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Region's Artists Shine in These 10 CDs
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By Rick Bird
It was another solid year for the local music and recording scene with several dozen i...By Rick Bird
It was another solid year for the local music and recording scene with several dozen independent self-released projects. Indeed, if you are looking for that last-minute stocking stuffer, there is always the gift of music, made in Cincinnati.
Here's a look at 10 of the most impressive CD projects released this past year (in alphabetical order). They were chosen as a cross section of the diversity of the tri-state music scene that continues its tradition as a region where Appalachian sounds meet and meld with rugged urban blues and R&B
Chris Collier, "Over Twenty": The veteran singer-songwriter marvelously pulled off what could have been a pretentious project - a 21-cut double CD drawing on songs that span her 20-year career. Collier hooked up with some of the area's finest musicians and singers in a project reminiscent of Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club. The richly textured music keeps this interesting throughout with strains of blues, pop, R&B and traditional folk with Collier's elegant, lilting voice and emotive songwriting.
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Chris Collier's Over Twenty Sums Up a Spirited Career
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By Rick Bird
Veteran singer-songgwriter Chris Collier has released "Over 20," her first CD release ...By Rick Bird
Veteran singer-songgwriter Chris Collier has released "Over 20," her first CD release since 1998. She makes up for lost time with an exquisite 21-cut double CD that is a tantalizing career retrospective of this fine poet and singer.
It is as accomplished and satisfying a local release in memory, featuring Collier's introspective, accessible lyrics, her pleading, lilting voice, and a jam session of some of the areas best musicians and singers.
Collier said the title refers to the "over 20 songs, over 20 years of songwriting, over 20 local friends and musicians on it. We're all over 20 and it gets better every year."
Collier released three well-received CDs in the '90s and was the darling of the local music awards circuit for her writing. She put her music career on the back burner when she became a teacher at age 41, now with four years in the profession at Clark Montessori. Collier reaches back to the songs she wrote in the early '80s and up to a couple years ago, often with a melancholy and wistful take on life, love and regrets.
It's an inspired and amazingly connected musical and songwriting experience that "reminds us life is a journey, not a destiantion," as aptly put by Joey Victor, a 15-year old student of Collier's that she asked to write the liner notes.
While Collier is of the folk spirit, this is hardly a gal and her guitar. In a project that hearkens to Sheryl Crow's "Tuesday Night Music Club," Collier recorded every Tuesday for more than a year, inviting her musical friends to participate in the project. The result is a local all-star lineup with such players as Steve Sigsbee, Spencer Funk, Greg Mahan, Brandt Smith, Jan Diehl, Kevin Eagan, Larry Feldner and some of the area's finest female singers harmonizing wtih Collier, such as Elaine Diehl, Pam Temple, Tracy Walker and Dixie Karas.
Collier said the problem with inviting her friends was she also had to "boss them around," acting as her own producer.
"I was always a songwriter who played guitar to support it," Collier said. "When I was working with these really talented people, I was really worried about how to talk to them to get what I wanted. I was overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of every musician who came in."
The richly textured musical effort ranges from traditional folk to country-tinged pop, jazzy stylings, and a tremendously soulful blues tune with Collier joined by Walker and Karas.
Collier thought hard about the self-indulgent aspect of a local musician releasing a double disc. It may be a rare case where this works. There is a sense of musical discovery on every cut and thematically one can appreciate an artist rediscovering a solid body of her own songs and breathing fresh life into them.
Chris Collier will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Starbucks in Hyde Park Plaza and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Monmouth Theatre, 636 Monmouth St., Newport, appearing with Betsy Lippitt as part of this month's Women at the Monmouth Music Series.
On April 23, Collier will bring together many of the musicians who appear on the project for an official CD release gig at York Street Cafe in Newport (www.chriscollier.com).
