Southern Pines residents Danny Infantino and Steve Smith are presenting a concert of their original works, poetry and songs, titled "Say the Word Sing the Song," at the Sunrise Theater on Saturday, Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m.

Several local musicians will be involved, and funds raised will go to benefit the Sandhills Food Bank.

"I'm looking forward to our 'Say the Word ... Sing the Song' concert," says Infantino. "It will be great fun to perform live the music we enjoyed putting on record. he songs and poems tell different stories and offer different moods -- humorous to sad, classic rock to country and folk, and the eternal subject -- love.'

Infantino's wife, June, will be playing keyboards and adding vocal harmony.

"A former student and friend of mine, Charles Trotter, will be adding electric and acoustic guitar," says Infantino. "We would like to thank our sponsors for this concert -- Mayflower Moving and Storage, Nature's Own, Hawkins and Harkness, Copy Wright Printing, and Pinestraw Magazine for their generous support."

"Danny and I wrote the songs with the intention of sending them to Nashville," says Smith. "But, of course, like most folks who want to have a hit record, we didn't have much luck getting someone on Music Row to listen. We played a few times at the Bluebird Caf, hoping we'd be millionaires in a few weeks, but it's a tough business. So we kept the songs on CD. Once in a while, I'd give the tunes a listen and think: 'You know, these are pretty good songs.'"

Smith and Infantino didn't sit down together the way they do in Nashville to write their songs.

"I'd rough out a tune to give my lyric a pattern, and I'd take it to Danny," says Smith. "He'd write new music, arrange the song, and change the lyric where it needed changing. He's a genius at putting together a great tune. So the songs are truly a collaboration."

They performed in Texas at the Kerrville Folk Festival, one of the biggest festivals in the country, and won the prize for best songwriters.

"That made the effort worthwhile," says Smith. "And Danny and June would occasionally throw in one of the songs at a performance. Otherwise, not many people have heard the tunes, and the show at the Sunrise will be the first time we've performed all the songs and poems for the public."

Danny and June Infantino had success with a number of instrumental CDs they'd recorded for Duns Scotus Recordings.

"So we arranged the poems and songs in what seemed an appropriate order, and what we got was 'Say the Word Sing the Song,'" says Smith.

Smith says he is looking forward to the show on the 21st, and to working with his friends Larry Allen, Paul Boswell, Danny and June Infantino, and Mark Hawkins.

"We'll have a good time and raise a little money for the Food Bank," he says.

The CD, which was released on Sept. 1, and is available from Dun Scotus Recordings, PO Box 5149, Pinehurst, NC 28374 for a cost of $16 postpaid.

Tickets, which are $20 for adults and $15 for students, are available at The Country Bookshop and Nature's Own, or call 692-5696.