If you ever want to listen to a band playing 50’s-90’s music, listen to the Ghostriders.
The Ghostriders is a band consisting of 4 men; Danny Smith, Mark Hinton, Skip Martin and Will Schwering.
Danny Smith, 68, of Lehigh, Iowa is the lead singer in this band.
He was born in 1948 to Shelton and Katherine Smith.
Katherine passed away in 1984 when Danny was 36 years old, and Shelton passed away in 1965 when Danny was 17 years old.
“I was five when I started singing. My older brother Sam bought me a $10 guitar and taught me how to play when I was twelve.” Smith has taught his granddaughter how to play the guitar as well.
“With brother Sam’s urging, I tried out for a band called Mel and the Country Ramblers and was lead singer and rhythm guitar for one year.”…show more content… But that didn’t stop Smith from doing what he loves.
“I started my own band, The Ghostriders, in 1982.” That’s almost 35 years.
After a couple years, Smith’s son-in-law, Mark Hinton, took the spot of the bass guitar.
Every year in mid June, Lehigh hosts an event called River Days. There are a lot of fun activities such as mud volleyball, bingo, a big lunch, and street dancing. Street dancing takes place on Main Street, where The Ghostriders will play. Everyone sets up blankets and folding chairs to sit and watch, but many will join in and start dancing.
“It’s a great time of the year. Lehigh isn’t a big town, so it’s nice for everyone to get together like this.” Granddaughter, Kristin Swanson says. “One of my favorite parts is when everyone starts line dancing. There’s usually a group of at least 25 people. It’s so much fun!”
Smith writes his own songs and puts them on CD’s for his family to listen to. Whenever he performs, everyone sings along to these songs. Anytime family is together, Smith performs for everyone.
“It’s really nice to hear him sing and play. You can always tell that he’s doing what he loves.” Swanson
