The duo of
Smith & Myers was born out of an online contest held by the Florida-based rock band
Shinedown. At the suggestion of their Atlantic Records marketing rep, the group put a call out to their fans asking them what songs they'd like to hear the band cover. Startled by the huge response on their website, lead singer Brent Smith and guitarist
Zach Myers eventually narrowed down the list of submissions, settling on ten songs that would be recorded very simply with just acoustic guitar and vocal. Calling the project
Smith & Myers, the duo laid down renditions of songs as varied as
the Clash's "London Calling,"
Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters," and
Otis Redding's classic "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." A video of the group recording each track was posted on YouTube to accompany the February 2014 release of
Smith & Myers'
(Acoustic Sessions) EP. ~ Timothy Monger