Chris Smither to Play City Winery NYC, 9/27

Three projects mark songwriter's 50 years in music: Double retrospective CD, lyric book, and tribute album featuring Bonnie Raitt, Loudon Wainwright III, Josh Ritter, Dave Alvin, Tim O'Brien, Patty Larkin and others.

Blues-folk icon Chris Smither has long been revered for both his guitar prowess and his way with a lyric, inspiring artists from Bonnie Raitt and John Mayall to Emmylou Harris and Diana Krall. He toured as one of the original monsters of folk with Dave Alvin, Tom Russell and Ramblin' Jack Elliott in 1998, and continues to live up to the title with accolades such as Mojo magazine's five-star review for his 2012 release, Hundred Dollar Valentine. Smither still makes music and tours regularly; his April 2014 appearances at the revered New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival earned him a spot on Rolling Stone Senior Editor David Fricke's Personal Top 10 list of best festival performances.

Chris Smither brings his solo set to The City Winery, 155 Varick Street, NY, NY 10013 on Sunday, September 27. The Suitcase Junket, Matt Lorenz's one-man band opens up the 8:00 PM show. Tickets are $22/$25/$28 and are now on sale online at www.citywinery.com. For more information, call 212-608-0555. The San Francisco Chronicle on Smither in concert, "His no-frills appearances make for a memorable experience, an intimate occasion with a songwriter and storyteller at the top of his craft. The guitar playing is draw enough. His distinctive acoustic finger-picking style, which blends the smooth, controlled rhythms of Mississippi John Hurt with the ecstatic thumb and foot-thumping style of Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins, is a thing of beauty, a gracefully lilting entrancement."

As Smither marked his 50th year of music-making in 2014, the New Orleans-raised troubadour looked back at his career with STILL ON THE LEVEE, a two-CD retrospective from Signature Sounds. He also released his full lyric collection as a book titled CHRIS SMITHER LYRICS 1966-2012, and in September, Signature Sounds saluted him with LINK OF CHAIN, a tribute album featuring contributions by Raitt, Loudon Wainwright III, Dave Alvin, Patty Larkin, Josh Ritter, Peter Case, Tim O'Brien and other friends and admirers from his beloved Boston music scene and beyond.

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