09/16/2026
20 years! Sunny’s Bar Smokey’s Round-Up led by legend Smokey Hormel⛵️Wednesday, Sept 16🗽Known for his work with Johnny Cash, Norah Jones, Tom Waits, Adele, Neil Diamond. Smokey joined Beck on his break out Odelay tour, and his been part of Beck's musical world ever since. Smokey was an integral part of Tom waits 'Get Behind the Mule' Tour, bringing performing verve to the stage with banjo, mandolin, and guitar. A key player on a series of Rick Rubin productions, including Adele's hit album 21; and is featured on FIVE Johnny Cash Albums. Our absolute hero! Sunny's Bar Let's raise a glass to twenty brilliant years keeping such great company!
Bringing his magic to recordings by Neil Diamond, Justin Timberlake, the Dixie Chicks, Josh Groban, and Jennifer Nettles.
Smokey and Clash frontman Joe Strummer’s co-written song The Long Shadow, a result of their working together on Johnny Cash's When the Man Comes Around sessions, can be heard on Strummer's Streetcore album.
As an in-demand session player and touring sideman Smokey has worked with notables such as Norah Jones, Rufus Wainwright, Bernie Worrell, Sean Lennon, John Doe, David Lynch, RL Burnside, kd Lang, Marianne Faithfull, and Beth Orton, among many others. Smokey can be heard on the cartoon TV series The Backyardigans as well as on film scores such as David Lynch's The Straight Story, Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind, and Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, Night Moves, and Certain Women.
After relocating to New York City, Smokey formed Bossa Nova combo Smokey & Miho with Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori. Their two EP releases celebrated the music of Brazilian songwriter/guitar prodigy Baden Powell, and their exuberant live shows garnered a devoted downtown following. Smokey's African-flavored baritone guitar was an essential part of Forro In the Dark, purveyors of the raucous Bahian cowboy music of Luis Gonzaga. Late-night Forro parties drew crowds of dancers, and Forro in the Dark’s two albums featured collaborations with Bebel Gilberto, Seu Jorge, Steve Earle, and David Byrne.
Smokey's love of African guitar and Brazilian percussion fueled years of exhilarating Smokey’s Secret Family’s shows. Assorted top-shelf New York horn players and percussionists joined Smokey's free flowing, deftly melodic guitar to bring Brooklyn audiences out onto the dance floor. The Smokey's Secret Family 2009 self-titled album is a joyous interpretation of 1950's Congolese music. More recently, a three year collaboration with contemporary Senegalese songwriter and guitarist Oumar Ndiyae resulted in the beautiful 2021 album Soutoura
Since 2008 New York’s best kept secret Smokey's Round-Up has been in weekly residence at Sunny’s bar in Brooklyn, a holdout on the Red Hook waterfront. The Round-Up is Smokey’s return to his early love of 1930s Western Swing - country music for dancers. The tight five-piece band wows Sunny's crowds with virtuoso guitar and a vast repertoire of great, long lost American songs, a bountiful treasure for music lovers.
