Literally, Grey River is a river in New Zealand. Its mouth is protected by a large sandbar, which is a notorious danger to shipping while Smoky Mountain refers to the Great Smoky Mountains, a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern U.S. Metaphorically, Grey River refers to the ancient Greek River “Acheron” through which “Charos” Hades ferryman escorts the souls to their final journey.Smoky Mountain is the Purgatory where souls are purified though fire so as to achieve “heaven”.
Their name is a way to imply that we are all the same mother’s children and same captain’s crew!
“Even if when you see mountain fog… we see burning souls”.
Grey River & The Smoky Mountain is a folk band formed in Athens, Greece. Their style is described as Americana, blending various American, Irish and European folk elements and genres including bluegrass, folk, country and blues.
It consists of vocalist/mandolin player Rena Papageorgiou, guitarist/vocalist Sarantos Goumakos, fiddler Tasos Gousetis, banjo/steel guitar Mel Pogas and Double Bass player Giannis Voutsinas.
The band has been performing in various venues in Greece and shared the stage with various bands. In 2016 along with fellow musicians, they have created the 1st Acoustic Festival in Athens, Caravan Sessions Vol.1, while at the same time they took part in the first live session of the fanzine “Merlin’s Music Box” in their den.
They have also performed in festivals such as the Prairie & Rust Fest, the 7th Music Highway Festival and Let it Beer Festival, Melitzaz Festival and in 2019 they performed live on the TV show “Radio Arvyla”.
They have also performed in New York, and Cyprus with GRis Festival in 2024 and in the same year they showcased for the first time, with GRis Festival, a musical performance called “HOME” in Athens, Greece.
