Biography
Some time ago, someone (can't remember who) introduced me to a fairly modern adage: There are only two kinds of music: Good and Bad.
I'm not sure whether this is a notion that can really hold water, since there are few things as subject to subjectivity than the arts. "Good" music, after all, is in the ear of the be-hearer.
But what I appreciate about the sentiment is that it breaks down a lot of genre-based walls. Good country music is good music… good folk music is good music… good gospel music is good music, etc., etc..
And that coincides well with and supports my songwriting style, because I've always felt that the songs conjured up by my imagination sort of "tell me" what genre-form they should take. They seem to make strong suggestions as to how they might be best represented, and as their humble servant, I am bound to listen and obey.
Or put another way, you could say that I believe in and am devoted to eclecticism. I believe that an eclectic collection of anything is inherently and absolutely more interesting than a homogonous one. At this point, I doubt anything will change my mind on this matter -- it's just too much fun to write in multiple styles.
Such a philosophy, though, certainly presents commerciality problems for an unknown artist. It's ok for Sting to do a record of madrigal tunes, or for Elvis Costello to do a record with the Bronsky Quartet or with Burt Bacharach (I love that record!) or Rod Stewart to do a collection of standards. But it seems that a large percentage of the CD buying population needs to have a cozy, neat and tidy little box in which to place an artist his material, at least initially. A box upon which may be affixed a stock label that applies to all items within. Too much genre mixing, it seems, creates confusion.
Well, what to do?
My answer is to keep doing everything! Play your heart! Life's short! Do art!
My first record, "Blue Love" (recorded in '04 under the band name Teeter Gray) was a collection of mostly country-flavored songs… mostly. It was graced with appearances by Eric Weissberg (of "Dueling Banjos" and "Blood on the Tracks" fame), a wonderful pedal steel player named John Widgren, local drum legend Ben Perowsky (who has worked with John Scoffield and David Torn) and violinist Charlie Burnham (who has worked with Cassandra Wilson and Medesky, Martin and Wood). But there were still a few songs that stuck out funny. But if "Blue Love" was at all stylistically confusing, I don't know what folks will think of me now.
Since June of '07 I've been involved in another recording project of ridiculous proportions. -- an effort to bring my "library” up to date, so to speak. Some are highly accessible and some are, frankly, not. They fit into buckets labeled Jazz, Fusion, Country, Singer-Songwriter, and… Artsy Fartsy?
Maybe I'll defer blame for this to my pallet of colors. I am just fortunate enough to find myself surrounded by so many exceptional musicians, who represent so many different styles. Mazz Swift-Camlet is a Julliard violinist. Diane Michaels is a world-class harpist from Oberland. Jim Donica has played bass behind Maynard Ferguson, and has recorded a fine jazz album with Peter Erskine, Randy Brecker, Bruce Barth and others. Mike Lee is a remarkable, versatile and innovative reed player.
And they all, for some reason, happen to enjoy playing my tunes, both the quirky and the contrived. So I keep stretching and writing.
Maybe one of these will "hit a mark" and allow me to meet that coy and fickle vixen known as commercial success. And while I can hold out hope that she might decide to visit my neighborhood, that hope doesn't really comprise even a small fraction of my impetus to keep writing. Well… obviously, since we haven't been formally introduced after all this time, yet here I still am.
Meantime, I'll finish the recording, group them somewhat logically into a couple of CD's, conduct a self-funded radio promotion campaign and dabble with some web-marketing will enjoying as much live performing as I can afford to do… you know, the same stuff that the other billion artists and musicians are doing.
I just hope they're having as much fun as I am.
Instrumentation
Chris Koch - Guitars, Vocals
Ian Smit - Ambient Guitarverk
Matt Raymond - Bass
Steve Meltzer - Drums/Percussion
Discography
Teeter Gray - "Blue Love"
Chris Koch - "Scenes from the Coastal Evacuation"
Links
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