"One of the few undisputed geniuses among singer-songwriters today," says Sing Out! Magazine.
“Hearing the songs of Michael Smith in this day and age is like reading an anthology of short stories by Hemingway after decades of only comic books,” says Song Talk Magazine.
Michael Smith is a songwriter’s songwriter, with songs that are poignant, mysterious, or hilarious...and sometimes all three at once. Michael’s songs have been recorded by dozens of artists in the folk, country and pop music genres … Steve Goodman, Anne Hills, Tony Trischka, Gordon Bok, Trout Fishing in America, John McDermott, Bernice Lewis, Tom Rush, Claudia Schmidt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Liam Clancy, Jimmy Buffett, and on and on. His song The Dutchman has been recorded by more than thirty artists.
Michael's own performances are uniquely exciting, with inventively crafted guitar accompaniments and his uncanny ability to inhabit the characters of his songs.
Michael's songs have been sung in nearly every folk music room in the United States and Canada, popping up in modern British cinema, on Broadway, in cabaret and theatrical reviews, in Russian coffeehouses, camp singalongs, house concerts, weddings and funerals, radio and television. He has been featured on All Things Considered, Good Evening, and other National Public Radio programs, and on CBC Radio in Canada. His theatrical work includes the music for Steppenwolf Theater Company’s production of The Grapes of Wrath, which won the 1990 Tony Award for Best Play. Michael performed with the play for over three years in North America and England. Just try to remain unmoved by his song Rose of Sharon.
He has performed live at dozens of major folk and music festivals in the United States and Canada, including the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Bethlehem Musikfest, Kerrville Folk Festival, and the Owen Sound, London Ontario and Winnipeg Folk Festivals in Canada...and at Golden Link's 2003 Turtle Hill Folk Festival!