Chris Parreira

Artist Information

Biography

chrisparreira@gmail.com
www.chrisparreira.com

Instrumentation

Chris Parreira - Vocals, Guitar (1974 Alvarez 5023), Bass, Harmonica

On the recordings:
John Paul Cravens - Lead Guitar
Brad Stewart - Drums
Sick - Fiddle
Marc Jeffares - Mandolin
Elysabeth Grey - Vocals on "Look Away"

"Look Away" was co-written with Elysabeth Grey

Discography

Before You Go (2009)
First Full Length Album
(Available on CDBaby.com)

1. No Such Thing as Silence
2. The More Nights
3. Nevada Air
4. Before You Go (Gallup)
5. Chasing a Muse
6. Lonesome
7. Can't Help Myself
8. Songs I Used to Know
9. When That Will Be
10. John Doe
11. About Time
12. Look Away

-----------------------------

Chasing a Muse EP (2008)
(Available on CDBaby.com)

1. Love Song Blues
2. Chasing a Muse
3. Crow Street Bar
4. John Doe
5. I Don't Miss You
6. Love Apple Soup
7. The Cards
8. Look Away

Official Website

http://www.chrisparreira.com

Links

• MySpace
• Facebook
• The Trouble

Audio

• For The Night
  Listen  
• What We'll Look Like
  Listen  
• Sugar & Stone
  Listen  
• Chasing a Muse
  Listen  
• Before You Go (Gallup)
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Lonesome
• Look Away
• Before You Go (Gallup)

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Quote from Lila Nelson [+ Show ]
  

  "Chris Parreira writes songs like he was born to do it...and plays them like it's what keeps him ali..."Chris Parreira writes songs like he was born to do it...and plays them like it's what keeps him alive..."
  
  Lila Nelson
  Singer-Songwriter/KHUM DJ
  Arcata, CA
  www.lilanelson.org

• Quote from John Craigie [+ Show ]
  

  "Chris's music contains an honesty that is rare in the modern song writer. You can feel the open ro..."Chris's music contains an honesty that is rare in the modern song writer. You can feel the open road in his songs. You can feel the ecstasy and the loneliness. You can feel the adventure. From the first line, you know this guy is living it."
  
  John Craigie
  Singer/Songwriter
  Bay Area, CA
  www.johncraigiemusic.com
  myspace.com/johncraigie

• Quote from Rod MacDonald [+ Show ]
  

  "Chris Parreira is a guy with good street sense, learning a lot from his travels and bringing that t..."Chris Parreira is a guy with good street sense, learning a lot from his travels and bringing that to his music. You want to catch him when he gets to your town...
  
  -Rod MacDonald
  Folksinger-Songwriter
  Delray Beach, FL
  www.rodmacdonald.net

• Quote from Melody Stone
  

  "...Folky with a hint of old-time county (before country was pop)."

• Quote from Gene Burnett [+ Show ]
  

  "Chris Parreira took our town by storm and we'll sorely miss him when he moves on to your town. H..."Chris Parreira took our town by storm and we'll sorely miss him when he moves on to your town.
  
  He's been a tireless promoter of local music: setting up and hosting his own open mic, booking gigs for local venues, renting and loaning out his sound equipment, finding gigs for local musicians, doing sound and event promotion. And, as if that wasn't enough, he's one of our better up and coming folksinger/songwriters; always improving, always searching his life for stories worthy of a song, and always willing to go where the muse calls him.
  
  Chris is a young man with his heart and hands in the right place. If you let his genuine excitement and love of music touch you, you won't regret it!"
  
  Gene Burnett
  T'ai-Chi Teacher, Singer/Songwriter
  Ashland, OR
  www.geneburnett.com

• Chris Parreira: Singer-Songwriter with a Hunger for the Road [+ Show ]
  

  Chris Parreira: Singer-Songwriter with a Hunger for the Road Melody Stone, The Eureka Reporter 9-2...Chris Parreira: Singer-Songwriter with a Hunger for the Road
  Melody Stone, The Eureka Reporter
  9-22-08
  
  What keeps 22-year-old Chris Parreira inspired? “New experiences, traveling and all the beautiful women I meet,” he said while sipping an iced coffee outside an Arcata coffee shop.
  
  Parreira moved to Humboldt County at age 8, and about 10 years later, he started fooling around with a keyboard, which was a gateway instrument to guitar and bass. Guitar ended up becoming his instrument of choice.
  
  He started playing at open-mic sessions around town, and after compiling a healthy collection of covers, he started writing his own songs.
  
  Parreira’s father was a professional club musician and now owns a redwood gift shop in Orick, where Parreira works as a day job. Parreira said that even though his dad was a musician, it didn’t really affect his decision to go down the singer-songwriter path.
  
