Phil Christie
Los Angeles, California, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
“I highly recommend Phil Christie's "SUMMERSTOWN" album. It is exceptional. It's one I wish I had produced.” - Producer/Arranger (John Denver)
If you like your music richly mellow, flavored just right with equal doses of Americana and Folk, then Phil Christie, a Neil Diamond similar-sounder, is worth a listen. Blessed with a smooth, easy and clear tone, this Canadian is out with his latest, Rearview Mirror.
On an album filled with anchored emotion, Christie is the guy you play at night, late at night, when the candle flickers and the wine is working, when thoughts run and race -- when music does its best work. The multi-talented Christie – he draws major duty by producing, playing and writing here –has pulled together an album that’s not going to appeal to the hats and buckle crowd; rather, if you lean towards middle-of-the-road country that’s easy and melodic to the ear, this is for you.
Opening with the title track, a song that looks into life, love and loss from a backward glance, Christie moves through his album of soft ballads and reflective thoughts with easy style, backed by a band of seasoned musicians. Among the sound-makers are some noted names such as Doug Lancio (Gretchen Peters and Patty Griffin) on guitar and Barry Walsh (Gretchen Peters) on piano.
Tracks like the parochial “Montreal”, the powerful reverence of attachment heard on ‘Echo,” the up-tempo invitation to a freedom walk from love, “You Got It” and the sad rewards for love’s inattention, “Otherwise Engaged,” all reveal a singer/songwriter with depth, passion and talent.
With a warm and melodic voice, easy-on-the-ear tunes, all wrapped in fine musicianship, this, as mentioned, won’t race off the shelves clutched in the hands of some Toby Keith or Jewel fan. However, it will find an audience with those who appreciate late nights, the glow of a romantic candle and good wine.
June 17, 2008
http://www.countrystarsonline.com/reviewarchives/2008/PHilChristie_GP.htm
- George Peden, Staff Journalist
Canadian Singer-Songwriter Phil Christie shines with his song “Rearview Mirror”, with beautiful lyrical imagery and Contemporary Folk production and songwriting. His new Album also named “Rearview Mirror” has just been released. Fans of David Wilcox and Gordon Lightfoot will appreciate his music. This artist is one to watch.
www.PhilChristie.com
RATING: ***** (5 out of 5 Stars)
July 30, 2008
http://www.inacoustic.com/artists2.html - International Acoustic Music Awards
Folk guitars travel over the highways. “Midnight moon on a night, muddy, black as coal, trail of dust and a heavy load. Everything I once held dear in my rearview mirror.” A familiar lonely tale, but told with new poetry. “Desert wind blows a tumbleweed up on the rise” evokes one feeling and a moment later “sunlight around her like a prayer” digs deeper into another feeling, a memory of my life lived, perhaps a bit callously. I’m sure some of my past would yell at me -> you weren’t looking, you were very callous. Ah. Takes good music to pull out confessions from a hard-hearted man. And Phil obliges with much good music. Shoutout tunes are the beautiful Random Acts Of Kindness, a tale of the small flowers I let slide through my fingers, and Me & My Guitar, a song that many people write but few succeed at. Phil succeeded. “Three chords and a simply melody opened up my heart and set me free.” Thanks for stirring my soul!
June 3, 2008 - Eartaste.com
It's not often you hear a voice as strong as Phil Christie's. Though he keeps it well leashed, the potency and muscularity reverberate in every verse he sings. Another of those highly talented Canadians, he took very broad inspiration from fellow countryman Gordon Lightfoot, one of my all-time favorite folkies and a guy who gets nowhere the milemarker status he should. Though promo lit credits John Denver, Neil Diamond, and Bruce Springsteen to Christie's column, and I have to admit I hear the Diamond/Denver thematics, forget those guys. Where I wouldn't give Springsteen the time of day, I'd stand in the rain to hear this cat. James Taylor is also brought in for kindredness, and that's much more agreeable. Christie's compositions reflect Taylor's nicely but still keep more to the distinctiveness of a Lightfoot or Bruce Cockburn—there's just something of the forest and brisk winter in the way a good deal of the Canadian folkies compose…save for Joni Mitchell, who caught the California sunlight perfectly.
