Focus Inn Alexandria presents Michael Smith, with special guest Chuck Hall on Sunday, April 13, at 7 p.m. at Church of the Resurrection, 2280 N. Beauregard St., Alexandria, Va. 22311. $15 general, $12 members. Contact: Herb at herbcl@earthlink.net, (703) 380-3151, or log onto www.focusmusic.org.
 
Sing Out! Magazine calls Michael Smith “one of the few undisputed geniuses
among singer-songwriters today.”  Best-known as the author of “The Dutchman, Spoon River” and more recently “Zippy,” Smith, a New Jersey native, was catapulted into international acclaim after he composed the music for the Steppenwolf Theater Company’s Tony-winning production of “The Grapes of Wrath.” His songs have been recorded by more than 100 artists in diverse music genres, from Liam Clancy, the late Steve Goodman, Anne Hills and Jerry Jeff Walter to Spanky and Our Gang and even Jimmy Buffett.
 
Chuck Hall has been a singer-writer-song collector-performer for about 20 years in or near Boston. He’s lived on or near Cape Ann for most of the aforementioned 20 years and have been active in the New England folk music community there. In 1988 Hall moved to Norfolk, Va., for a short time, where he worked at Ramblin’ Conrad’s Guitar Shop with Bob Zentz — “putting the folk in Norfolk.” He lived in a small farmhouse on the Virginia-North Carolina line, and while there, began a love affair with traditional music which continues to this day. In 2001, Chuck ventured to Cape Breton and Newfoundland, in a trip that dramatically altered his musical landscape, culminating in “The Vinland Sagas” CD and his newest, “The Northern Sagas”, released in 2004.

Performers’ Web site: www.michaelsmithmusic.com, cdbaby.com/cd/chuckhall