Chris Collier

Veteran singer-songwriter Chris Collier has released "Over 20," her first CD 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 area's 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 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 destination," 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 with 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 Theater, 636 Monmouth St., Newport, appearing with Betsy Lippitt as part of the 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 Café in Newport (www.chriscollier.com).
- The Cincinnati Post - Author Rick Bird 3-16-2006

Veteran singer-songwriter Chris Collier has released "Over 20," her first CD 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 area's 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 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 destination," 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 with 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 Theater, 636 Monmouth St., Newport, appearing with Betsy Lippitt as part of the 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 Café in Newport (www.chriscollier.com).
- The Cincinnati Post - Author Rick Bird 3-16-2006