Happy Thursday: Misner & Smith
September 16, 2010
4:00pm - 7:00pm
Cost: 00.00
Location: Suite 4, Davis, CA 95618
At moments raw and powerful, and at others delicate and soothing, two-part harmonies anchor Misner & Smith’s unique and compelling Americana music with an exceptional vocal blend. A connection to roots music is clearly embedded in their award-winning songwriting, and though it is not always easy to put their music into one category it is evident that the tradition of duets is truly alive and well in these two performers.
The duo began their musical collaboration after working together as actors on a production of Woody Guthrie’s American Song and immediately recognized a mutual love of Americana music. Since then, the two have built a steady and loyal following.
Balancing their careers as actors and musicians is no easy task, but the two have found the art of storytelling to be one of the common threads running through both forms. Characters of various types inhabit their songs. Some are fictional, some are autobiographical, and some are historical, as in the tune “Triangle Factory Fire”. Based on the true story of the infamous fire at the Triangle Waistcoat Factory in New York City in 1911, the song combines researched facts and invention to retell the tragic story from a first-person perspective.
Crafting original songs rich in meaning and texture, the duo’s sound is centered around unique vocal harmonies and evocative lyrics, and in 2007, “Madeline (Paradise Cracked)” written by Sam, won the West Coast Songwriters Association’s Song of the Year competition. The title track of their most recent release “Poor Player” (2008) was nominated in the New Folk category in one of the world’s largest international song contests put on by the Just Plain Folks music organization
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