Shinedown Frontman Brent Smith Covers Otis Redding in Honor of His Father

2019-05-25

Shinedown singer Brent Smith – Story by Charles Ken, photo by Anne Erickson

Shinedown’s Brent Smith covered Otis Redding during the band’s unplugged show in Nashville

Shinedown performed two back-to-back concerts at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium last week, both intimate in size and acoustic in sound. At the second concert, Shinedown frontman Brent Smith sang a special a cappella cover version of the Otis Redding song “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.” Smith has mentioned many times over the years that Redding was a major musical influence in his life, especially at a young age, so the cover isn’t super surprising.

For those who didn’t catch the performance live, Shinedown has posted official video of the performance via their YouTube page. Watch the video below.

After the show, Smith tweeted out the reason he did the song: He father was in the audience that night, and he wanted to sing the song in honor of his dad.

“It was a wink of massive gratitude to him,” Smith said. “The day he gave me that Otis Redding cassette, he literally changed my life.”

The two Nashville concerts were at the tail end of Shinedown’s intimate “An Evening with” tour. The guys are taking a few weeks off the road, and then they’ll kick off another full-fledged North American tour June 21 in The Woodlands, Texas. Find Shinedown’s summer tour dates here.

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Charles Ken

Meet the expert - Charles Ken is a graduate of Michigan State University where he studied writing and history. He's a longtime music buff and covers classic rock for Audio Ink Radio. Contact him at ken@audioinkradio.com.