u n c o m m o n * m u s i c Updated: March 3, 2025 PLEASE NOTE: For over 50 years now, Smithfield Fair has maintained a constant schedule of performance and recording. In 2024 we decided to take a break from performance to attend to other projects and recordings. We’ll keep you posted on our activities here and on our Facebook page. We thank you all for your continued support.
"Smithfield Fair, what a concert, what a night! Dudley-Brian Smith, the consummate entertainer, connects one by one, with each and every face in the room as he sings. I've always loved his mischievous "I know something you don't" twinkle in his eyes. He's ever the charming rogue. Bobby Smith's performance style seems more ethereal. He often closes his eyes, intensely feeling every note, every lyric, but then, when you least expect it, he will almost burst into a jig as pure joy takes hold of him. (Go ahead and bust a move, Bobby--there are those of us who will join in the dance!) And of course, center stage: the luminous muse, Jan Smith. Her voice is beyond gorgeous--it's hard to take your eyes off of her. (And husband Dudley hasn't, for 30+ years!) Jan doesn't need a spotlight, she IS a spotlight! As if the night couldn't get any better, they sang one of my favorites for the encore. Thank you, my friends, for a magical night." - Lane Voltz Barry (Photo below by David NORMAND)
52 years, 36 albums
Smithfield Fair's 36th and latest album, NEVER TOO LATE, is a collection of revisits to material from our early days inspired by recent interest throughout Scandanavia, Europe to Japan, Britain and now the U.S. It will contain 15 tracks, is expected this summer (2025)and will be available in very limited physical copies from the band and at Saxon Studios in Bunkie, Louisiana
For 52 years, five decades plus, the focus of Smithfield Fair has been harmony vocals and original songs deftly placed over acoustic instrumentation. Smithfield Fair has presented its heartfelt original music throughout the United States on concert and festival stages; in historic venues and theatres; at large events such as the World's Fair, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Kerrville Folk Festival; as well as in the most intimate coffeehouses, cafes and house concerts. Smithfield Fair songs have become popular internationally through constant radio, satellite and internet airplay. Smithfield Fair continues to be a true original, creating hopeful and imaginative songs, and performing them with passion, honesty and humor.
The acoustic & vocal music of Smithfield Fair is available for licensing through Tacet Music
Music begets music! Proceeds from purchased Smithfield CDs go toward making new music.
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A SHORT HISTORY OF SMITHFIELD FAIR
Smithfield Fair began in Pensacola, Florida in 1973 to promote original songs sung with harmony and backed by acoustic instrumentation. The trio’s first recording contract came in 1974 when they worked with famed producer Bud Reneau (songwriter/producer, Dobie Gray and others) at historic Hilltop Studio in Nashville. Dubbed by one reviewer as “the perfect café band”, the group moved its home base in 1976 to Alexandria, Louisiana and released its first single, 'A Place In Your Heart' in 1977 on legendary Floyd Soileau's One Way Records, expanding recognition regionally.
At that time under the name of CHARMER and founding the independent Rapides Records in 1980, they issued their first album, 'Only the Wind' in 1981 followed by ‘Must Be The Gypsy’ in 1982 which boosted them into concert openings for such artists as Louisiana’s LeRoux, Zachary Richard and Arlo Guthrie. The group continued concert appearances with artists such as Jesse Winchester, John Prine, Nancy Griffith; touring the South with New York’s The Washington Squares; and appeared at such legendary venues as Storyville Jazz Hall in New Orleans, Rockafella’s in Houston, and even the 1984 World’s Fair.
Changing the group name to SMITHFIELD FAIR in 1989 the group had moved toward the Scottish music of their shared heritage, blending traditional with original songs. Smithfield Fair became recognized world-wide as one of the foremost presenters of Scottish music in North America. During this period, the group signed a four-album deal with Centaur World Records, giving them international distribution. They continued a busy performance schedule regularly working with a Who’s Who of celebrated Celtic performers that included Alasdair Fraser, Eileen Ivers, Brian McNeill, the Battlefield Band, the Tannahill Weavers, Archie Fisher, Andy M. Stewart and Alex Beaton. For twenty years, they received continual critical praise for the group’s strong, seamless pairing of traditional and original songs, and enjoyed international radio and internet airplay. However, the heritage movement began to wind down in the early part of the new millennium, so Smithfield Fair returned to a focus on its original music.
Smithfield Fair performances continued at such venues as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and Smithfield Fair’s music was increasingly used nationally in movies, television and web programs and radio campaigns. Since 2014, the group’s original song Sweet Sugar Cane has been licensed by the Louisiana-based American Sugar Cane League and continues as a promotional theme. Today, the group’s longest-standing line-up of Jan Smith (vocals, accordion, guitar, piano), Bob Smith (vocals, acoustic bass, percussion) and Dudley-Brian Smith (vocals, acoustic guitars, mandolin) continues to selectively perform and release new, original music – with album number 36 set for release in mid-2025.
"Smithfield Fair, an almost-impossible-to-categorize folk/roots band has mesmerized audiences worldwide over the radio, television, film, clubs and concert halls...has earned praise for its tight arrangements, elegant song selection and some of the most haunting vocal harmonies this side of heaven." - R.U. Eddy, GrisGris Magazine
Smithfield Fair sounds like no one else. Their folky mix is awash with elements of Celtic, jazz, blues, swamp-pop and gospel, and continues to demonstrate an uncommonly original and versatile approach fortified with passion, creativity and imagination. As always, there’s more to come, so, stay tuned!
Tune in and request our music often and enjoy new music by other independent and original artists!
Note: This website is the only official source for information on Smithfield Fair.
Every effort is made to make certain all information is correct and up to date.
All Smithfield Fair's guitars are Guilds made in Westerly, Rhode Island, set-up and maintained by Holger Notzel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
You can contact Holger at 225-772-7831 or at 4262 Perkins Road - behind Black Torch Tattoos - 2-6 p.m., Monday through Friday; or through Komet Amps.
Yeah, they make the amps used by Sonny Landreth, Mark Knopfler, & others.
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STEVENSON PRODUCTIONS