Misner & Smith

“Sometimes so lost all I knew was my name,” sings Megan Smith with Sam Misner on “Greyhound Days”, a song of the newest work from their duo Misner and Smith. This song is their modern version of a timeless lost on the road, hopping the train tale: “Never trust comfort, it’s weak and it dies/ Have faith in the struggle/ Don’t rest ‘til you die”. The two Northern California natives have recorded original Americana and Roots music since 2004. Their newest release is a live album from their performance at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, and is therefore a perfect introduction for the new listener to their music, as the album features a stunning array of their work to date. It is their third album release. The two met while acting in the classic play “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” (Marin Theater Company), which has been performed across the U.S. since it was written in the 80’s.

They are known for their beautiful use of vocal harmonies. Megan Smith plays the upright bass and mandolin, and Sam Misner plays guitar. This live album has a perfect pacing—some songs take a slow and mournful approach, while others feature guitar pickin’ madness. Misner wrote all the songs on this collection except “Wanderin’ Fool”, a heart-wrenching song about choosing to stay with your love, written by Smith. She writes a sizeable number of their songs though, and they are clearly both quite precocious. Anyone lucky enough to catch them in the “Woody Guthrie” play would attest to their creative force, as they are equally talented actors and musicians.
The lyrics are touching throughout, whether lamenting loneliness or spinning a fascinating old time story. Although their music is directly inspired by the country greats such as Woody Guthrie, in lyrics and sound, they feel very authentic and original. Highlights of their career so far are performances on the main stages at both the San Francisco and El Cerrito Folk Festivals, and their recent headlining show at Berkeley’s famed acoustic venue, the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse. The band explains that some songs feature fictional characters, while others are autobiographical. A fascinating historical story examined by the band is their song “Triangle Factory Fire”—based on the true story of the infamous fire at the Triangle Waistcoat Factory in New York City in 1911—it gives the listener a first person perspective on the tragedy. Their song “Poor Player”, featured on this album recorded originally in 2008 and on their album of the same name, won the West Coast Songwriters Association’s Song of the Year competition, and was nominated in the New Folk category in one of the world’s largest international song contests put on by the Just Plain Folks music organization. Other fan favorites are included on the album as well, such as “Madeline (Paradise Cracked)” from their debut album Halfway Home.



Sometimes the simplest choruses hit home the most, as do the lines “Will our hearts be lost and found?” (“Lost and Found”) performed right in the middle of their live set. Many listeners will feel their hearts have been found after discovering this promising duo. They just finished a tour in England and are on a California tour, stopping in Berkeley at the Starry Plough next Thursday, and in San Francisco on June 4th.

For more information, go to: http://www.misnerandsmith.com/shows.htm

# Posted by Shauna C. Keddy on May 19, 2011 at 4:30pm - No Depression

A S a n F r a n c i s c o b a s e d f o l k d u o , S a m M i s n e r a n d M e g a n S m i t h c r e a t e s u p e r b h a r m o n i e s a n d o f f e r s o m e s u p e r b o r i g i n a l s o n g s o n t h i s l a t e s t a l b u m r e c o r d e d a t t h e F r e i g h t & S a l v a g e C o f f e e h o u s e i n B e r k e l e y i n J a n u a r y 2 0 1 0 . T h i s i s a t r u e ë l i v e í a l b u m w i t h m u c h o f t h e i n - b e t w e e n s o n g c h a t l e f t i n t a c t w i t h t h e a u d i e n c e b e i n g c l e a r l y a u d i b l e , c r e a t i n g a n a m b i e n c e a n d a t m o s p h e r e t h a t i s s a d l y a b s e n t f r o m s o m a n y s t u d i o - e n h a n c e d ë l i v e í r e c o r d i n g s . M o s t o f t h e s o n g s a r e p e n n e d b y S a m a n d c o u l d r i g h t l y b e t e r m e d a s f o l k s o n g s , t h o u g h t h e y s p r e a d o v e r i n t o t h e w i d e r A m e r i c a n a f o r m a t , e s p e c i a l l y t h e o p e n i n g G r e y h o u n d D a y s a n d t h e j a u n t y s t o r y o f P i c c o l o P e t e . T h e r e a r e m a n y d u o s a r o u n d l i k e t h i s c o u p l e , b u t t o m y e a r s , w i t h t h e i r t o p q u a l i t y o r i g i n a l s o n g s , d i s t i n c t i v e v o c a l s a n d s t a g e p r e s e n c e , t h e y s t a n d o u t f r o m t h e p a c k .

