His name is Andy Smalls; but in East Tennessee, he’s better known as Marshal Andy or The Knoxville Cowboy, which is the title of a song written about him by Lew DeWitt of the Statler Brothers in 1986.

So, if you’re new to East Tennessee, you may never have heard of Marshal Andy Smalls. The host of a long-running cowboy movie television show called Marshal Andy and Riders of the Silver Screen, leader of a band by the same name, host of various radio programs throughout the years, star in several commercials, and having made numerous CDs – he has truly been this area’s Knoxville Cowboy since the early 1980’s.

Attending the Palace and Strand theaters as a boy in Georgetown, South Carolina, Andy developed a life-long fondness for cowboy movies which featured such stars as Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers. For much of his adult life, Andy has made it his mission to promote the B westerns of this youth and to make sure they are not forgotten through his television program.

Smalls has been a part East Tennessee since 1968 having worked for LAMAR Advertising, Gold City, The Lost Sea, Clayton Manufactured Homes, Tombras Advertising, and TCI Communications where he helped introduce cable television to the City of Knoxville. Andy had also previously worked for Ted Turner Sr. and Jr. in Atlanta before settling in Knoxville permanently.

For a more in-depth biographical summary about The Knoxville Cowboy written by Wayne Bledsoe, click here.