The Idaho Kid was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho, at the end of The Great Depression. He was farmed out during the summers to his grandparents' and uncles' ranches, where he was nurtured on the ways of the old-time cowboys. His love of the outdoors and hard work led him, eventually, to go "homesteading" and to explore the basics of log-house construction.

His interest in art and singing led him to getting a Master's Degree in the visual arts---and then to develop a serious love affair with opera. Later years have found him returning to his roots, singing the cowboy classics which he had heard so often and had loved so much as a kid.

He dedicates this album to all those cowhands who lived and died with their boots on (or who, otherwise, would have wanted it that way). He wants to thank Foxtail Sound for the hard work and dedication it has contributed, making this album possible ---
a dream come true!

In the late spring of about the year 1962, I found myself on my way to Phoenix, to start a new life. While stopping off to relax in a famous, Irish-coffee house near San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, I found a place to sit, across a small table from an accomodating gentleman who claimed to be a songwriter.

Lamenting the act of having just left the most important person in my life---my mother---I couldn't help but tell that gentleman my sad story in song. And the song, "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" was born---lyrics and melody composed, right there, on the spot. The young, and now legendary, Glen Campbell, acquired my song sometime later---possibly years later---without my knowing about it, and one of the greatest hits of the 1960s and 70s was thereby recorded and released. Today, with the release of my first album, I am dedicating my song, "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", to my now-deceased mother, the late, Mrs. Erin Lercara.
                                                                            ~ Roger Smith (The Idaho Kid)