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L a u r a B e t h e l l
M a v e r i c k A A G P u b l i s h i n g L i m i t e d
C o m p a n y R e g i s t r a t i o n : 0 4 3 5 0 4 5 5
2 4 B r a y G a r d e n s , M a i d s t o n e , K e n t , M E 1 5 9 T R
w w w . m a v e r i c k - c o u n t r y . c o m - Maverick Magazine (UK)

We had the pleasure of presenting California folk duo Misner & Smith at Dusty Strings a few weeks ago with bluegrass chanteuse Nell Robinson, and they gave a killer performance. Sam Misner's got a great stage presence that's both engaged and humble at the same time. Megan Smith is sweet as pie, and the two compliment each other so well.

Guest Review from Dejah Léger: Misner & Smith's Live at the Freight & Salvage

Remember that golden northern California sound that we all loved in the seventies? I don’t either, because I haven’t heard it in ages. That’s why I felt like I was basking in nostalgic sunshine when I heard Misner & Smith. Listening to their music is like standing in a field of California poppies in a gentle summer breeze. Their tight harmonies and easy-going bass-and-guitar combo is simply kind on the ears. Songwriter Sam Misner lays out ten lovely, fresh songs (the eleventh is written by Megan Smith) on Live at the Freight & Salvage (Freight & Salvage being a coffeehouse located in Berkeley, CA. Of course it is, right?).

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 award in 2007 with such lyrics as “tired and lonesome/lost as a ship/whose compass is broken/whose sail are all ripped”. New songs make their debut as well, including the timely and harrowing “15 months” which deals with war and deployment. The left-behind love describes reading her soldier’s letter every night, “sometimes I just hold it in my fingers/ or pressed between my palms with all my might”.

While live albums are notoriously gritty, Misner & Smith’s Live at the Freight & Salvage is well-mastered and, in all honesty, even better than a studio album because you can hear for yourself how much they love their audience. Their ease on stage is matched in their effortless performance and clean musicianship. And so with a timeless San Francisco sound but revitalized imagery in their ever-poetic songwriting, Misner & Smith are a duo not to be missed. - Hearth Music

Misner and Smith play their instruments with skill, and take turns leading the songs with perfect folk-style voices. Considering how many singer-songwriters there are out there, it's surprising how few singer-songwriter duos there are, considering the opportunities it presents. Sam Misner and Megan Smith have taken advantage of their potential for collaboration.

Their sound captures a distinctive singer-songwriter style, while adding harmonies and instruments beside the omnipresent guitar – in this case, mandolin and bass.

According to the Gypsy Spirit Mission site, "Sam Misner and Megan Smith began their musical collaboration after working together as actors on a production of 'Woody Guthrie's American Song' and immediately recognized a mutual love of Americana music. Since then the two have played regularly around the Bay Area and beyond."

Their lyrics are creative and break out of the clichés that songwriting can fall into. I am reminded of the Paperboys (without the bluegrass), the Barenaked Ladies (without the rock), and the archetypal singer-songwriter duo, Simon and Garfunkel.