Every cut of this CD is solid radio material, so don't expect experimentation, neoGoth, or sulky Gen X crying towels, Christie's way too vibrant for that, even when forlorn. Broken Angel is particularly exhilarating, written for a heartbreaking/heartwarming situation: Wendy and Kris Soderman's unusual Ideal School, founded to properly tend to one of their twin boys, who has cerebral palsy, unwillingly to relinquish him to the highly dubious mercies of the aberrant standard educational system. Listening to the song without knowing that tugs at the emotions; understanding the backstory brings a tear to the eye, but the song is at one with the work of Rik Emmet (another Canadian and a member of Triumph) and his perpetual fight-the-good-fight war cry. 'Ere long, some director's going to catch Brave Angel and insert it in a movie, making spirits swell.
The backing band is thoroughly professional though the drummer's hobbled by a bit too metronomic a duty. Either Christie or Steve Sheehan is playing a perpetually chord-picked axe, I'm not sure which, but it's like a rainbow running through most of the cuts. I'm certain, though, that Rearview Mirror doesn't represent the singer at his zenith; that's yet to come. You have to hear his voice to understand. Christie has the presence and sturdiness of an opera singer, but that's not his gig. I don't know what would be, but when he hits the mode that will take the full measure of his prowess, a cyclone will cut through the charts. Trust me
August 14, 2008 - Mark S. Tucker
Back in the heydays of James Taylor and Jackson Browne, there were second tier singer/songwriters that a lot of people liked more that were highly influential and very talented but just didn’t have that something that put them over the top. Christie is in the mold of those musical soldiers that felt more like a pal than an unreachable star, who didn’t drop the hits but left you with something more lasting. Think comparing Fred Neil to James Taylor. With some highly talented pals that know the ropes bringing home the sound, Christie’s tales of every day life are sure to ring a bell when you are looking for some meaty songwriting you can get into. It may not be vintage Dylan, but there’s nothing wrong with vintage John Batdorf.
July 13, 2008 - Chris Spector, Editor & Publisher
“I like your skeleton, baby. I like your style. I like your collarbone and your suicide smile. The way you hang there seems to light up the room. Just like some Joan of Arc before she was doomed.” What a great pick-up line, LOL!!! The story continues, with the band pushing the funky dance to the border of texas and louisiana. Great fun. “There’s just no telling how the storybook ends.”
March 19, 2008 - Eartaste.com
“I like your skeleton, baby. I like your style. I like your collarbone and your suicide smile. The way you hang there seems to light up the room. Just like some Joan of Arc before she was doomed.” What a great pick-up line, LOL!!! The story continues, with the band pushing the funky dance to the border of texas and louisiana. Great fun. “There’s just no telling how the storybook ends.”
March 19, 2008 - Eartaste.com
Summerstown is the place where great music of the present meets the influences of its creator's past, and everyone ought to pay it a visit in order to enjoy its charms.
March 22, 2008
www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/philchristie.html - Helen Mitchell
Summerstown is the place where great music of the present meets the influences of its creator's past, and everyone ought to pay it a visit in order to enjoy its charms.
March 22, 2008
www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/philchristie.html - Helen Mitchell
Phil's CD has been played constantly since it has been received here at QBN FM 96.7 - Parko Parkinson
Phil's CD has been played constantly since it has been received here at QBN FM 96.7 - Parko Parkinson
Thank you for your cd... I have listened to "Summerstown" and I find it quite simply perfect. - Paulin Pascal
Thank you for your cd... I have listened to "Summerstown" and I find it quite simply perfect. - Paulin Pascal
Discography
Beginnings - 1999 (Includes Canadian radio singles "Anytime Now", "I Can't Hold On" , and "Hurricane")
Summerstown - 2002 (Lauret River Music)
Rearview Mirror - 2008 (Lauret River Music)
Photos
Bio
The last song Phil Christie wrote for his new CD became its title and is the one that most defined it. Rearview Mirror with its images of “looking back and reflecting on love lost, love won, dreams unfulfilled and those dreams that may still yet come true” are a unifying thread throughout the recording’s ten tracks. The songs’ rich tones and storylines are enhanced by Doug Lancio’s (Patty Griffin, Gretchen Peters) atmospheric guitar style, Barry Walsh’s (Gretchen Peters) piano work and Bryn Davies on cello giving it touches of folk, Americana, country and rock.
