How a lost record deal, a conversation with Waylon Jennings, and one determined artist built a career entirely her own
Some interviews leave you with a great quote. Others leave you rethinking the way you approach your own career.
When I sat down for this Valerie Smith interview on DIY Bluegrass, I expected to hear stories about touring, recording and building a career in bluegrass. I didn’t expect one of the biggest lessons to come from the record deal she never got to keep
Like so many artists, Valerie once found herself standing exactly where countless musicians hope to be. She had landed a Nashville record deal. Someone with influence believed in her. The future seemed mapped out.
Then, almost overnight, everything changed.
A producer wound up with a broken nose, the record deal disappeared, and Valerie found herself wondering whether she might actually be arrested.
It’s the kind of story that immediately grabs your attention—and she tells it much better than I ever could…:-)
As entertaining as that story is, it wasn’t what stayed with me after we finished talking.
What stayed with me was everything Valerie did afterward.
Most artists would have viewed losing that opportunity as proof their chance had come and gone and spend years trying to recreate the same opportunity with another label, another producer, another industry connection.
Valerie didn’t. She kept performing, kept recording, she kept creating.
And little by little, she built something that no single record company could ever take away from her.
One of my favorite moments from the interview came when Valerie said:
“If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.”
That simple sentence may be one of the healthiest philosophies an independent artist can adopt.
Musicians are conditioned to wait. We wait for someone to discover us, wait for the perfect producer, wait for a manager, wait for festival bookings, wait for streaming numbers. We wait for permission, and I actually wrote more about that exact topic in Stop Waiting For The Music Industry To Save You.
Until those things happen, it’s easy to feel like we’re still standing outside the music business, hoping someone eventually opens the door. But Valerie’s career reminds us there’s another option. Instead of waiting for someone else to build her future, she started building it herself.
After losing her record deal, Valerie received advice from none other than Waylon Jennings. Rather than encouraging her to chase another label, he suggested something much bigger.
Start your own.
That advice eventually became BuckleDown Productions, a company that now includes Bell Buckle Records, Bell Buckle Radio, Bell Buckle Video, Valerie Smith Music, and numerous creative projects that allow Valerie not only to produce her own work, but to help other artists produce theirs as well.
She didn’t simply become a recording artist, she became an entrepreneur, producer, educator, videographer, radio personality, business owner, and mentor.
In other words, she stopped building someone else’s company and started building her own.
What DIY Really Means
The term “DIY” gets thrown around a lot. Usually people use it to describe artists who release music without a major label, but I think Valerie demonstrates something much deeper.
DIY isn’t about refusing help and it isn’t about doing every job yourself.
It certainly isn’t about wearing exhaustion as a badge of honor while answering emails at two in the morning. It’s about ownership.
You can absolutely hire a publicist, work with a booking agent, sign with a record label, partner with a manager, collaborate with producers.
The difference is that those people become partners in a career you’re already building, not the people responsible for giving you permission to have one.
That shift in thinking changes everything.
The Most Dangerous Place Artists Get Stuck
One pattern I’ve noticed—both in the artists I interview and in conversations with musicians every day—is how often we postpone our own progress.
“I’ll record once I have enough money.”
“I’ll release music once I have more followers.”
“I’ll book shows after I move to Nashville.”
“I’ll start posting when I have better videos.”
“I’ll wait until I feel ready.”
Some waiting is practical, some waiting is wisdom. But sometimes waiting becomes a hiding place.
As long as someone else is responsible for our next opportunity, we never have to risk discovering what happens if we simply decide to begin.
The artists who ultimately build lasting careers rarely have every answer before they begin, they simply keep moving.
My Experience when something felt “off” in a meeting
I was in my early 20’s, had just released my 3rd full length album, and it was making some waves for an independent bluegrass girl. It was charting, and I was really excited. So when one of the highest power PR agencies in Nashville actually invited me to their office downtown, I thought “THIS IS IT.”
But it didn’t turn out that way.
Firt off, the air hung heavy in the office, employees looked downcast and shuffled to back rooms. There was an almost pleading look in their eyes whispering, “Run!”
My contact explained what they did, how it would skyrocket my career, and how much they had down for everyone else. They took me to the basement where their “video editing room” was. It was like a low ceilinged cave, no way out, and I’m very claustrophobic.
We returned to the main level, and I told him I’d think it all over and thanks for his time. This is where things shifted. He snorted a little laugh and told me if I didn’t take advantage of my current success, my 5 minutes of fame would basically be over.
Well this didn’t sit well with me.
I quickly left at that point, and never returned. It wasn’t until a few years later that this firm, one of the largest and most successful and respected in the business would shut down, it’s owner and namesake embroiled in shocking allegations of horrific sexual abuse toward employees and artists alike.
So as depressed as I was over walking away from something I had my hopes up on, I’m so glad my gut told me that place was dark and heavy and I didn’t look back.
Freedom Creates Different Art
Another part of Valerie’s career that struck me is how independence eventually gave her permission to pursue projects that never would have fit neatly inside someone else’s business plan.
Her latest work, Maggie’s Journal: A Historical Musical, tells the story of her great-grandmother, Margaret Atterbury Brooks-McCamis, through music and historical storytelling.
It’s deeply personal and above all, it’s unique, and you can grab the album or tickets for the live show musical here.
And it’s exactly the kind of project that reminds us why creative freedom matters. Markets rarely ask for ideas like that. Algorithms certainly don’t.
Sometimes the best work exists because one artist simply decides it deserves to.
My Biggest Takeaway
When our interview ended, I realized Valerie’s story isn’t really about losing a record deal, it’s about what happened after she lost it.
Waylon Jennings may have encouraged her to start a label, but Valerie was the one who believed she was capable of building one.
Believing in yourself doesn’t mean assuming every song is brilliant or every idea will succeed, it doesn’t mean expecting the world to applaud everything you create, it simply means deciding your work is worth continuing before the rest of the world confirms it.
Losing that first record deal could have convinced Valerie Smith that her chance had passed…instead, it became the moment that forced her to build something larger, stronger, and entirely her own.
A record deal might have introduced Valerie Smith to the music business but losing it taught her how to build one.
Watch the Complete Interview
If you’d like to hear Valerie tell the full story—including the unforgettable record deal story, her conversation with Waylon Jennings, the creation of BuckleDown Productions, and the lessons she’s learned from decades in bluegrass—you can watch the complete interview below.
I’d love to hear your biggest takeaway after watching. Leave a comment below, and if there’s another artist you’d like to see featured on DIY Bluegrass, let me know!
Connect with Valerie Smith: https://thevaleriesmith.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/valerievalpal
Facebook: / officialvaleriesmithmusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valerievalpal
Subscribe To Valerie’s YouTube / @valerievalpal
