• Chris Smither & Peter Mulvey
• 9:15pm Seating / 10:00pm Show

ABOUT CHRIS SMITHER

Like John Hammond and a handful of other musicians whose careers began in the 1960s blues revival, guitarist, singer and songwriter Chris Smither can take pride in the fact that he's been there since the beginning. Except for a few years when he was away from performing in the 1970s, Smither has been a mainstay of the festival, coffee house and club circuits around the U.S., Canada and Europe since his performing career began in earnest in the coffeehouses in Boston in the spring of 1966.

Smither is best known for his great songs, items like "Love You like a Man" and "I Feel the Same", both of which have been recorded by guitarist Bonnie Raitt. Raitt and Smither both got started at about the same time in the coffeehouse scene around Boston, though Smither was born and raised in New Orleans, the son of university professors. Smither's earliest awareness of blues and folk music came from his parents' record collection. In a 1992 interview, he recalled it included albums by Josh White, Susan Reed and Burl Ives. After a short stint taking piano lessons, Smither switched to ukulele after discovering his mother's old instrument in a closet.

The young Smither was passionately attached to the ukulele, and now, years later, it helps to explain the emotion and expertise behind his unique finger-picking guitar style. Smither discovered blues music when he was 17 and heard a Lightnin' Hopkins album, "Blues in the Bottle". The album was a major revelation to him and he subsequently spent weeks trying to figure out the intricate guitar parts he'd heard on that record. Smither moved to Boston after realizing he was a big fish in a small pond in the New Orleans folk/coffeehouse circuit of the mid-'60s. Also, acoustic blues pioneer Ric Von Schmidt had recommended Smither check out the Boston folk/blues scene.

During his long and storied career Smither has collaborated and played with Jorma Kaukonen, joined Dave Alvin, Tom Russell and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot as Hightone’s “Monsters Of Folk”. Diana Krall and Emmylou Harris have covered his songs, and he continues to produce a torrent of new material, whilst touring worldwide through the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. Smither’s latest effort is "Time Stands Still" and is the result of happy circumstances that saw him join David “Goody” Goodrich and Zak Trojano lay down the album in three days after a killer show in Utrecht, The Netherlands. A visceral and pensive album it reflects a stripped down and focused array of songs and arrangements.

Join Chris Smither for an unforgettable night of pure blues bliss.

ABOUT PETER MULVEY

To Peter Mulvey, there is no such thing as a straight and narrow path. At least, not one that he has any interest in taking. A live-wire on any stage, Peter Mulvey is an acoustic singer/songwriter/guitarist who, in fact, defies this categorization. His ferocious guitar playing whisks him through more tunings than he has fingers in the course of an evening, as he winds his way from full-throated rockers to deceptively plain-spoken musings. Whether solo or with longtime musical collaborator David "Goody" Goodrich at his side (coaxing unearthly sounds out of electric guitars and mandolins), Mulvey is someone who just naturally commands a stage.

In between building his career as a singer/songwriter, though, Mulvey has also written and performed music for theatre and modern dance (Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, Amiri Baraka's Primitive World, and for The Wild Space Dance Company), penned articles for national magazines (Acoustic Guitar, Performing Songwriter, The Writer), done voice-over work for various documentaries, and has had his songs placed in both film and television (the WB drama Felicity, independent films Origin of the Species and The Fisherman, the PBS documentary Wisconsin: An American Portrait).

Clearly, there is no such thing as a simple path for Peter Mulvey. Year after year, he keeps his hands and mind occupied with his own songwriting and performing, as well as innovative side-projects, and continues to build a steady following that succeeds in flying just under the radar of mainstream media. But as long as that following continues to buy records, turn up at shows, and fervently support his unique brand of intelligent acoustic-rock, he'll simply keep doing these things that he loves to do. His way.