“It all started back when I was knee-high to a grasshopper”. That ladies and gentleman is a line typical of the humor of Walt Murawski-who has been the bass player for Smokehouse for 14 years and counting. Walt admits that his first introduction to music came at about age 12…one would think that must have been a pretty tall grasshopper. He cites his parents for being the ones to bring Rock and Roll into his world- the family was moving and left Walt at their new house to go and retrieve more furniture from the old apartment. Left to his own devices, young Walt invaded his parents’ record collection and it was the sounds of The Everly Brothers and Elvis that planted the seed of one day becoming a musician in Walt’s head. A few years later when the Beatles landed on US soil, Walt was convinced his decision had been a good one- and states “I was hooked for life on rock”

He started in music playing the accordion, moved to the 6 string electric and one day discovered ‘this low sound called bass- I picked it up and was off and running’. He was featured in several local bands, from the Troubadours to the Variations on through The Soul Rockers and a band called simply Freedom.

The Fab four were his inspiration- with all of their high energy and amazing harmony, Walt considers them to be the foundation of his desire to play music.

Like Dave Beckwith, this hard hitting rocker has made a smooth transition to country music with Smokehouse, where his job these days is ‘to hold down the bottom, and sing the high end harmonies, with a few lead vocals tossed in’. When not playing with the band, he writes and records his originals at his 24 track studio which lies out in the wilderness of CT; a place surrounded by lakes and streams that give him ‘inspiration and solitude, where he can let his soul wander and gather universal input for his work’.

Aside from the numerous awards he has won as a member of Smokehouse, Walt once took place in a battle of the bands in 1968 where his band came in second in the nation. These days the only battles he is involved in are the blistering stage battles with his fellow band members, as they each strive to take their music to the next level and continue to thrill audiences throughout New England. Plans for a full cd of originals by the members of Smokehouse are underway, many of which Walt has written or co-written with Dave Beckwith and Rick Credit. After 14 years with the band his outlook is upbeat, his bass and vocal talents finely honed, and his sense of humor as wry as ever- ‘and the rest is as John Lennon said “Life is what happens when you are making plans- YEAH YEAH YEAH – YEAH …….’”