[citation needed] Mark Guarino of Chicago Reader wrote, "He never became a household name the way John Prine and Steve Goodman did, but his lengthy discography is just as mighty.
He is best known for writing "The Dutchman", which was popularized by Goodman and also recorded by Brendan Grace, Suzy Bogguss, Celtic Thunder,[2] Liam Clancy, Makem and Clancy, Norm Hacking, Anne Hills, Mara Levine and Si Kahn,[3] John McDermott, the New Kingston Trio, Gamble Rogers, Tom Russell, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert James Waller, Josh White Jr.,[3] and Bernard Wrigley.
[8] Smith had three younger sisters and a brother and they were the basis for his autobiographical play, Michael, Margaret, Pat and Kate,[9] originally presented at the Victory Gardens in Chicago.
[10] He was in a Peter, Paul and Mary-style trio for a couple of years which included his wife Barbara Barrow and fellow singer Ron Kickasola.
So, in 1976 Smith and Barrow moved from Detroit to Chicago, where he became a regular in the city's folk clubs for several years, which allowed him to stop touring.
During this time in the early 80s, he formed a band called Paradise with his wife, Barbara Barrows, and friends Jessica Baron and Dan Tinen.
Jimmy Buffett and Goodman both recorded "Elvis Imitators", Michael's tongue in cheek ode to the King's legions.
It was Galati who asked Smith to write the music for Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
The success of The Grapes of Wrath allowed Smith to quit his job as a clerk at Time, and his work in theater brought both new dimensions to his writing and his performances.
Most notably though, in 1993 Chicago's Victory Gardens Theatre premiered his autobiographical play Michael, Margaret, Pat and Kate.
The play won four Jeff Awards (the Chicago Theater Union's equivalent of the Tony), for Best Original Music, Best Production, Best Actor in a Revue, and Best New Work.