Chris Smither › Similar Artists

Richard Shindell - 100% match to Chris Smither

Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA. This eloquent US folk songwriter, practising Buddhist and self-confessed ‘couch potato’ can trace his original musical inspiration to a Christmas gift, a copy of Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison, when he was nine years old. After leaving seminary college Shindell spent nine months at a Buddhist monastery in New York. This gave him the inspir Read more

Patty Larkin - 94% match to Chris Smither

Iowa, USA. Expert guitarist and singer-songwriter Patty Larkin has described her style as ‘folk music meets the beat generation meets rock ‘n’ roll.’ In the meantime, critics have described her acoustic, electric and slide guitar technique and presentation as ‘comparable to the best of Bonnie Raitt’. Raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Larkin studie Read more

John Gorka - 91% match to Chris Smither

New Jersey, USA. Singer-songwriter Gorka, who possesses a rich and emotive baritone, honed his craft in America’s north-eastern folk scene of the early 80s before recording a succession of acclaimed albums. Influenced by Tom Paxton, Richard Thompson and Tom Waits, amongst others, his musical career began in 1986 when he was attending Moravian College in Bethlehem, with Read more

Bill Morrissey - 87% match to Chris Smither

25 November 1951, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. This US singer-songwriter is arguably one of the most gifted storytellers in contemporary folk music, fashioning detailed, impressionistic songs of such quality that his songwriting is frequently mentioned in the same breath as the work of author Raymond Carver. Inevitably, Morrissey’s evocative studies of character and loca Read more

Eliza Gilkyson - 81% match to Chris Smither

1950, Hollywood, California, USA. Singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson has enjoyed a long if not always fruitful career, although by the start of the new millennium she had begun to reap some much deserved critical and commercial acclaim.Gilkyson is from a musical family, with her late father, the noted performer and songwriter Terry Gilkyson enjoying a U Read more

Greg Brown - 75% match to Chris Smither

Iowa, USA. Greg Brown’s traditional folk songwriting is infused with a distinctive Midwestern sensibility. Growing up in a family obsessed by music, he began to play the pump organ when he was six, before picking up the guitar a few years later (he was taught by his mother). A series of concerts followed at local church venues, where his father was a preacher. Eventuall Read more

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer - 74% match to Chris Smither

Kelly Joe Phelps - 72% match to Chris Smither

5 October 1959, Sumner, Washington, USA. Spending his youth moving across genres, travelling from blues to rock to folk to be-bop to ‘free’ music, Phelps underwent a Damascene conversion at the age of 30 when he heard a record by Mississippi Fred McDowell. What began as an exploration of lap-style slide guitar techniques led to a spiritual and musical breakthrough. Read more

Dave Alvin - 66% match to Chris Smither

11 November 1955, Los Angeles, California, USA. The country guitarist Dave Alvin had a successful career with his brother Phil in the Blasters, whose best-known song, ‘Marie Marie’, was a UK hit for Shakin’ Stevens. On leaving the band, he worked with the punk band X and scored the movie Border Radio. His solo albums are typical of his career, being a mixture Read more

Peter Mulvey - 65% match to Chris Smither

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Singer-songwriter and guitarist Mulvey learned his trade in college bands and as a street performer, spending some time in Dublin, Eire, before returning to America and basing himself in Boston. He played with the rock band Big Sky while still at college but later branched out in a more roots-orientated direction. Following the demo tape Rabbit Tal Read more

Slaid Cleaves - 61% match to Chris Smither

Richard Slaid Cleaves, 9 June 1964, Berwick, Maine, USA. Cleaves’ stark vignettes of desperate people are far from the designer country of the new millennium, and his influences are Woody Guthrie (Cleaves put music to his verse, ‘This Morning I Am Born Again’) and Hank Williams, for whom he recorded a tribute song, ‘29’.Cleave Read more

Kris Delmhorst - 60% match to Chris Smither

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Roots singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kris Delmhorst is a classically trained cellist who is also an adept fiddle player. She learned the latter instrument during a spell hitchhiking in Ireland, an experience she fitted in around studying for a degree and working on farms, bakeries and ocean-going boats. Delmhorst moved to Read more

Antje Duvekot - 58% match to Chris Smither

Cheryl Wheeler - 58% match to Chris Smither

10 July 1951, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Wheeler was raised in Timonium, Maryland, and has been playing guitar since she was 10 years old. One of her first jobs was singing in a restaurant and working as a waitress - at the same time. In the late 70s, she was a familiar figure in the Newport folk clubs. Her first album was produced by singer-songwriter Jonathan Edwards and sh Read more

Tom Russell - 53% match to Chris Smither

5 March 1950, Arizona, USA. The country singer-songwriter Tom Russell grew up on a ranch in Santa Monica and had twin influences of cowboys and country music. He says, ‘Southern California was very rich in country music, not only with Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, but also the Hollywood cowboy scene. My brother became a full-on cowboy. It’s in the blood.’< Read more