Shareef Ali & The Radical Folksonomy perform deeply lyrical songs against a rich tapestry of American traditional music from folk to jazz to country to rock & roll. Poignant and revealing verse reminiscent of Leonard Cohen or Conor Oberst is laden with sweet vocal harmonies, warm Telecaster twang and cascading piano textures. A delicate trust is forged between artist and audience, "a feeling that he's building fragile, intricate worlds inside a wind tunnel, fully aware that they may be caught in a gust at any moment." (Britnelle Bell) Each vignette is guided along by elegant chord progressions, classical in craft and variation: though familiar forms recur in the terrain, the journey ends in quite a different place than the one in which it began.

Hailing from St. Louis, Missouri, Shareef Ali studied music at Oberlin College and moved to San Francisco in 2007. In 2009 assembled his outstanding backing ensemble, the Radical Folksonomy, and began performing regularly in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area at such venues as the Make Out Room, Hotel Utah Saloon, Revolution Cafe, The Lost Church, El Rio, Kimo's Bar & Penthouse Lounge, House Of Shields, Grant & Green, Beale Street Bar and the Rockit Room in San Francisco and the Stork Club and Mama Buzz Cafe in Oakland.

In June 2010, the band went into the studio to record The Once And Future Boyfriend. This six-song debut was made available for pre-release sale on the Folksonomy's July 2010 Pacific Northwest tour, with performances in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Tacoma and McKinleyville, CA, and was officially released in September 2010. Shareef Ali & The Radical Folksonomy returned to the studio in the spring to record and release the full-length Holy Rock And Roll in April 2011.

In summer of 2011, Shareef recorded his first solo EP How To End The War, which was released in advance of his first solo national tour during September and October. Traveling mostly by train, Shareef visited the Northwest again, as well as making debut appearances in Amsterdam, Chicago, Oberlin, Baltimore, DC, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Austin, Tucson, Los Angeles, and Bellingham. During this tour Shareef took advantage of the opportunity to participate in and document the Occupy movement unfolding across the country.