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Chris Collier's "Over Twenty"
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By Scott Neison
I’ve not seen Chris Collier perform live in a very long time. It’s this distance ...By Scott Neison
I’ve not seen Chris Collier perform live in a very long time. It’s this distance from her live music, which I used to catch quite often, that caused me to think upon first listen to Over Twenty that Chris had rerecorded some of her earlier work. As it turns out, these are songs I had previously heard live, now beautifully recorded for me to listen to when I desire.
As I begin to listen to this double CD set for the third time, one thing remains constant about Chris’ music. It’s infectious and addictive. On first listen I thought, “Yep, that’s Chris.” On second listen, I thought, “Chris, my dear friend.” Now as I listen once again, I find I’m part of her inner circle.
The sense of getting to know Chris intimately while listening to her music is a charm that has never faded from her first CD, There for Dreaming, to this new release. The music is so comfortable, the lyrics gentle and personal. Listening to Over Twenty, it’s clear to me her music must remain on my deserted island list. With Chris’ music, I would never feel deserted.
I’m familiar with many of the 21 songs on this new CD. Live favorites such as “Can’t Let Go,” “weather’s Admitted Spring,” and “Clock Song” are wonderfully present. Other old favorites are given special treatment. The piano on the song “What Were You Thinking?” turns this great song into a classic. It is unbelievably, but not surprisingly, gorgeous. “Something About You” includes guest vocals from Tracy Walker and Dixie Karas. This version is an incredible collaboration of talent.
And what about songs I hadn’t heard before. Standouts include “Cousin Ann” and “Solo Lonely.” The banjo on “Back to You” is remarkable. Pam Temple’s backing vocals and the musicality of “The Ride” make it so beautiful and touching, every note perfectly crafted. “Swoosh” is a just pinnacle of song-writing! “Try Laughing” is perhaps my favorite track. Ryan Adcock and Chris’ voices were made to be together.
Chris really hits her stride singing a duet with Chris Haubner. He and Chris a re simply magical together on the song “Where.” “Focus on This” is perhaps the most interesting song on this new CD for me. Chris frighteningly captures distress, yet the song ends with the artist dealing with whatever she is dealt with a positive outlook that keeps her strong.
Songs on Over Twenty span Chris’ incredible songwriting career from 1982 to present. Nine of the songs were written before or during the release of Chris’ first CD in 1992. Incredibly these songs didn’t make the cut. Chris’ songs are all heart. It’s rare to find an artist so comfortable sharing this much emotion. I guess that’s why once one becomes a Chris Collier fan they stay one for life. This personal collection is easily Chris’s best work to date.
Chris Collier will perform on Sunday, April 23 at York Street Café in Newport. For info on upcoming performances, visit www.chriscollier.com
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Collier's Double Dip
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By Mike Breen
Singer/songwriter Chris Collier celebrates the release of her ambitious new CD, Ove...By Mike Breen
Singer/songwriter Chris Collier celebrates the release of her ambitious new CD, Over Twenty, this Sunday at the York Street Café in Newport starting at 5 p.m. Collier will be joined by the multitude of local guests who appear on the CD, including Greg Mahan, Tracy Walker, Chris Haubner, Ryan Adcock, Pam Temple and scores of others.
When Collier hit the studio in late 2004, she began building on 21 songs she had put together, with the idea of releasing two separate discs. But she eventually felt that the songs belonged together, thus releasing Over Twenty as a two-disc set. Collier's lyrics seem very personal and intimate, making this collection a bit like her musical autobiography, with direct references to her parents on "My Word" and her brother on "Hey." Both introspective and retrospective, the discs feel like an audio mid-life crisis (without the Ferrari). Collier's writing, as she's shown across her three previous releases, is folksy, melodic, poetic and emotive, and the musicality provided by the guest musicians is top-notch, as strings hover, flutes flutter, banjos pluck, organs grind and harmonies caress, all supported by Collier's lithe acoustic strumming and down-to-earth vocals.