[Zach Hudson] - Victory Music

Misner & Smith* make a strong case for folk Americana without baggage and for music with intricate simplicity and lyrical dignity. This duo is a Bay Area treasure that needs to be shared. The uninitiated might want to start their journey at MySpace by listening to "Greyhound Days," the musings of a bus-riding philosopher that will leave the best of songwriters wishing they could write 'em like this. "Though I ain't religious his message seems clear/'Each eye that we meet, son, is only a mirror." Those familiar with the Bay Area's *Pete Bernhard* of the * Devil Makes Three* or "shitkicker poet" *A. J. Roach* will find kindred spirits in *Sam Misner *and* Megan Smith*. Like Bernhard and A.J., Misner & Smith have a touch for taking simple ideas, wringing the clichés out of them and infusing them with unexpected meaning, metaphor and imagery. "Poor Player," the title track, leverages their main occupations as stage actors. In this song an actor views the world as an actual stage yet with himself as but a poor player waiting in the wings. On "Length of a Song," a royal court takes the place of the stage and a troubadour replaces the poor thespian. Only this time, the outside world, symbolized by the court from kings to jesters, judges the troubadour as someone "Who's here and he's gone for the length of a song," a comment on the brevity of life and the scarcity of lasting impact from our existences. Life in the moment is at the heart of love in "Wandering Fool." And is it any wonder the duo took a wandering fool's approach to recording their CD live in the studio? Could these wandering thespian/troubadours have done it any other way? Sometimes one's life just has to mirror one's art. "Compose" calls up the image of a writer, who keeps herself as withdrawn from the world as her works which she keeps sewn into the lining of her coat. She only experiences life through her imagination and her pen. "Polly" is an answer song from the woman who was done in by the man who'd promised to marry her in the centuries-old ballad "Pretty Polly." This is the tale from her post-mortem point of view with no comfort in her ending. Find M&S playing the Bay Area on April 10, 22 and 30th. Get calendar details and hear their songs at www.MySpace.com/MisnerAndSmith. They'll make it easy to become a fan, and they'd surely have even more of a public if they didn't spend their summers on the stage and much of their winters tucked away in Petaluma. - Hicks With Sticks - Jose Segue

The new CD released by Misner/Smith, Poor Player, is a celebration in song by a duo of v formidable talents.

Sam Misner won the West Coast Song Writers Association Competition in 2007 for his composition “Madeline” (Paradise Cracked) from the duo’s debut CD Halfway Home. (available @ cdbaby.com)

I have seen/heard Sam (guitar,vocals) & Megan (upright bass, mandolin, guitar & vocals) on 3 occaisions. I was struck from the first notes of the quality of their musical interaction...the harmonies are reminiscent if “the high, lonesome sonnd” associated w/Bluegrass singing.
When this style of singing is used to make manifest the duos original songs the effect is much different...lots of folks sing good together but this is truly inspired vocalizing...a unique blend...this is “shivers up the spine” singing!!

The playing is “spot on” clean throughout; Sam drives the songs with his Martin w/apparent ease. While Sith anchors the sound w/upright bass and mandolin she does cut loose in a lively waltz time coda on the 11th track.

Poor Player captures their signature sound in a “live” setting to v positive effect. I have heard many of these songs in performance. (there is only one overlap from the first disc: the “bonus” 11th track on Poor Player is Piccolo Pete from Halfway Home. This recording is a testament to the art of recording in that it sounds like these folks are in the room w/me when I play the disc.

The title song is a new & cleaver addition to the “paying our dues” oeuvre. “Compose” was completed just days before the recording took place but I would not have known that from the performance.

A standout performance is Megan Smith’s “Wanderin’ Fool” understated & v soulful. Misner ably joins in on the chorus but when she says “ Let me hear you say...” I want to stand up & be counted...this music is a “joyous noise...”

Highly recommended!! You will not be disappointed, buy the disc...
Douglas Strobel for www.rarwriter.com - www.rarwriter.com

Think musicians. A duet. Bass fiddle and guitar. Magically-blended voices. Folk / Roots / Americana music. Imagine music influenced by folk and rock, bluegrass and reggae, Motown and blues. Think Sam Misner and Megan Smith.

Sam and Megan perform all over the Bay Area, from San Francisco to Berkeley, Sebastopol to Fairfax, and have just returned from a tour in Austin, Texas. They have recently played locally at the Cloud Forest Café. They have played the well-known Freight and Salvage, in Berkeley.

