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:: Jesse DeNatale :: Oranger :: Kelley Stoltz :: Parchman Farm :: Loquat ::
Sonny Smith :: Kristofferson Tribute :: Joe South Tribute ::
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[ artists | news | store | tours & events | multimedia | distribution | contact ] :: Jesse DeNatale :: Oranger :: Kelley Stoltz :: Parchman Farm :: Loquat :: Sonny Smith :: Kristofferson Tribute :: Joe South Tribute :: |
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Sonny Smith creates low-key, moving story-songs,
much in the classic folk tradition but with a contemporary indie folk sensibility.
On this release, his second, he’s joined by Bay Area players like
Carrie Bradley (the Breeders), Ralph Carney (Tom Waits), Danny Heifetz (Dieselhed)
and more.
Sonny Smith was born in San Francisco, 1972. When he was seventeen he moved to
Colorado and started playing blues piano in the mountain town bars and clubs.
After two years in the small town of Gunnison, he moved to Denver and played
piano weekly at the Mercury Café and Muddy’s Coffeehouse, playing
four- and five-hour sets till closing time, at 3 am. Unable to stay in one
place too long, he traveled down to Central America, where he found himself
living on an organic farm in the jungles of Costa Rica, just a few miles
from the Caribbean Sea. He met two other musicians and they busked up and
down the tropical coast, playing tunes wherever they were invited. It was
on the farm when Smith first began to write songs, as well as plays, screenplays
and short stories.
In 1996 he returned to San Francisco, and he had his first gig at the Rite Spot,
playing old blues tunes on the piano -- but the piano was so bad he started
facing the audience to perform his own songs accompanied by guitar. With
guitar, harmonica and microphone he abandoned the piano entirely and developed
his own style of intimate performance, incorporating folk, a little jazz
and long-winded storytelling with improvisational lyrics. From the Rite
Spot he began to play the San Francisco club circuit, leading an ever-revolving
cast of local musicians.
Since 2001, Smith has written a column, “Steppin’ Out”, for
the New Mission Newspaper and has had stories published in the New York
literary magazine, Si Senor. In 2000 he wrote and directed his first short
movie “Kid Gus Man.” 2003 will see the release of his CD ‘this
is my story, this is my song’ on the San Francisco label Jackpine
Social Club.
This Is My Story, This Is My Song is in stores July 22, 2003
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