Misner & Smith in Altadena June 28

Award-winning Americana/Folk duo Misner & Smith will play the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena on Thursday June 28th at 8:00pm.

Known for their stunning live performances, the pair has been winning over fans with top-notch songwriting, musicianship, and extraordinary vocal harmonies. This summer they will open for both Louden Wainwright III and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot. They spent last year touring the U.S. and England promoting their most recent album, Live at the Freight & Salvage. The album captures one of the duo’s acclaimed live performances at a legendary venue, and contains three previously unreleased songs. This follows the release of their critically praised second album, Poor Player (2008), and their debut Halfway Home (2004), which includes the West Coast Songwriter’s Best Song of 2007, “Madeline (Paradise Cracked)”.

www.misnerandsmith.com

Tickets are $15 at the door. For reservations call (646) 798-6236. Coffee Gallery Backstage is located at 2029 Lake Ave., Altadena, CA, 91001.



About the band:



Misner & Smith are a gem of a musical pairing, offering a refreshing take on contemporary acoustic music. Their powerful harmonies and perfectly blended voices fit within classic American traditions, and their songwriting and storytelling transport the listener to a world of their creation. That is the hallmark of any songwriter worth his or her salt, but Misner & Smith have a truly unique quality in the chemistry of their duets that sets them apart from the field. The wall of pure sound that these two produce in live performance has astounded many a listener who would swear that there are more than just two people on the stage. Just when you thought you’d heard all that the Americana/Folk revival could show you, Misner & Smith bring a freshness and lyrical vitality you won’t find anywhere else. Their thoughtful songwriting harkens back to the glory days of songwriters like Cat Stevens, Simon & Garfunkel, even Crosby, Stills and Nash. With a timeless San Francisco sound and poetic songwriting, they are a duo that blend roots and folk at the cutting edge of contemporary acoustic music.



The duo’s new album Live at the Freight & Salvage is both a testament to their talent and the quality of their live performances. Recorded at Berkeley’s famed acoustic venue, the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, Misner & Smith’s live album sounds as good as most studio albums, but with the added energy of a live show. While each song is lovely, there are true gems to this album, such as the award-winning “Madeline (Paradise Cracked),” which rightly won the West Coast Songwriters Association’s Song of the Year award in 2007. Touring extensively, Misner & Smith have built a steady and loyal following both at home and abroad. In a recent review, Paul Liberatore of the Marin Independent Journal called Sam “one of the most promising songwriters I’ve heard in quite some time.” Hicks With Sticks Magazine described Misner & Smith as “a Bay Area treasure to be shared…with a touch for taking simple ideas and infusing them with unexpected meaning, metaphor and imagery.” Though it is not always easy to put their music into one category it is evident that the tradition of duets is alive and well in these two performers.



Sam Misner and Megan Smith first met as actors on a production of the musical Woody Guthrie’s American Song and immediately recognized a mutual love of Americana music, particularly focused on vocal harmonies. Megan Smith plays the upright bass and mandolin while Sam Misner plays guitar, and with stellar songwriting to boot, Misner & Smith retain a connection to roots music that has been described as “the perfect balance between traditional and contemporary”. Coming together as a performing duo, the two drew from their careers as actors and musicians, finding that the art of storytelling was one of the common threads running through both forms. As performers, Misner & Smith are wonderful on stage, sharing stories and jokes with the audience and drawing people into their music.