Since the June release of Rearview Mirror, the disc has been blazing a trail at folk / Americana / NPR radio worldwide, with over 100+ stations playlisted to date including XM Satellite Radio’s folk channel The Village. Christie has also generated superlative reviews in the media…“Some of the most well crafted songs this writer has heard since the hey day of the Brill building - B. Noel Barr, RANDOM LENGTHS” … “This artist is one to watch RATING: (5 out of 5 Stars) - INTERNATIONAL ACOUSTIC MUSIC AWARDS”…“It's not often you hear a voice as strong as Phil Christie's. Though he keeps it well leashed, the potency and muscularity reverberate in every verse he sings” - Mark S. Tucker, FOLK & ACOUSTIC MUSIC EXCHANGE”…. “Christie’s tales of every day life are sure to ring a bell when you are looking for some meaty songwriting you can get into” - Chris Spector MIDWEST RECORD.”
A native of Canada, Christie’s “Montreal” appropriately follows the CD’s title track. He was influenced by one of the country's most respected singer/songwriters Gordon Lightfoot, in addition to such notable artists as Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond and John Denver and scored his own radio success in the ‘80s before making his way to Los Angeles in 1995. An Indian remembrance ceremony for Christie’s wife’s late grandmother Bettymae Swan led to the song “Echo” about the imprint someone leaves behind and tells the love story of Jesse Rudolph and Swan. Christie comments, “The ceremony stayed with me for a long time as I had never attended a memorial so moving, so bound to the earth in its allusions to the spirit and nature.” “Broken Angel” was written for Wendy Soderman who, with her husband Kris, built the highly successful Ideal School in Florida for their twin boys, one who has cerebral palsy. Wanting them to live normal lives and not finding a school that greeted them both with open arms, the song expresses Wendy’s story and the day to day life of what a caregiver has to face “while trying to find hope against all odds.” “One World” and “Random Acts of Kindness” are the songwriter’s heartfelt statements about the state of the world. “Me and My Guitar” brings the CD full circle about how “three chords and a simple melody opened up my heart and set me free.”
Phil Christie’s Summerstown CD received airplay on over 200 country and folk stations worldwide including, Japan, Spain, Australia, and France and earned such critical praise as: “Exceptional…it’s one I wished I’d produced” – Milt Okun; “Cream rises to the top and so has Christie.” – Acoustic Scene Magazine. The track “Skeleton,” written for the Jacks or Better soundtrack has also been a semi-regular feature of KLOS FM radio personality Jim Ladd’s Headsets and the song “Mother’s Day” was a 2005 Billboard World Song Contest finalist.
Prior to recording Summerstown Christie played a tribute show to the late John Denver where he met producer Milt Okun, who later referred him to the music supervisor for the CBS TV movie biopic about Denver’s life. Christie auditioned and was one of the singers selected to recreate and record the Chad Mitchell Trio tracks featured in the film.
Christie is a regular performer at the Coffee Gallery Backstage, San Diego Folk Heritage, Kerrville Folk Festival ( New Folk Finalist 2002) and South West Florida Folk Festival (Folk Finalist 2004).
Phil Christie’s CDs are available at Amazon, CDBaby and iTunes.
www.philchristie.com
www.myspace.com/philchristie
www.youtube.com/philchristievideos
Publicity – Teresa Conboy
(323) 660-7748
teresaconboypr@yahoo.com
Radio - Bill Wence Promotions
Nolensville, TN. 37135
800-584-5524
billwencepro@earthlink.net
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