Disc 2 is the stronger of the two sides, as the songs musically show more punch and diversity. "The Ride" is a perfect slice of wispy, tender Folk/Pop, "Something About You" is expressive Soul/Blues and "Swoosh" is shuffling Americana. Collier's lyrics are her ace in the hole, continually compelling whether singing about an eccentric relative ("Cousin Ann") or the way love doesn't dampen with time, even though the physicality does ("Love's Just Thicker"). Her poetic skills peak on "Night Train," with eloquently evocative lines like "Between the snowlight o'er the mountains/And the reflection of the moon/The wind could carry her recollection/Of a summer afternoon."
Successful double albums are hard to come by, usually self-indulgent and loaded with filler. Not so here. But while most of the tracks on Over Twenty are strong, a handful are interchangeable and an outside editor probably could have whittled the record down to a powerful 12-cut collection. Still, Collier is an impressive talent and it's usually better to have too much than too little.
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Disc'N'Dat
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Disc 'N' Dat_By Larry Nager
CHRIS COLLIER_Song Gallery_Grig Records; * * * 1/2_$15.98 CD
Singer-so...Disc 'N' Dat_By Larry Nager
CHRIS COLLIER_Song Gallery_Grig Records; * * * 1/2_$15.98 CD
Singer-songwriter Chris Collier has released her second CD and it's a winner, a confident showcase for her songwriting, her quirkily compelling voice and a sizable array of local backup musicians.
The nine songs range from the fairly straightforward love song, "My Love is Secure," to "Galaxie 500," in which she wrestles the car song back from the male rock establishment.
It's one of the disc's best songs, a portrait of a young woman who "saw the world from that Galaxie 500. . . in that $40 car she would go to every corner of Ohio.
Karen Addie of the Graveblankets adds expressive violin to that track. "Love Without Much Reason" is a grungy folk-rocker that features electric guitarist Steve Sigsbee doing his best Neil Young.
Like most local CDs, Song Gallery was a financial struggle to complete, but Ms. Collier came up with the unique solution of obtaining sponsors for each song. It was money well-spent.
Fresh and heartfelt, this is as good a singer-songwriter project as any of the major labels have managed to recently produce.
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Spill It - Song Gallery
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Spill It_By Mike Breen
CD Release Gigs
A couple of very different CD release parties are in the cl...Spill It_By Mike Breen
CD Release Gigs
A couple of very different CD release parties are in the clubs this coming Friday.
Over at Newport's York St. Café on Friday, talented singer/songwriter Chris Collier will be celebrating her impressive new disc, Song Gallery. The record is the follow-up to her debut , the acoustic, minimal Further.
This time out, Collier fleshes out the tracks with a full band, making the songs more fully realized while retaining the heart and essence so capably displayed on her previous effort. While a little folksy, the textural nature of the disc coupled with her captivating vocals and a top-notch collection of backing musicians (notably violinist Karen Addie, drummer Jeff Monroe and guitarist Steve Sigsbee) helps Song Gallery transcend easy categorization. Essentially, the album is a rootsy, organic journey that, if you're a fan of acts like the Indigo Girls and Dar Williams or even Gillian Welch and Sarah McLachlan, you won't want to end.
Collier's well-written musings are certainly on par with the bigger Adult Alternative acts that garner national attention. She's absolutely deserving of similar acclaim.
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Scene & Heard
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Scene & Heard
Edited by Amy McDonald
Local singer/songwriter Chris Collier has just released a fo...Scene & Heard
Edited by Amy McDonald
Local singer/songwriter Chris Collier has just released a follow-up CD to her sold-out debut album There For Dreamin'. The new CD, Further, is a stripped-down, cohesive collection of gorgeous country-vocalized folk songs. The best cut: the somber yet lovely song "Who You Turned Out To Be," has a drifting, sensual melody benefited by a deep and tranquil trombone line. Highly recommended the CD is available at Borders Books and Music and Crazy Ladies Bookstore.
