UPDATE:  Kelley Smith has to cancel. NIKKI LEMIRE will be here with Sarah.

A special evening shared by 2 Minnesota songwriters: ticket link follows bios.

SARAH MORRIS ‘s endearingly honest, expertly penned songs encourage audiences to pull away from the big picture and get caught up in the magic of our everyday minutia, the rainy day ache in her sunlit voice granting us permission to escape into stories at once hauntingly familiar and uniquely her own.

In 2016, Sarah was a top four finalist in the NewSong Music Contest at Lincoln Center in New York City, 2^nd place winner of the Chris Austin Songwriting Competition at MerleFest in Wilkesboro, NC, and an Americana semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition. In 2018, she went on to win the Kerrville New Folk Competition, collecting an honorable mention at the Telluride Troubadour contest along the way.  More recently, Sarah was named Midwest Country Music Organization’s Songwriter of the Year for the third time.

In 2023, Sarah released her 5th album of originals, ‘Here’s To You’, which was recently awarded ‘Album of the Year’ by the Midwest Country Music Organization.

Produced by Dave Mehling, Dave Franklin of The Big Takeover said of Here’s To You,

“It’s a triumph. An album of space and restraint, any note played, every word uttered feels perfectly and purposely placed. The album is a beautiful blend of groove and grace, intimacy and entertainment, fun, and feeling. What more could you ask for? What indeed?”

“Rootsy singer Sarah Morris offers a Norah Jones-like approach to Americana, smoothing overs its rough edges with a butter-velvety voice and an intimate songwriting style.”  Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune.

Inclined toward the intimacy of live performance, Sarah spends a remarkable amount of time on stage.

Deeply committed to the Twin Cities’ life-giving music community, Morris hosted an online interview program called, “Hey, I Miss You,” to amplify the work of her peers, and currently can be found online collaborating with musicians for a Youtube series of under-rehearsed cover songs filmed in her laurel green bathroom.

As a writer, lover, mother, and witness, Morris invites us to join her in missing the forest for the trees, with songs that count and celebrate the glorious details of our messy, magical, everyday lives.

NIKKI LEMIRE spins her life around her music, making space to perform in multiple fields and genres. Her songwriting features her expressive vocals over layered and hypnotic accompaniment. She dives deep into moving themes surrounding motherhood, love and loss.

Employing modern harp techniques, loop and electric pedals, her songs sit somewhere between the old folk bedrock of Joan Baez, the musical innovation of Joni Mitchell, and the influential pop stylings of Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift. Nikki artfully shapes the music to her words, creating a sound that refuses to adhere to any one particular genre, somehow feeling old and new at the same time.

Nikki performs as a solo artist and with her four piece all-female band of fiddle, upright bass and hand drums weaving intricate textures and harmonies within her luscious soundscape.

As featured on Smouse in the House for Adventures in Americana, Nikki reflects on her musical roots and the legacy passed down through her family. She shares how music has become a thread connecting generations — from her own childhood to her children today — and how performing and storytelling remain central to her connection with community and family.