Eli Smith is a folk singer, banjo player and guitarist who grew up in New York’s Greenwich Village. He has recorded for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Jalopy Records. He regularly performs as a solo musician and with the string band the Down Hill Strugglers and has also performed and recorded with John Cohen (New Lost City Ramblers) and Peter Stampfel (The Holy Modal Rounders and The Fugs) and has opened for songwriters Patti Smith and Steve Earle. He can be heard singing “The Roving Gambler” on the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis. He has performed at festivals and venues including the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Newport Folk Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival, the Jalopy Theatre, and many more.
Eli is also a music producer, heading the annual Brooklyn Folk Festival and the Washington Square Park Folk festival, and has curated releases of historic archival recordings, including the Harry Smith B-SIdes for Dust-to-Digital and numerous albums for Jalopy Records. He served as Traditional Music Consultant for the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 from Rockstar Games and can be seen playing a roller-skating fiddler in the film Tesla with Ethan Hawke. From 2006-2012, Eli hosted Down Home Radio, believed to be the first folk music podcast on the internet,
October 4 @ 4:00 pm – 9:00 pm
The Greenwich Village Folk Festival: Live 40th Anniversary Concert