Christopher Kimble

Christopher Kimble was born on September 4th in Michigan, where he grew up listening to his parents' record collection that included the entire Dylan catalogue, The Band, The Beatles, Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, and just about everything else. “Actually, about a year ago I went to my Dad’s storage area and reclaimed all of those old classics. They really had a profound affect on the direction I am taking musically and, even though I knew where my influences came from, I had forgotten how much they shaped my ears. Later on, punk rock would enter the picture and become just as influential. It really took that organic, roots side I loved and flipped it over. It was phenomenal.”

After moving from Michigan to New York to Washington D.C. to Buenos Aires, Christopher has again landed in New York. Each of these places, along with numerous other factors, has helped define and blur the influences found in his music - an organic blend of americana, country, folk, rock and punk. Think of Neil Young, the Misfits, the Band, Elvis Costello, Gram Parsons and Johnny Cash in a sandwich.

In 2006, Christopher released his first full-length album, ‘Criminal Side of the Builder’, an organic, soulful collection of songs recorded in a friend’s basement over the last year. Its title was taken from an astrology book. “A bunch of us were at a bar last winter. It was in the village and there were all these books on the shelves. We started reading an old astrology book that talked about specific birthdays… mine talked about how Virgo’s born on September 4 are builders – industrious, logical, with a good understanding of systems. However, should one not want to put that to use for the benefit of society, they would make an excellent criminal. I’m not a criminal, but I always felt I had a certain understanding of the darker side of life, and I think this album touches on some of those themes. I made up ‘criminal side of the builder', which was just a perfect fit.”

Christopher describes his music as indie folk-country-punk - some acoustic, some electric, country-tinged stuff with a punk rock attitude, and driving punk rock type stuff with a country attitude. “I wear cowboy boots, so that should stand for something. It feels like americana (whatever that really means) - country, folk, rockabilly, punk, indie, pop... whatever. The new album is kind of all over the place stylistically, but the songs really work well together.

"I think we succeeded in making a fantastic record that sounds great, but it’s also not too perfect. When it’s too perfect, it’s not human, and I think music should always have a good human quality to it. It’s funny, but I think that really old country music and punk rock have a lot in common. They’re both full of soul and emotion, and often they are both simple and rough. For me the song is important. You can do anything you want to a record to make it sound perfect, but if the songs and performances at the root of all that aren’t good, it won’t matter.”