Hannah & Nathan

Hannah Shira Naiman and Nathan Smith are award-winning Ontario folk musicians known for their airtight vocal harmonies and masterful instrumentation.

Hannah Shira Naiman and Nathan Smith (The Barrel Boys/Vinta) are acclaimed songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, each with a strong national presence in the folk music scene. Both are CFMA winners, Hannah for Traditional Singer of the Year and Nathan for Composer of the Year with Vinta, and have honed their craft for over a decade.

When the two joined for double-bill performances in 2022, Hannah’s clawhammer banjo fit perfectly with Nathan’s fiddle and guitar playing. But their undeniable strength lies in airtight vocal harmonies.

Best described as Appalachian old-time, the project brings together musicians with different folk music backgrounds and approaches to their collaborative songwriting.    

Nathan’s compositions draw from his wealth of bluegrass and old-time experience and his upbringing playing Celtic and traditional Canadian fiddle music. He performs regularly with a number of touring ensembles, including bluegrass band The Barrel Boys, and dynamic acoustic trad quartet Vinta. 

Hannah Shira Naiman is a singer-songwriter whose music is heavily based in old-time Appalachian and English traditional music.  Her songs retell personal stories through ageless themes and tropes and have often been mistaken for ones written a century ago. 

Stay tuned for their first collaborative album, “Love & Labour”, set for release in the spring of 2026.