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Spill It - Further
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Spill It_By Mike Breen
Recent Releases
The new CD from singer/songwriter Chris Collier, Further, ...Spill It_By Mike Breen
Recent Releases
The new CD from singer/songwriter Chris Collier, Further, is highly recommended for fans of sprite and gorgeous Folk songs. The 11 tracks, all penned by Collier, are sophisticated and introspective, heavy on the Folk with tinges of Country. Collier is a fantastic songwriter, writing wistful and tuneful melodies that haunt and soothe. And she makes it all sound so effortless. Pick up a copy of Further and you shan't be disappointed.
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Collier Spreads Word about Cincy Folk
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Chris Collier spreads the word about Cincy Folk
By Swarthy
Chris Collier
Chris Collier is un...Chris Collier spreads the word about Cincy Folk
By Swarthy
Chris Collier
Chris Collier is unintentionally instructing a clinic in Newport, Ky. The singer/songwriter/guitarist is performing at York St. Café a few Sunday nights ago as part of the first Songwriters Summit, organized by Mark Messerly and Brian Ewing. The Folk duo is utilizing this as a night to play alongside talents either enjoyed or never seen before. Collier is the former.
Her set this night can cause a music lover to break down the problem with most popular music. The performance has bearing, and her songs have character. In a music setting long on personality and short on anything real underneath it, Chris Collier distinguishes herself by just being. And thankfully, the moderate but lusty crowd recognizes it. I can't tell who has or hasn't seen Collier live before tonight. I do know that it sounded as if the entire room was singing along with her last number, "Galaxie 500."
"Galaxie 500," a plaintive story of a woman seeing the worlds inside and outside herself, and the two songs that preceded it tonight are beautiful, declarative and deliberate. Chris Collier has a singing voice that sounds like Janis Joplin's speaking voice, without the Port Arthur, Texas, drawl. Like her music, it is no-nonsense and full of presence. Collier's three-song set goes a long way in front of her peers in the audience. There is no compartmentalization at the York St. Café tonight -- here she's one of the area's best singer/songwriters, not one of the area's best female singer/songwriters. Remember, "Galaxie 500" ended-up on 1999's 97Xposure CD as well as WNKU's Exit 89 compilation CD.
Her sing-along will expand this autumn, when she, Ryan Adcock, Greg Mahan and Ashley Peacock all hit the road for the first Four Corners of Folk Tour. Each performer will take turns headlining with a solo-acoustic set on this two-week tour of coffeehouses, restaurants and small venues, organized by Adcock. Collier, herself a veteran of independent mini-tours, has three albums worth of material (1992's There For Dreamin', '95's Further and '98's Song Gallery) to showcase. When asked about the tour during our telephone interview, Collier uses the word fun a lot in her responses. She still laughs a little at the thought of being asked to tour with Adcock, Mahan and Peacock, an older woman out with three younger men.
"Maybe they need a mother for the trip," she offers.
Collier has part of this correct: This will be one mother of a trip. No one is bringing bands, which means that she leaves her Full Band (guitarist Steve Sigsbee, bassist Ron Blankenship, drummer Kevin Eagan and soundman Mark Jacobs) here in Cincinnati. What will replace electric backing are the collaborations and sitting-ins with each other, a given when any combination of Collier, Adcock, Mahan and Peacock share a bill. I ask Collier to select a song from each of her tourmates that she wouldn't mind playing.
"Wow ... wow. That's a tough one," Collier thinks aloud before answering. "Ryan has that song, 'Drive To Hallelujah.' Greg has 'American Farming Song.' That's fun. Ashley I'm just now becoming familiar with. I like 'No Parking,' but I don't know if I could do it." (Yes, Chris, you could. All three of them.)
Collier, in her 40s, draws from a pre-1965 Newport Folk Festival era of American Folk music for inspiration, an era lost on many contemporary artists.
"I listened to a lot of Peter, Paul and Mary," she says. "I love the way they could move a crowd. It was them that got me into songwriters like Bob Dylan (whose 'Blowin' In The Wind' was a hit for the influential trio). The lyrics are meaningful. I'm an old-fashioned girl."
