Chris Smither – Master of American Roots Music and Oscar Winner | Two Night Residency | Friday Night — live event on Nov 20, 2026

Chris Smither – Master of American Roots Music and Oscar Winner | Two Night Residency | Friday Night

Chris Smither live at Godfrey Daniels | Live Music Listening Room, Bethlehem on Fri, Nov 20, 8:00 PM. Free entry. Lineup, start time and tickets on Ckord.

“Smither is an American original – a product of the musical melting pot and one of the absolute best singer-songwriters in the world.” —Associated Press. TICKETING PAGE FOR THE FRIDAY NIGHT SHOW Chris Smither, a masterful blend of American roots music and poetic lyricism, brings his legendary artistry to Godfrey Daniels. With a career spanning over five decades and accolades as one of the finest singer-songwriters in the world, Smither's performances are an evocative journey through life, love, and loss. Known for his rhythmic fingerpicking guitar, soul-stirring baritone voice, and captivating storytelling, he channels influences from Lightnin' Hopkins to Mississippi John Hurt into a sound uniquely his own. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience an evening with a true American original in our intimate listening room, where every note resonates deeply. CHRIS SMITHER smither.com Born in Miami, during World War II, Chris Smither grew up in New Orleans where he first started playing music as a child. The son of a Tulane University professor, he was taught the rudiments of instrumentation by his uncle on his mother’s ukulele. “Uncle Howard,” Smither says, “showed me that if you knew three chords, you could play a lot of the songs you heard on the radio. And if you knew four chords, you could pretty much rule the world.” With that bit of knowledge under his belt, he was hooked. “I’d loved acoustic music – specifically the blues – ever since I first heard Lightnin’ Hopkins’ Blues In My Bottle album. I couldn’t believe the sound Hopkins got. At first I thought it was two guys playing guitar. My style, to a degree, came out of trying to imitate that sound I heard.” In his early twenties, Smither turned his back on his anthropology studies and headed to Boston at the urging of legendary folk singer Eric von Schmidt. It was the mid-’60s and acoustic music thrived in the streets and coffeehouses there. Smither forged lifelong friendships with many musicians, including Bonnie Raitt who went on to record his songs, “Love You Like A Man” and “I Feel the Same. (Their friendship has endured as their career paths intertwined over the years.) What quickly evolved from his New Orleans and Cambridge musical experiences is his enduring, singular guitar sound – a beat-driven finger-picking, strongly influenced by the playing of Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin’ Hopkins, layered over the ever-present backbeat of his rhythmic, tapping feet (always mic’d in performance). Smither’s first albums, I’m A Stranger, Too! (1971) and Don’t It Drag On (1972) were released on Poppy Records, home of kindred spirit Townes Van Zandt. By the time Smither recorded his third album, Honeysuckle Dog with Lowell George and Dr. John helping out, United Artists had absorbed Poppy and ultimately dropped much of their roster, including Smither. Smither made his next record in 1985, when the spare It Ain’t Easy on Adelphi Records marked his return to the studio. By the early ’90s, Smither’s steady nationwide touring and regular release of consistently acclaimed albums cemented his reputation as one of the finest acoustic musicians in the country. His 1991 album, Another Way to Find You, was recorded live in front of an in-studio audience with no overdubs or second takes. This would be the first of two albums with Flying Fish Records. His next recording, Happier Blue, was embraced by Triple A radio and received the NAIRD (now AFIM) award as Best Folk Recording of 1993. Up On The Lowdown (1995) marked the first of a trio of albums to be recorded with producer Stephen Bruton at The Hit Shack in Austin and his first of five albums with roots label HighTone Records. Up On the Lowdown rode the crest of the newly formed Americana radio format wave and sparked considerable interest abroad. A tour of Australia with Dave Alvin and extensive solo touring in Europe led to an expanding global interest in Smither. His song, “I Am the Ride,” from this album inspired the independent film, The Ride, for which Smither also composed the original score. In early 1997 Smither released Small Revelations. It climbed the Americana and Triple A radio charts and led to concert dates with B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Nanci Griffith, and the hugely successful, original Monsters of Folk’ tour with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Dave Alvin and Tom Russell. Small Revelations also generated several film projects for Smither. Emmylou Harris recorded his song, “Slow Surprise,” for the The Horse Whisperer soundtrack on MCA. And his recording of “Hold On” was used in the indie feature film Love From Ground Zero. Smither also shared insight into his guitar style and technique on two instructional DVDs, available from Homespun Video. His CD, Drive You Home Again (1999), garnered four-stars from Rolling Stone. And with it, Smither continued to tour world-wide. Shortly after, in 2000, Smither released his one-man-tour-de-force, Live As I’ll Ever Be. Recorded in-concert at various clubs and concert ha

Starts: Fri, Nov 20, 8:00 PM

Ends: Fri, Nov 20, 10:00 PM

Where: 7 East 4th Street, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States

Price: $0.0

Lineup

Venue: Godfrey Daniels | Live Music Listening Room

More shows at Godfrey Daniels | Live Music Listening Room

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