Chris Seal

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised in Portland, Oregon, Chris Seal brings the barn stomping soul of the Southeastern United States to the saturated sensitivity of the Pacific Northwest. He first picked up a guitar and started learning Led Zeppelin and Grateful Dead songs at the age of 13. He began playing in punk rock bands in high school and started folk-singing in 2001. Chris recently moved to Nashville, TN after living in two mountain towns for 8 years, first in the German Alps, then in Lake Tahoe, CA. Most recently he played his original songs in the bluegrass band BISON, and the rock band Pleasure Bonus, as well as other solo and collaborative projects. Music that has influenced him is many and varied, from Hank Williams to Kool Keith to Fleet Foxes to Wilco to The Velvet Underground to Dead Kennedys to SWANS to The Stooges to Jimi Hendrix to Throbbing Gristle and many more. Rather than directly emulating the sounds of his influences, he lets his deep appreciation for the music he loves seep into himself, then writes and plays from this feeling. Chris has also been experimenting with sounds and producing his own recordings as well as collaborating with others since the early 1990's. He has shared a stage with The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, Elvin Bishop, The Infamous Stringdusters, The Dead Winter Carpenters, The Trespassers, Danny Barnes, Bipolar Ben & The Touchers, among others. He has collaborated with Jerry Blue, Benjamin Boyce, Andy Hatch, Raybob Bowman, Dean Rimmer, Nate Alcorn, Oscar Azevedo, Matt McKenzie and many others.