Music
Press
Hinman knows his way around a song and a guitar. - seattleest.com
"Hinman's voice sounds like a burnished Jay Farrar and the Never Was is a flexible band. I think Hinman and company will soon become a staple of the scene so don't miss"
~ Nate Lippens, Drunk by Noon Roots and Americana column, The Stranger, Seattle, WA
- The Stranger, Seattle, WA
"If you're a fan of the alt.country/folk genre, you owe it to yourself to check out Chad Hinman & the Never Was"
~ Amy Lotsberg, Collected Sounds
- Amy Lotsberg, Collected Sounds
Discography
"Strawberry Sunward" ~ Chad Hinman & The Never Was
North Forty Records (2004 NFR0003)
PURCHASE AT: www.cdbaby.com/hinman2
"Two Rungs Up, One Rung Down" ~ Chad Hinman
North Forty Records (2002 NFR0002)
PURCHASE AT: www.cdbaby.com/hinman
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
A great songwriter soaks up his surroundings like a sponge. Chad Hinman has evidently done much collecting of the many musical styles around him and, as a result, has run the musician's gauntlet.
Chad Hinman was raised in a remote, western US town about the size of your left pinky. He started out beating rhythms on any sort of object he could take a stick to, and later, at age 11, graduated to a shiny, complicated, but fluid-sounding saxophone. Then, at the ripe old age of 14, Chad saved up enough money from working in the alf-alfa and barley fields of Townsend, Montana, to buy himself his first guitar and amplifier.
One thing was certain about Chad Hinman and his early musical experiences; original songwriting was his true love. After fiddling around on the guitar, songs of all styles soon began taking shape. Given Chad’s rural experiences, songwriting as a craft became a focal point of his life.
It carried him on through his college years and a few successful musical outfits. From funk to blues, country to jazz, Chad Hinman was honing that craft.
He moved to Seattle in late 1999, and soon after co-founded North Forty Records. Then, after releasing his first CD, Two Rungs Up, One Rung Down, in 2002 on NFR, he toured the entire West Coast, Mid-America and the Western states including Canada, playing some of the more notable Americana/Singer-Songwriter venues in LA, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver BC, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and many others.
Chad has pieced together his band, The Never Was, with some of the most talented musicians Seattle has to offer. The musical result is a unique and incredibly thick delivery of Chad’s award-winning songwriting. Lush lap steel guitar, spanky B-bender Tele licks, expressive percussion and intricate drumming account for a sound akin to the genre’s greats including Gram Parsons, George Jones, Willy Nelson, Townes Van Zant, Lyle Lovett, Jay Farrar, Mason Jennings, and Greg Brown.
Chad Hinman & The Never Was is poised to overtake the Alt.Country/Americana scene with their July 2004 release, Strawberry Sunward, which is enjoying critical acclaim due to it’s solid songwriting and depth of musicianship.
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