Karyn Roy Smith Starts Her Journey

A Demo, A Move to Nashville, and Walking Away from the Lord

Sep 23, 2007

Karyn Roy Smith starts her musical journey by recording her first demo. She rolls the dice in Nashville, Tennessee. A spiritual draught comes leading her away from God.

In part three of our discussion with Karyn Roy Smith, we learn more about her early recording and songwriting. We learn some things that lifted her spirits and then crushed them.

Karyn Roy Smith Records Her First Demo

With the encouragement and guidance of her teacher, Smith went into the studio to record her first demo. With her first collection of music recorded, she decided to try her hand with the labels. She sent her demo out to record labels and waited for an answer.

Smith tells us about her first shot at a record label, “I sent it off to Reunion Records and that’s when Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith and all those people in the early 90s, Christian music was big. Subsequently to my surprise I got a very nice note from, I think Marida Minor was her name, from Reunion Records. And she wrote me a note and she just said, ‘We can’t do anything for you, we have no room on our roster, but I just want to really encourage you that you have a gift and that your labors not in vain and I think that eventually God will open a door for you if you keep pursuing this.” And I received two other notes from two other little labels that have long since disappeared. But then nothing happened with all of that.”

Karyn Roy Smith Moves to Nashville

Not to be deflated by the lack of attention she received from her demo, Smith pulled up her roots and made the trek to Nashville Tennessee. Nashville has been the center for the Contemporary Christian Music world for some time now, so that was the logical next move for Smith.

Smith relates the move to us, “I moved to Nashville for a year with my husband and tried to do something over there, it was the Christian music hub. It was a very discouraging year and we came home with our tails in between our legs. My husband’s not a musician he works for a major crimes bureau. He does criminal investigations and he wanted to work in a smaller bureau and work his way up. It’s hard out here in LA. We came back and I became very disillusioned with the business and I gave up everything with music. I just gave it up”

Karyn Roy Smith Walks Away From the Lord

Music wasn’t the only thing Smith gave up. She also walked away from the Lord. There was a three year period of her life that she stopped listening to Christian music, stopped going to church, and started going in a different direction.

The copyright of the article Karyn Roy Smith Starts Her Journey in Christian Music is owned by Shane Werlinger. Permission to republish Karyn Roy Smith Starts Her Journey in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.