American Witness

R.J. Smith has been a senior editor at Los Angeles Magazine, a contributor to Blender, a columnist for The Village Voice, a staff writer for Spin, and has written for GQ, New York Times Magazine, Elle, and Men's Vogue. His book The One: The Life and Music of James Brown was among the New York Times' "100 Notable Books of 2012." Smith lives with his wife and daughter in Cincinnati, Ohio.