America, the United States, was always a nation awakening. Certainly all its promises have yet to be kept. Nevertheless, behind the structure of the nation the cry for Freedom remains a haunting refrain. America’s first response to that cry was well stated in the founding fathers' renunciation of “No Kings” from the very start and has remained an echoing cry these past 250 years. We today echo that call, insisting on Self determination as the sure means of Governance. "Songs & Voices of Promise" is in keeping with such a Spirit and such voices of independence from the 1960’s, Hell bent on widening the range of promisers to include a rare brand of eloquence and music which re-invites the era of the 12th & 13th century Troubadours in their revolutionizing the attitudes of politics and arranged marriages to one of Romance and love. The ’60’s exploited this theme in addressing a fraught time in our nation’s history and produced some of the best music in recorded history along way. That is, a reckoning where thought and ideals merge. Through the music and voices presented, Neil Smith's hope is to impart no less for our listeners.

Neil Smith was born in the Bahamas but raised in four of the New York five boroughs, excluding the Bronx, from age seven onward. Neil is the fifth of ten children. He says, “I was ill-educated until I discovered the library system.” Neil started boxing at the age of 12 and went on to win numerous amateur awards for the next twelve years running, including All Army & Metropolotian Championships. He organized for various civil rights groups, the 5th Avenue Peace Parade Committee, and finally The Black Panther Party. Following that sojourn, Neil studied creative writing, literature, and poetry at NYU with William Packard, author, editor, professor, and founder of the prestigious New York Quarterly, where he served as as vice president for 15 years. He now lives upstate with his wife and continues to write.