Chris Smither

“Wise words pour forth from Chris Smither – observations and aphorisms, similes and internal rhymes, run-on sentences and concise quips, all in a conversational flow. The careful construction of Smither’s lyrics is a thing of beauty and the bedrock of his bluesy folk music," wrote The Associated Press. “Smither is an excellent acoustic guitarist and first-rate foot-stomper.”

In 2026, the independent film “The Singers,” in which Chris made his acting debut, won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.

Folk/blues singer, guitarist, songwriter, and Oscar winner Chris Smither was born in Miami, during WWII, and grew up in New Orleans where he first started playing music as a child. His music draws deeply from the blues, American folk music, and modern poets and philosophers.

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 said, “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,” he said. “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 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 fingerpicking, 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.

The 20th release, “All About the Bones” is as elemental as the inky black shadows cast by a shockingly bright moon. Featuring eight brand new Chris Smither songs and Smither renditions of Eliza Gilkyson’s “Calm Before the Storm” and Tom Petty’s “Time to Move On,” the listener is welcomed into some gothic mansion on an imaginary New Orleans street. There in the lamplit parlor confronts the band, a minimalist skeleton crew: Smither’s inimitable propulsive guitar and rumbling baritone are joined seamlessly to producer David Goodrich’s carpetbag of instruments, Zak Trojano’s rock-steady, primal drumming, BettySoo’s diaphanous harmony vocals, and the flat, mournful flood of jazz legend Chris Cheek’s saxophone.

In 2026, the independent film “The Singers,” in which Chris made his acting debut, won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short. Directed by Sam Davis, Chris joined producer Jack Piatt and fellow cast members at the Oscars to celebrate.