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Community Corner

ANNE HILLS & MICHAEL SMITH in Concert @ The Cellar Stage

ANNE HILLS & MICHAEL SMITH

Tickets $21.00 ~ Showtime 8:00 pm - 410-521-9099





Anne Hills is such an exquisite singer that it’s

understandable that people might be swept up in the pure beauty of her

voice and thereby overlook her writing. That would be a mistake. For me,

Anne’s writing, in songs like ‘Follow That Road’ and many others, is as

direct, melodic and deep as any work being done today. She is quite

simply one of my absolute favorite songwriters.”
~ Tom Paxton

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As a singer, actress, writer, and musician Anne Hills has continuously built a reputation of merit. During her career, she has received numerous honors including, the Pennsylvania Partner’s in the Arts Project Stream grant award (for the 2007 premiere of An Evening of James Whitcomb Riley). Her poetic work won her Second Place in the Atlanta Review’s International Poetry Contest and

her work as lyricist with jazz-artist Peter Erskine was featured in a

performance by choirs from around the world at a Hilliard Ensemble

workshop in Germany. In 2001 she reunited with long-time friend Tom Paxton to release a long-awaited duet recording Under American Skies for Appleseed Recordings, which won a WAMMIE (Washington Area Music Award) for “best traditional folk recording.” This was soon followed by many collaborative projects including Fourtold with Michael Smith, Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen. Though collaborative work is the keystone in Anne’s career, it is her singing and interpretive gifts that have received the most attention. 1998 saw the release of Anne’s

performances on two of the most talked about compilations of the year,

placing her voice along side Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson

Browne, The Roches, Ani DiFranco and The Indigo Girls on Where Have All

the Flowers Gone? (The Songs of Pete Seeger) and What’s That I Hear? (The Songs of Phil Ochs). Other projects include the occasional tour with Priscilla Herdman and Cindy Mangsen (Voices of Winter in 1998, and Turning of the Year in

2000), which was featured in the arts section of the January 1998

Sunday New York Times, and her performances with the legendary

songwriter Michael Smith. Anne continues to touch the heart with a poet’s evocative palette and a singer’s love of melody. Anne’s aesthetic voice & songwriting have continued to win her new and ardent fans. Her song “Follow That Road” was

chosen as the title cut for the 2nd Annual Martha’s Vineyard

Songwriter’s Gathering recording on Rounder Records (produced by

Christine Lavin). “One of the most glorious voices in all of contemporary folk music.” ~ Chicago Tribune.



Hearing the songs of Michael Smith

in this day and age is like reading an anthology of Hemingway’s short

stories after decades of only comic books. It’s a realization that songs

can hold a whole lot more than they’re usually expected to hold, they

can possess a genuine sense of place and time as evocative and magical

as the finest literature.”
~Paul Zollo.Michael Peter Smith

was born in South Orange, New Jersey in September of 1941 and raised in

the area, attending Catholic schools later referenced in a few of his

songs. He bought his first guitar at age fifteen (for $5) and was soon

playing in a group called The Kalypso Kids, whose first and only recording is lost in antiquity. College in Florida brought a quartet dubbed the Wanderers, with gigs on the beach and at local coffeehouses, then touring in The Talismen,

a duet. It was Folk Music, and Folk Music was happening. Three years at

The Flick in Miami followed. There he met his wife, Barbara Barrow, and

they traveled with a quartet called the Baker Street Irregulars, signed a contract with Decca under the group name Juarez, and produced an eponymous vinyl recording that you can still sometimes find in the ‘used’ bins of obscure record stores. Steve Goodman recorded “The Dutchman,” and Chicago music lovers were discovering other Smith’s songs. Michael

and Barbara relocated to the windy city and became regulars at venues

such as The Earl of Old Town, Somebody Else’s Troubles, Holstein’s, No

Exit and Orphan’s. They played the Philadelphia Folk Festival,

worked with Corky Siegel and John Prine, taught at the Old Town School

of Folk Music, organized a benefit in commemoration of their friend

Gamble Rogers, and separately and together continued to record. Michael began to record for Flying Fish, initially produced by Anne Hills,

whom he had met when he was playing bass for Bob Gibson. He began to

tour more frequently doing exclusively his own material and continued to

write songs, now increasingly being recorded by other artists. Michael Smith, the lyricist, composer and performer of renown, is a voracious reader and never at a loss for material. “Michael Smith stands out as one of the few undisputed geniuses among singer-songwriters.” ~ Sing Out! Magazine. Michael Smith continues

to travel, playing concert halls house concerts, clubs and festivals,

and his prolific songwriting has never waned, with now close to 500

original tunes in his impressive catalog.

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Tickets:  www.uptownconcerts.com

presented by Uptown Concerts Inc. (non-profit org.)


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