Kristy Kruger
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Kristy Kruger

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"Sound Advice"

Dallas singer-songwriter Kristy Kruger toured colleges and coffeehouses as a solo artist for years and logged additional years in Los Angeles pursuing a career in music. Her long struggle and journey of self discovery resulted in a backlog of insightful material that at times recalls Juliana Hatfield. Kruger showcases much of it on her current, third album "An Unauthorized Guide to the Human Anatomy." She recorded the disc at the Truck Farm Studio in the Bywater with longtime Ani DiFranco sound engineer Andrew "Goat" Gilchrist. Her backing band included Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner on guitars, plus Drums and Tuba drummer Tony Nozero and former Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians bassist Brad Houser. Each song is paired with a body part and the packaging evokes a medical textbook. But the real heart of "anatomy" lies in Kruger's knack for memorable lyrics and melodies, her careful, evocative vocals and smart contemporary arrangements ranging from the alt-pop guitars of the opening "Monsoon" and "The Pursuit of Happiness" to the acoustic chill of the final "Alabaster."
-Keith Spera - The Times Picayune (New Orleans, LA)


"The Hot Seven (Best Bets of the Week)"

On "An Unauthorized Guide to the Human Anatomy," Kristy Kruger is cool. The Texan who spent a year in New Orleans sings, "I Got My Back" with the quiet confidence of someone who actually does, and throughout the album she's laidback, trusting her songs and voice. The album, produced by Dave Pirner and Andrew "Goat" Gilchrist, fleshes out her folk-based songs, and in the process, Kruger finds some rock-n-roll attitude. In "Coming 'Round the Mountain," for instance, a little Patti-Smith like swagger creeps into her voice. For someone who's often an acoustic warrior, this is unusual, as is avoiding the coffeehouse strum.
-Alex Rawls - The Gambit Weekly (Alternative Press in New Orleans, LA)


"Spotlight"

Give Dallas-reared Kristy Kruger an A for ambition. Her new record, An Unauthorized Guide to the Human Anatomy, is an elaborate concept album recorded with Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner on electric guitars. The disc comes with a 24-page mock medical textbook that pairs each of the 13 tracks with a part of the human anatomy. For instance, Chapter Seven: The Guts introduces "Vendetta," one of Ms. Kruger's many slices of psychedelic folk-pop.
-Mario Tarradell - The Dallas Morning News


Discography

Songs From a Dead Man's Couch (2006)
An Unauthorized Guide to the Human Anatomy (2004)
The Noise I Make (2000)
Bachelor of Apathy (1998)

"An Unauthorized Guide to the Human Anatomy" is spinning on XM Satellite Radio and is currently the Editor's Pick for Folk-Rock at www.cdbaby.com (the world's leading sole-independent music retailer)

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

The order of information...
Press Quotes
Biography
Select List of Colleges and Venues Kristy has played

NOTE** We do not update Kristy's shows here. For up-to-date show info, please visit...
www.kristykruger.com

Quote Sheet
"Kristy Kruger has confidence and thoughtfulness and an artistic sensibility that relfects a caring, sensitive soul." -Edie Brickell

"The real heart of 'Anatomy' lies in Kruger's memorable lyrics and melodies, her careful, evocative vocals and smart contemporary arrangements." -The Times Picayune (New Orleans, LA)

"Psychedelic Folk Pop." -The Dallas Morning News

"Kruger sings 'I Got My Back' with the quiet confidence of someone who actually does." -The Gambit (Alternative Weekly Press, New Orleans, LA)

Songwriter and artist Kristy Krüger has an extensive history in music that spans classical, jazz, folk, and rock genres. Throughout the course of her career as a pianist and composer, Krüger won a multitude of local, state, national, and international awards culminating with the highly coveted “Dee Bee Award” from Down Beat Magazine. When she shifted gears into the world of the singer/songwriter, she brought a broad spectrum of influences with her, ranging from Hank Williams, Sr. to Miles Davis as she criss-crossed the country alone in her car. Her untraditional jazz-influenced approach to folk music has carried her throughout the United States, performing at top-notch venues, both headlining and opening for national acts. She also received a 2003 & 2005 Dallas Observer nomination for Best Acoustic Act, securing her status as a favorite in her hometown of Dallas, Texas. With a wealth of life experiences from her solo journeys, Krüger has also contributed to Public Radio International's This American Life. In addition to these efforts, Krüger has found time to record four full-length albums. Her latest, Songs From a Dead Man’s Couch, is scheduled for release this spring.

Krüger started playing piano at age five. By eighth grade, she was performing, composing and competing in the classical piano world. She studied jazz in Dallas at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts whose alumni includes Norah Jones, Edie Brickell, Erykah Badu, and jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove. There her strength became composition. On four separate occasions she took first place in state from the Texas Music Teachers’ Association and was honored with over a dozen other awards during her high school career. By the time she was 17, she had two original compositions published, and before graduation, the Teachers’ Association presented her with the Whitlock Memorial Scholarship Award for winning more musical awards than any other high school senior in the state of Texas. The prestige of the subsequent Down Beat Magazine “Dee Bee Award” for Best Extended Composition in the North American Continent led to scholarships at the country’s best music schools.

Krüger chose the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where she majored in Music Industry. During this period, she began writing songs on both piano and guitar in the singer/songwriter tradition and delved into the Los Angeles music scene. She founded her own label, Do It Yerself Records, in 1998 and released her debut album, Bachelor of Apathy. Upon completing her degree at USC, Krüger relocated to her native Texas and began performing solo at universities, nightclubs, conferences, and festivals throughout the US and Canada. During this time she released a second album reflecting her tours entitled, The Noise I Make which received a Just Plain Folks nomination for Best New Folk Album of 2001.

While promoting The Noise I Make, on a tour in California, Krüger met engineer Andrew Gilchrist, sonic guru behind Ani DiFranco. The two established a working relationship and Krüger relocated to New Orleans where she recorded her third album with Gilchrist entitled An Unauthorized Guide to the Human Anatomy. An anatomical concept record, Anatomy, comes with a 24-page mock medical textbook and each song is paired with a body part. Krüger co-produced the record with Gilchrist and was able to put her classical counterpoint skills to work, composing background vocals that move like string arrangements throughout the album. Unlike The Noise I Make, this record featured Krüger with a full band, including Dave Pirner, bassist Brad Houser of Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, and drummer Tony Nozero of Drums and Tuba (on DiFranco’s label). Anatomy also won Best Female Singer/Songwriter Album of the Year at the Just Plain Folks International Independent Music Awards, out of 10,000 entries.

Currently Krüger is wrapping up her fourth album, scheduled for release this spring – with two tracks already named finalists in the International Acoustic Music Awards. This album features Krüger in a different setting than her previous releases. After six years of touring the country alone, Krüger give