Chris Smither

With a storied career as a musician who has recorded 20 acclaimed albums,  been a consistently engaging live performer for over four decades, and who has performed and collaborated with some of music ‘s true legends, the presence of the great Chris Smither at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival is cause for real celebration. 

His songbook overflows with rollicking, clever blues-based folk tunes that offer acute observations about life’s bitter ironies. The San Francisco Chronicle says, “The never-precious lyrics make for elegantly stripped-down adages, steeped in the wisdom, hardships, joy and disappointments of real life……blending self-deprecating humor with rich kernels of poignant, often piercingly honest emotion.”

Uncut (UK) describe his music as ranging from “lowdown acoustic blues to spry folk rock, riffing and jangling with a sense of urgency and purpose.” His guitar picking is “excellent” and “quietly virtuosic” and he’s been deemed a “first rate stomper”.

His voice has been depicted, variously, as “a baritone drawl as worn as antique leather”, “gruff and world-weary” and “equal parts gravel and molasses.”

With his Southern-drawl, tapping foot in constant motion and fingers pulling fluid blues patterns from his acoustic guitar, Smither converts pretty much any audience he sits down in front of. We’re ready, Chris – we’re ready.