“There are very few moments when music is not piping into my skull.”

Man, I’ve been playing music for as long as I can remember– whether it was playing instruments as a kid or singing in choirs and in my dad’s church. I started writing songs back in high school and sorta caught the bug from there. There are very few moments when music is not piping into my skull.

I was brought up on that old soul– Aretha, Marvin, and Donny Hathaway from my dad, The Beatles, Carly Simon, and Carole King from my mom. The Bee Gees, Simon & Garfunkel, The Eagles…it was a real easy listening sort of house until we got to church. That’s when the choir grabbed my heart. The harmonies, the passion, the swells. It was a thing.

John Smith is a vocalist and general magic-maker out of Portland, Oregon. He’s lent his vocal skills to many soul and jazz projects, including Magic Mouth, Ben Darwish, and Nafisaria Scroggins-Thomas.