Hailing from the west central Illinois town of Winchester, Mr. Smith’s been performing in Springfield for some time now, and the gifted singer, songwriter and versatile guitarist recently expanded his solo-acoustic gig reach (he also plays with Smashtag) to include St. Louis, southern Illinois and other regional spots. Stuart just recorded a full-length album (titled War Horse) featuring his original songs that will be released on CD and vinyl with his brother Ben Smith as engineer, assisted by Michael Williams. He invited area musicians and friends, including Robert Sampson, Jeff Davidsmeyer, Donny Hinkle, Ben “The Harpman” Cox, Jayson Craig, Samuel Smith and Brad Floreth, plus added Cowboy Eddie Long, a genuine Nashville studio cat on pedal steel, to make a dang good musical recording. Stuart is in the midst of a Kickstarter project (which ends on June 4 at 8 p.m.) to aid with manufacturing costs, and you can join in by going online at Kickstarter/Stuart Smith. Go listen live for a song preview, then support this guy who is on his well-deserved way to making playing music work.