Jonah Smith

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Jonah Smith (born in 1975 in Syracuse, NY) is an American musician.

[1]photo credit Jonas Bostrom courtesy of JonahSmith.com

Recorded his first indie album "Industry Rule" in 2000 at engineer Matt Stein's studio in New York. The album was completed in under a week and featured Jonah's regular line up of musicians for the next several years: Marko Djordjevic - drums, Bob Reynolds - sax, Ben Rubin - bass and David Soler - guitar, pedal steel guitar as well as harmony vocals by Maya Azucena, a frequent guest at his live shows. The sound of the album was a mixture of soul, jazz and country and the material was mostly inspired by Smith's recent move to New York to pursue music. The album was well received by the New York press and soon led to a regular spot at the famed 55 Bar after Jonah was discovered by its owner, Queva Lutz. Coinciding with Smith's gaining stature in New York was the band's popularity in Spain due to the influence of guitarist, David Soler. Soon Smith and his band were touring regularly in Spain as well as on the East Coast of the United States.

In 2003 after a fair amount of touring Smith returned to the studio to record his follow up, "Beneath the Underdog" with co producer, Jason Olaine. This album refined Smith's sound a bit further weaning out most of the jazz influence in favor of a more rootsy rock sound. The line up of the band, however, remained intact. The album was again well received by critics but failed to get Smith a wider audience.

In 2004, Smith entered his song "Tell it to the Mountain" from his album "Beneath the Underdog" into a songwriting contest held by Relix Magazine. The song won and Smith was invited to play at a showcase in New York where he met the owner of Relix Magazine, Steve Bernstein. Their relationship continued when Bernstein decided to relaunch Relix Records - a label that had long been dormant. Smith was the first artist signed to the new Relix Records.

In 2006, Relix Records released Jonah Smith, the self-titled “debut”. It was produced by Lee Townsend and featured the same line up as the other two albums with the addition of guests like Garth Hudson of The Band,Carrie Rodriguez and the Mason Brothers. Starting that year and into 2007, Smith embarked on several cross-country tours in the United States as well as an extended tour in Spain. He landed the opening spot for several well known artists including Madeleine Peyroux, Little Feat, Martin Sexton, Taj Mahal, the Subdudes, James Hunter and others. The tracks “My Morning Scene” and “When We Say Goodnight” received heavy airplay at many triple A radio stations in the US as well as Satellite radio. Around this time, guitarist Andy Stack became a regular in his working group. This record, being the first promoted on a national scale, gained Smith a wider audience and landed him a spot at 2007's Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, TN. and the Langerado Festival in South Florida in March of '08^[1]