Collier has also consumed much Roberta Joan Anderson, the singer/songwriter/innovator from Canada known the world over as Joni Mitchell.
"I think she's one of the biggest geniuses we have, as far as what's going on in music," she says.
There is also an essence of West Indies' singer/songwriter/guitarist Joan Armatrading in what Collier does. According to Collier, these Folk influences might have expanded her audience by two in recent months: Malcolm and Noreen Adcock, Ryan's proud parents.
"I think his folks are bigger fans of mine than Ryan is," she confesses with a sweet laugh
CHRIS COLLIER and her Full Band perform Friday at the York Street Café with guests Diamond Blue. For more information, check www.chriscollier.com.
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Rhythm in the City
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Rhythm in the City
Chris Collier enjoying 'new lease' on creative life
By Sarah Knott
Cincinnat...Rhythm in the City
Chris Collier enjoying 'new lease' on creative life
By Sarah Knott
Cincinnati.Com
Chris Collier smiles a lot, but she's not cartoon rainbows and cotton candy.
Her voice holds a twinge of melancholy, the same twinge that flows from her guitar and microphone in a few of her songs. Still, the smiles are proof that she is happy as she chats about music, her painting business, her friends, her neighborhood.
Exuding comfort, spackling the conversation with gracious side notes, there's no doubt: Chris is grateful to be making orginal music. She's excited that the Cincinnati music scene is cooperative lately, helpful and united. She's thrilled to have met a new friend, Ryan Adcock (her own "little Jesus") of the Ryan Adcock Band.
Chris, a Cincinnati folk singer/songwriter who's been a part of the Cincinnati music since her first release in 1992 (There For Dreamin'), acknowledges that her satisfaction traveled a bumpy road, through angst and insecurity-being a female musician in this town isn't easy. But she refused to make being a girl a major issue in our conversation. Instead Chris focuses on how "age has increased my confidence," and how she feels she has a "new lease on it all," thanks to friends, experience and new, unique opportunities.
One of those opportunities includes the Four Corners of Folk showcase, a project designed by Adcock. Touring the northeast this October for 17 days, the Four Corners of Folk (Collier, Adcock, Ashley Peacock and Greg Mahan) will set up shop in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Boston, New York, Ithaca, Albany, Buffalo and Cleveland clubs. Each musician will have the stage for 30 minutes, each playing a few songs of their own and transitioning to the next musician through a duet.
"This will be my first tour," Chris says, obviously enthused about how a successful trip could lead to a West Coast tour or more contacts for other Cincinnati bands, which spreads the good word about our scene.
"We're traveling on a big bus together," she adds. "Ryan is so full of ideas and belief."
That belief was something she felt she had dropped somewhere, a loss that may come with being in the business for a long time. But she's comfortable with that feeling now, it seems, and accepts it as part of life or a growth process. Chris is ready to move on to the next step, which comes after the Four Corners tour.
Come November, she'll continue work on her fourth album, titled "Combing the Doll's Hair" (preceded by "Song Gallery" and "Further"). What should fans expect from the new release? A 14-song CD that will be "really different."
"I'm hoping this will be more fun than the last few," she says. Chris says she's enlisted the help of a new producer, Jeff Monroe, who has spurred more ideas and caused Chris to stretch out a little.
"I'm just going to let loose. It will have some of the old standards, like folk, but I'm being a little sillier," she says.
A 14-song song list, to anyone, seems long and arduous, but Chris says her quick writing skills allow that. Ideas come to her in the car, maybe on a drive, somewhere in motion where her attention isn't on writing alone. One song may take only 35 minutes.
"And some people may say, 'Well, it sounds like it,'" she says with a laugh.
But what most inspires a good writing session, she says, are life experiences and how they shape who she is today.
"I'm a non-fiction girl," she says. "My songs may be about me, people I know. I project my home movies on them. I'm blessed to be recording at all. There are so many great musicians in this city, and I get to be one of the people who gets to play."
supersonic
