Zeb and Ashley
Smathers
THE FUTURE OF CANTON,
FALLING IN LOVE
& WHAT COMES NEXT
Moxxie: So, tell me what you were like as a little kid, growing
up in Canton, North Carolina.
Zeb: (huge smile) I think I lived the perfect, small town
childhood. It was almost nostalgic.
Moxxie: Nostalgic?
Zeb: Oh yeah, think Norman Rockwell. It was the 1980 and
1990s. I was always outside, playing sandlot baseball and
sports. I remember running up and down the aisles of my
grandfather’s store, Smathers Super-market. Downtown Canton
was full of restaurants and cool shops. The internet was
new, music was changing, and watching Hollywood blockbusters
we now see as classics. It was a great childhood.
Ashley: I’m actually from Henson Cove and had a really
wonderful childhood as well. Running these hills and being
outside and riding four wheelers. I wasn’t a tomboy so much
because I still loved dressing up and putting on makeup and
all the girly things. But I loved growing up out here which
was different than in Canton.
Moxxie: So, what has changed about Canton? Is it the same
Canton you grew up in as a child?
Zeb: As I got older, I started to see Canton decline. I saw
the same restaurants and stores close. The paper mill was still
there, but I started seeing these businesses become boarded
up and nailed shut. I also saw people’s mindset change in the
feeling that Canton’s best days were in the past… in the 60s
and 70s. My grandfather’s store closed in 1988 and I experienced
that stress first hand and what so many other business
owners and families were going through.
Moxxie: What is it about Canton that keeps you so passionate
and convicted?
Zeb: You know, there is something special about Canton.
There is a huge sense of community and substance here; what
you see is what you get. We take pride in having blue collar
neighborhoods and communities. The citizens here are hardworking,
provide for their families, their schools and their
churches. This would be considered an American nostalgia…
but here, it is our reality.
Moxxie: I love your conviction Zeb. I hear so much of it in
all your lyrics.
Zeb: Well, I like to say, if you’re going to be damned, be
damned for who you truly are.
Moxxie: Ashley, how did you and Zeb meet?
Ashley: We met at a wedding of a mutual friend of ours.
After the wedding we didn’t see each other again for a long
time. It was about a year and a half later. I was teaching a
civics class and asked him to come and speak to my class. He
negotiated coming with a date proposition.
Zeb: Well, I am an attorney, so everything is about negotiation.
And to this day, that is still the best negotiation of my
life.
Moxxie: Zeb, how did you propose to Ashley?
Zeb: Well, I had the whole thing organized ahead of time.
With the help of a pastor and a friend, I concocted a story
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