http://www.elliottsmithbsides.com/

http://www.liepaper.com/eslive.htm
(right click and select "Save As" to save each song to your computer)

http://www.somesongs.net/ - SomeSongs.net -
...Great live resource...


Other Great Sites:

http://www.SweetAdeline.net
...The official site & the best...

http://www.elliottsmith.co.nz/ - The Elliott Smith Gallery -
...Many rare & amazing photos...

http://www.trashtreasury.com/ - Trash Treasury -
...Download Hub & Forum...

http://www.elliottsmithmedia.com/ -ElliottSmithMedia.com-
...A cool live info & trading site...

http://www.the-stranger.org/ltro/ind... -Let's Turn the Record Over-
...A new fansite...

Steven Paul Smith was born on August 6, 1969 at Clarkson Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Bunny Welch (née Bunny Kay Berryman), was an elementary school teacher, and his father, Gary Smith, was a University of Nebraska medical student at the time. His parents divorced about a year later. Gary joined the Air Force and was sent to the Philippines as a physician. [3]

Smith and his mother left Omaha and moved to Duncanville, Texas, a suburb of Dallas where, in July 1973, Bunny married Charlie Welch. Welch was physically abusive to both his wife and stepson (which he would acknowledge in a 1998 letter to Smith). Smith also suspected that his stepfather had sexually abused him, but his memories were vague and Welch vehemently denied the charge. [4] Smith graphically chronicled the impact of this part of his life later in the lyrics of "Some Song": "Charlie beat you up week after week, and when you grow up you're going to be a freak." [5] The name "Charlie" would recur in songs throughout the years, such as "Flowers For Charlie" and "No Confidence Man". In contrast, his biological parents' names were never mentioned specifically in any song.

The family was a part of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints through much of Smith's childhood, but eventually began attending services at a local Methodist Church. Smith felt that going to church did little for him, except make him "really scared of hell," a fear that biographer Benjamin Nugent believes remained with him the rest of his life. [6]

Smith had a year of piano lessons and began learning guitar between the ages of 9 and 10. He composed a piano piece, "Fantasy," which won him a prize at an arts festival. [7] Many of the people on his mother's side of the family were non-professional musicians; his grandfather was a Dixieland drummer and his grandmother sang in a glee club. He cited his influences while growing up as Bob Dylan, KISS, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Hank Williams, but most importantly The Beatles. Smith continued to be a dedicated fan of The Beatles (as well as their solo projects) and once noted that he had been listening to them frequently since he was about "four years old."[8]

At 14, Smith moved from Texas to Portland, Oregon, to live with his father, who was then working as a psychiatrist. It was around this time that Smith first began trying drugs and alcohol with friends as well as experimenting with recording for the first time, borrowing a friend of a friend's four-track recorder. [7] During high school, Smith was part of the band Stranger Than Fiction (with Garrick Duckler, Jason Hornick, and Adam Koval). He graduated from Lincoln High School on June 3, 1987 as a National Merit Scholarship finalist. [9]

During his high school years, Steven Smith soon began calling himself "Elliott", claiming he thought "Steve" sounded too much like a "jock" name. [10] S. R. Shutt's biography of Smith speculates that it was either inspired by a street name in Portland, or it was suggested by his then-girlfriend (who had derived it from the last name of her ex-boyfriend).

Smith graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1991 with a degree in philosophy and political science. "Went straight through in four years," he explained to Under the Radar in 2003. "I guess it proved to myself that I could do something I really didn't want to for four years. Except I did like what I was studying. At the time it seemed like, 'This is your one and only chance to go to college and you had just better do it because some day you might wish that you did.' Plus, the whole reason I applied in the first place was because of my girlfriend, and I had gotten accepted already even though we had broken up before the first day." After he graduated he "worked in a bakery back in Portland with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and legal theory." [11]

Also, and more significantly, upon his return to Portland, Smith formed the band Heatmiser with Neil Gust, Tony Lash, and Brandt Peterson (replaced in August of 1994 by Sam Coomes, later of Quasi). Their sound has been compared to Fugazi and other punk and grunge rock bands. The group disbanded in 1995, but not before signing a deal with major label Virgin Records to release their final record, Mic City Sons. Due to a small clause stating that Smith was legally bound to the agreement even in the event of Heatmiser breaking up, this contract would follow Smith for the rest of his life, eventually being sold by Virgin to DreamWorks in 1998. [12]

Around this time, Smith and Gust worked a number of odd jobs around Portland, including installing drywall, spreading gravel, transplanting bamboo trees and painting the roof of a warehouse with heat reflective paint. The pair were also on unemployment, which they considered an "artist grant".