister), country rap superstar Big Smo, late hip hop icon Tupac Shakur (with the estate), celebrated Rock drummer Kenny Aronoff, legendary R&B/Hip Hop Producer Teddy Riley, late Funk pioneer Rick James, and Mopreme Shakur. Brown is also author of a variety of anthology series including the superstar country music anthology ‘Nashville Songwriter’ Vol I and II; the all-star rock producers anthology ‘Behind the Boards’ Vol. 1 and 2; all-star Rock & Roll drummers’ anthology ‘Beyond the Beats,’ and the ‘Hip Hop Hits’ producers’ series among many others. Brown recently released the audio books BEYODN THE BEATS and DOCTORS OF RHYTHM under a long-term deal with Blackstone Audio, and has also appeared as the featured biographer of record on Fuse TV’s Live Through This series and Bloomberg TV’s Game Changers series, in all 6-parts of the BET “The Death Row Chronicles” docu-series. His books have received national press in CBS News, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone Magazine, USA Today, MTV.com, Guitar World Magazine, Billboard, Parade Magazine, Country Weekly, Fox News, Yahoo News, etc and writes for regularly for Tape Op Magazine (including the 2015 cover story feature with Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan). In 2012, Brown won the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards in the category of Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.