The son of an English professor mother and a shipwreck diver/underwater archaeologist father, indie-folk singer-songwriter, artist, and LA native ZG Smith has called Nashville home for a decade.
Before moving to Tennessee, he spent his youth surfing, dialing in complex percussion routines on an award-winning high school drumline, experimenting with various elicit substances, and eventually earning a bachelor’s degree in Ethnomusicology, with a focus on Brazilian percussion, from UCLA.
Since moving to Music City in his mid-twenties, he's racked up a formidable cache of musical successes including touring extensively throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, being frontman, primary songwriter, and founding member of Americana duo Smooth Hound Smith, and sharing stages with acts like The Chicks, Trombone Shorty, Collective Soul, and Devon Gilfillian.
His poignant and ethereal debut solo EP, Nighttime Animal, was released in February of 2023 and has garnered airplay and attention from musical curators and press outlets alike, not the least of which include Minneapolis’s The Current, NPR’s World Cafe, Nashville’s Lightning 100, PopMatters, The Bluegrass Situation, NashvilleSCENE, UnderTheRadar, and more.
He is currently touring selectively and working on new music.
“…Nighttime Animal sonically recreate(s) the mystery of what it feels like to be present in the moment when everything seems strange…” - PopMatters “The EP moves at a groovy, unhurried pace, giving it a kind of trippy, tropical-island vibe.” - NashvilleSCENE “…a new blend of pop and psychedelic folk, exploring rabbit holes of spacious instrumentation and swirling melody…warm guitar lines, subdued percussion, and dreamy vocals give it an alluring and effortless sheen…” - Under The Radar “…his trancelike mix of nocturnal grooves, rootsy rhythm, and ethereal vocals lead to a very conscious joy.” - NASHVILLE Lifestyles Magazine
“…Nighttime Animal sonically recreate(s) the mystery of what it feels like to be present in the moment when everything seems strange…” - PopMatters “The EP moves at a groovy, unhurried pace, giving it a kind of trippy, tropical-island vibe.” - NashvilleSCENE “…a new blend of pop and psychedelic folk, exploring rabbit holes of spacious instrumentation and swirling melody…warm guitar lines, subdued percussion, and dreamy vocals give it an alluring and effortless sheen…” - Under The Radar “…his trancelike mix of nocturnal grooves, rootsy rhythm, and ethereal vocals lead to a very conscious joy.” - NASHVILLE Lifestyles Magazine
ZG SmITH
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