Megan described their music. "It’s kind of evident that most musicians have trouble classifying what they do unless they are really genre based. Especially songwriters. For instance, I was classically trained. I was a huge Paul Simon fan; so was Sam. I think folk roots is a pretty accurate description. We also sing Americana because there is an influence like bluegrass and rock and blues."
"It’s easiest to say folk because there definitely is a folk feel," Sam added, "especially because it is acoustic music. We fall in between. We usually say folk-Americana," but he noted that their influences in the songs they write are "all over the map." He said they sometimes play with two other musicians - one plays electric guitar (Sam’s brother, Henry); the other a drummer (a friend, Rob Bayne). When they do, it’s not exactly rock and roll, but it’s not folk, either. "I always think some of my biggest influences were Crosby, Stills & Nash," he continued. "They’re definitely folk on some songs, but they’re sort of rock and roll in others. But they’re not like The Who rock and roll."

What is Americana? Sam said it’s a term that has been used the last few years. "It sort of describes American roots music, old timey with country, blues. USA Today had an article stating that this is the first year the Grammys actually had a category for Americana." Megan noted that there has been a resurgence of bluegrass, roots - American music - and that Americana is an effort to describe that movement as well.

Megan and Sam met at the California Shakespeare Festival, as actor and actress, in Berkeley / Orinda, in 2002. Acting was central in their lives at that time, with music running a close second (this has somewhat changed, as of recent, with music taking the lead). In time, they found their voices had a musical blend that they, and others, very much enjoyed. Megan said they sang a little bit together, at first, but it was just friendly.
About two years later, they were both cast in a show about Woody Guthrie. That was in Nevada City. "We were doing a promo spot for the show, and played a few songs on the air," Sam noted. "It was the first time we had really played together, just the two of us. March of 2004. It all fell together after that day."

Megan said her background is very different from Sam’s. "I was in the music program here at Davis High School. Then I went to the University of Oregon [where she was in the music program]. I was classically trained. The training that I got, vocally, I use now." The bass fiddle and mandolin add to her repertoire.

Sam began playing the guitar when he was 13. "I had sung my whole life," he said. "I taught myself [guitar] for awhile. This was in Sonoma County. I was born in Marin. I grew up on my parents’ records. I have always loved vocal harmonies, and the Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead. I found out my mom, Priscilla, had really loved bluegrass when she was in her twenties. My dad loved music, too. I took lessons on and off for a couple of years. I loved listening closely to music and figuring out what’s going on." Megan added that Sam had a couple of great mentors, too - one of the parents of one of his classmates in high school, and another in college.

Storytelling is an important component of their music. "We wish to connect through storytelling," Megan noted. "Music in our lives has that same theme. In our writing, especially in Sam’s writing, is that storytelling craft." They said that everything they do is in service of the song, similar to their acting, in which all that is involved is in service of the play.
Megan elaborated, indicating that there is a feeling that threads through each song. "It can be abstract. It doesn’t have to be chronological. But it always evokes a time, a place, a feeling for the audience just to sort of absorb and experience, and hopefully they relate - and that’s the point of any art, to reach people. If your whole aim is to be in service of the art you are creating, and you take your own ego - your own self - out of it, you leave the door open for other people to come in and experience it with you, and then you have a shared experience. It’s an offering and a shared experience."

They both write music, but Megan gives Sam credit for writing the greater share. "We have done [written] one song together," she said, "and we would love to do more of that - it is something that works well for us. I have written a few songs on my own. I t - Davis Life Magazine