  Parreira played music for a year before writing his first song. The song was called “Song I Used to Know,” and he still plays it live. The chorus goes, “I should have been asleep three hours ago, but I sit alone in my living room singing songs I used to know.”
  
  “It’s all about being reminded of songs,” said Parreira. Now he plays about 60 percent original material and put out an entirely original album called “Chasing a Muse” in March.
  
  Parreira lived in Ashland, Ore., for the past year and played shows in Humboldt County every two months or so. He’s since moved to Orick to work for his dad and plays a flurry of shows at local coffee shops and pizza joints. He’s saving up and gearing up for a tour, starting Tuesday, from Humboldt County to Austin, Texas, where he plans to settle and throw himself into the music industry.
  
  Parreira likes to write about traveling and “the freedom and opportunity it brings,” he said. Recently he went on a two-week, 12-city tour and broke even; he called it a free vacation. Parreira will play with an inspiration to him, John Craigie, Saturday at Muddy’s Hot Cup in Arcata.
  
  “The people I could name that are my biggest influences are people you probably haven’t heard of because they are just people I play shows with and see at open mic every week,” said Parreira.
  

• Chris Parreira Pays His Dues [+ Show ]
  

  By Mark A. Curci Tidings Correspondent February, 9 2008 "I'm happily paying my dues," said Ashl...By Mark A. Curci
  Tidings Correspondent
  February, 9 2008
  
  "I'm happily paying my dues," said Ashland musician Chris Parreira. "I've always been kind of a go-getter.
  
  "I try and be as active as possible. I know that no one is going to do anything for me, so I try hard to promote myself as well as the work of others."
  
  Parreira was raised in Yosemite, and then spent his teenage and adult years in Humboldt County, Calif., first in Orick, then Arcata. It was there that he first started attending open mics.
  
  "That's when I started taking off," said Parreira. Even before I was old enough to go to many of the shows I went to, it was fun."
  
  Parreira is blessed with a beautiful voice and a kind disposition, and his MySpace site probably paints the best picture of his acoustic offerings: "If Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie had a love child..."
  
  "I only have about nine original songs," said Parreira. "And only about six of those will ever be heard in public." Parreira works primary in covering and interpreting songs.
  
  "Something really has to hit me," he said. "People have their requests, but"¦ Most of my original work I wrote in 10 to 15 minutes, and they are few and far between. Except (his opus) 'Look Away,' which I spent nine months writing."
  
  Another passion of Parreira's is hosting open mics. He started going religiously to his first open mic at Sacred Grounds in Arcata.
  
  "It was epic, it was a great open mic," he said. "But the café which hosted it closed a few months later, and it moved to a pizza place down the street." Parreira was so enamored with this venue that he took a job with the parent venue solely so that he could host the mic. When he moved to Ashland in August, the Jefferson State Pub's all-ages open mic had began to decline, and it was something Parreira really felt the city of Ashland needed, so he started lobbying Northwest Pizza and Pasta Co. for a Tuesday night slot.
  
  "I had lots of conversation with locals about prospects," said Parreira. "And yet I walked by the Pizza place everyday. One day a light bulb went off. I did take some convincing though."
  
  Parreira smiles, somewhat painfully, recalling the first night. "There were two people. The second week, maybe 10. But it's really taken off, and now I think that it's the best thing going on Tuesday nights."
  
  And, of the growing masses of all range of talents, Parreira is thrilled. "I love seeing live performances because I learn something from every person I watch. Sometimes I learn things to do, sometimes things not to do, but either way it becomes a part of who I am."And he plays to standing room only, most nights now.
  
  Parreira also gives a lot of credit to SOSA (Southern Oregon Songwriters Association). "When I first moved here, I had a rough time, and they really welcomed me," he said. "Before that, I was kind of wandering the Valley anonymously. They are very welcoming and a great resource for musicians."
  
  And Parreira's been landing his own gigs of growing significance as well. This Friday he will be playing with guests at the Beanery. Next month he endeavors a two-week tour through Reno, Bend, San Francisco and back to his home town of Arcata.
  
  "I remember, living there, I couldn't pay people to come to my shows," laments Parreira. "Now I'm treated like a rock star. I headlined my first gig in my hometown a week ago. I'd always been pretty much an opener. I like that, I want to be a part of it. I've gotten to open for some great bands, even some people who were my biggest inspiration."
  
  For Parreira, always paying his dues, the former opener is now a closer.

Setlist

One or two 45-60 minute sets is my ideal show. Three hours is about my maximum.

I plan my set according to the venue. If it's a loud, rowdy bar, I'll play faster, more entertaining songs. If it's a quiet coffee shop, or wine bar, I play mellower, sweeter songs.

I have an hour and a half of original material with some covers.

Basic Requirements

Calendar