Heart Dance recording artist Michael Kent Smith is a composer who utilizes guitars along with a variety of instruments, weaving the various strands together into vivid compositions that are a blend of jazz, blues, classical, folk, Celtic and Spanish.
Smith has toured the United States, Europe, Mexico, Central America and Africa with his various projects and has performed concerts at such notable U.S. venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. On the global front he has performed in the Festival Cervantino in Guanajuato, Mexico, the Mexico City International Festival of World Music and the Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival as well as touring France, Germany, Italy, Mali and Burkina Faso.
During his global travels his music has absorbed the culture, art and music of each those places. His compositions tie all these divergent strands together to create a musical tapestry that is both new and old at the same time.
Smith has released three CDs, “Beauty Without Warning”; “La Esperanza Sigue”, and his latest album, “After the Harvest”, which is creating a buzz in the industry. It has been nominated for “Acoustic Guitar Album of the Year” by the U.K.’s One World Music Radio and “Acoustic Instrumental Album of the Year” by the Zone Music Reporter in the United States. The album reached #2 on the One World Music Radio chart and #13 on the Zone Music Reporter chart and is receiving regular radio airplay across the globe from Australia to Egypt and all points between.
Press quotes about “After the Harvest”:
Easily the most unique album I have listened to, or written about for many years, with a freshness of musical spirit that will live on forever. This amazing multi-instrumentalist is about to take us on a journey as of yet unknown. – Steve Sheppard, One World Music Radio, U.K.
Absolutely showcases his immense skill with the guitar as the work is pure, intricate and infinite; it simply should be totally indulged to truly appreciate. – Janet Mawdesley, BlueWolf Reviews, Australia
Michael performs in smaller venues in a simple format of a duo of guitar and string bass or a trio that adds a very tasteful, low-volume drummer/percussionist. The playlist below shows some examples of this music: