October 26, 2024
Doors: 7:30 PM - Show: 8:00 PM
Smithfield
20 Front Street
20 Front St, Orion Charter Township, MI, 48362
Date & Time
Saturday, October 26, 2024
8:00 PM
Location
20 Front Street
20 Front St, Orion Charter Township, MI, 48362
Rooted in stunning harmonies and sharp songwriting, SmithField is a modern country duo inspired by one of the genre's classic traditions: the male-female duet.
It's a collaborative sound that began in the small southern town of Waxahachie, Texas, where Trey Smith and Jennifer Fielder both grew up. Years before they shared the Grand Ole Opry stage as bandmates, the two shared meals every holiday season, brought together by a family tradition that began long before they were born.
"Our grandparents were old friends who went to high school together," says Jennifer, who met Trey when she was 10 years old. "The families remained close over the years, and we'd have mutual parties every New Year's Eve and Fourth of July. We're the third generation of that connection."
Separately, Trey and Jennifer both launched music careers at a young age. A fan of Faith Hill and LeAnn Rimes, Jennifer began touring regionally at nine years old, singing traditional country songs at small-town Opry events across Texas. Meanwhile, Trey was raised on the guitar-filled sound of rock & roll, gravitating toward classic rockers like Boston and modern acts like the Goo Goo Dolls. Inspired by frontman Johnny Rzeznik, he began writing songs as a teenager and formed his first rock band in college.
SmithField formed in 2011, drawing not only upon the family history that bound Jennifer and Trey together, but also the musical influences that set them apart. From the start, SmithField's music was a unique mix of the contemporary and the classic, blurring the boundaries between country, pop, and rock. "We grew up in the same part of Texas, but we come from different sides of music," Trey explains. "That mixture is what makes it so unique. Even though we're not related by blood, our musical bond stems from this longtime friendship. It's created a bond that you can't manufacture."
There's no lead singer in SmithField. No main songwriter, either. Instead, Jennifer and Trey split those duties equally, writing harmony-filled songs that explore love, loss, and life from both sides of a relationship. The two moved to Nashville in 2012, eager to carry the torch for country music's rich legacy of male-female duets into the 21st century. It was there — in the same city that inspired classic collaborations between Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner; Tim McGraw and Faith Hill; and Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty — that SmithField fine-tuned their own brand of platonic chemistry. Songs like "Hey Whiskey" and "We'll Figure It Out" rewarded the independent duo with major-label-sized success, including multiple appearances at the Grand Ole Opry, heavy airplay on satellite radio, 100 million digital streams, acclaim from Rolling Stone, Billboard, People Country, and Forbes. Smithfield has opened for some of Country Music's biggest acts, including Brothers Osborne, Scotty McCreery, Morgan Wallen, Kane Brown, Sara Evans, Josh Turner, Dustin Lynch, and Old Dominion, among others.