Apr 15, 2024
This week my guests are Northern California based musical duo Misner & Smith. Sam, who is Misner, and Megan, who is Smith comprise one of the most acclaimed acts in the Americana world. Blending elements of that genre with bluegrass, traditional folk ballads, and more pop leaning ideas, they’ve been described as making music that is gloriously nonconforming. Aside from their musical chops, Sam & Megan are expert gardeners who focus on pollinators, sustainability and community gardening. Listen on to find out how their connection to nature feeds into their music.
What We Talk About
Sam & Megan’s gardening backgrounds
Gardening sustainably and for the community
Gardening as a creative outlet?
How gardening inspires when you are looking for creative
prompts
How gardening factors into their music?
The garden soundscape
About Misner & Smith
Northern California based unclassifiable duo Misner & Smith
treasure the unpredictability of
their band. Technically precise songwriting mirrored with an
improvisatory spirit and soaring
harmonies have made the band consisting of Sam Misner and Megan
Smith one of the most
acclaimed acts in the Americana world. Blending elements of that
genre with bluegrass,
traditional folk ballads, and more pop leaning ideas, Misner &
Smith makes music gloriously
nonconforming.
The duo first met at a Shakespeare festival as professional
actors in California in 2002 but began working as a musical duo two
years later when Sam and Megan discovered a
mutual love of roots music, Woody Guthrie, and in particular,
harmony singing. Before the
release of their career defining sixth LP ALL IS SONG, the duo had
released five critically
acclaimed records, including Halfway Home (2004), Poor Player
(2008), Live at the Freight & Salvage (2010), Seven Hour Storm
(2013), and headwaters (2017). It was that 2017 release that found
the group stripping their sound back down to where it began, two
voices and two instruments. headwaters was recorded live in the
studio and features the duo doing what they do best. On ALL IS
SONG, they build upon that momentum and turn in their finest work
to date, an album of inspired declarations to the power of music,
song, and, most importantly, collaboration.
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Natural Fibres - This week’s guest is multi-media artist Hanna Varga. Hanna incorporates the natural world into her work and her current projects involve foraging for fibres she turns into both useful and beautiful items. The conversation began with Hanna talking about her work past and present and developed into a really important conversation about the value of items at their more than fiscal level.
Soundscapes & Landscapes - This week I’m speaking to Dr Mike Edwards, Chief Listening Officer at Sound Matters, a company focussed on using sound and listening to create more sustainable and resilient futures. Sound Matters provided the soundtrack to the Rewilding Britain garden that one best in show at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Mike recently spoke passionately about climate change, soundscapes and landscapes at the Beth Chatto Symposium and wowed a lecture theatre full of rapt listeners with his prowess on the didgeridoo.