All the world's a stage for Sam Misner and Megan Smith. As both stage actors and musicians, Misner and Smith spend most of their time in the spotlight. Smith grew up in Davis, and the duo recently played their first show here, at the Cloud Forest Café.They'll follow that with a concert at 10 p.m. Friday at Sophia's Thai Kitchen, 129 E St., also in Davis. The show is for the 21 and over crowd, and the cover will be $3 at the door. Shotgun Party will take the stage at 11 p.m. For additional information, call (530) 758-4333.Misner (guitar and vocals) and Smith (bass, mandolin and vocals) play traditional and old-time music, bluegrass and folk. Misner won the 2006 West Coast Songwriters' Best Song of the Year Award, with "Madeline." The prize was free time at Bad Habit Recordings, where he and Smith recorded their newest album, "Poor Player."Both Misner and Smith have great singing voices individually, and when they perform together, the harmonies are truly inspired.We chatted at their home in Davis, a recent relocation from San Francisco."It's expensive in the city," Smith said. "This is a hiatus for us. We can focus on our music."The two met at a Shakespeare festival."A couple of years later, we were cast in the musical, 'Woody Guthrie's American Song,' " Smith said. "We started playing music together after shows.""It's the only musical we've done," Misner added. "It's a really fun show.""We'll do it again in a year," Smith continued. "We do other plays. It's a juggling act, trying to act and play music. The theater takes us out of town, usually four to six nights a week. It cuts into gig time."Do they consider themselves musicians who act, or vice versa?"I don't want to choose," Smith said."It's both," Misner added.Did the stage experience prepare them for performing live music?"Not for me," Smith said. "I'm still getting used to it. When we started, five years ago, I was really nervous and vulnerable. It's different on stage; you have a character and lines.""It feels more naked singing your own songs," Misner agreed.They share writing duties, but Misner is more prolific."I'm a slow writer," Smith said. "It's nice to bounce ideas off him.""Megan always comes up with harmonies," Misner explained. "I come up with a song on guitar and vocals, and Megan adds the bass line or mandolin.""The music comes first for me," Smith said. "Lyrics are the hardest part. He has really great ideas lyrically."Smith draws inspiration from their acting."There are a lot of similarities between our music and stage work," she said. "Acting is storytelling. That's what we're striving for in music; that's what drew us to both disciplines."Since they're unsigned by a label at the moment, Misner and Smith aren't sure what the future holds."Right now, we're walking the line between theater and music, taking a wait-and-see approach," Smith said. "You have to get yourself out there. We're pretty small, but we've been playing a lot. We have to put a lot of energy into getting the word out."They plan on touring this summer."We were out in Boulder, Colo., last summer doing the Shakespeare festival," Smith said. "We want to build a mini tour out there and back. We've already applied to some music festivals."What's next?"We have things in the works," Misner said. "We have three to five songs that'll go on a CD by next year."Their mutual love for music is obvious."There's that moment in time, on stage, that you're all sharing," Smith said."It's amazing."


Copyright, 2009, The Davis Enterprise. All Rights Reserved. - The Davis Enterprise

Misner & Smith: "Poor Player"

Sonoma County singer-songwriters Sam Misner and Megan Smith began performing together as a duo after discovering their mutual affection for folk music when they were both actors in a production of Woody Guthrie's American Song.
Incidentally, six years later, they've been cast in the Marin Theatre Company's presentation of the musical celebration of Guthrie. It opens May 27 in Mill Valley.
Misner, who flatpicks an acoustic guitar and sings in a firm, pleasant tenor, is one of the most promising songwriters I've heard in quite some time. He works in an intelligent, witty style that reminds me of a less acerbic Loudon Wainwright III.
His song “Compose,” its melody graced by lovely and surprising chord changes, deservedly won best song at two recent regional competitions of West Coast Songwriters.
Charming lyrics like “verses, sonnets and prose/And she knows it's all just ribbons and bows/Some rhymes are harder and sometimes it shows I suppose” are reminiscent of the young Paul Simon.
And there's something unmistakably Dylanesque in the talking blues of the title track, nominated last year in the “New Folk” category by the international music organization Just Plain Folks.
With Misner's acoustic guitar strumming and Smith playing stand-up bass and adding texture with mandolin and guitar, the duo creates a comfortably resonant neo-folk sound highlighted by sweet but strong two-part harmonies.
Smith adds a trio of fine songs to the 10 on this outstanding CD — the melodic ballad “Wanderin' Fool,” the old school folk tune “Polly” and the softly evocative “Rainday.”
"Poor Player" is about a neophyte performer nervously waiting in the wings.
After recently headlining at Freight & Salvage, the prestigious acoustic showcase in Berkeley, these two have moved up in class from that lowly status. Their next album could very well be called "Star Power."
By Paul Liberatore for the Marin Independent Journal
Published 2/26/10

- Here Magazine, The Marin Independent Journal