Chris Pureka
It’s rare for an artist to bridge the divide between critical acclaim and dedicated fan engagement. Chris Pureka is a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose body of work has resonated deeply with these seemingly disparate milieus. Her bold vulnerability in processing the intimacies of her life in song has long appealed to those listeners who crave authenticity. Now, five years coming, she shares with us another powerful entry in her life’s work, her sixth release, the aptly titled, Back in the Ring.
Chris’s elegant emotionality as a vocalist, and her flair and immediacy as a lyricist have garnered her favorable comparisons to Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, and Patty Griffin. She’s earned accolades from such distinguished taste-making outlets as The New York Times, Paste, Magnet, Billboard.com, and The AllMusic Guide. She’s shared the stage with such diverse and esteemed artists as Dar Williams, The Lumineers, The Cowboy Junkies, Gregory Alan Isakov, Martin Sexton, and Ani DiFranco. Along the way, Chris has remained fiercely independent, selling nearly 50,000 albums through her own label, Sad Rabbit Records.
Chris’s journey in music mirrors her path toward self-discovery. At 16, writing songs became a way of journaling. “I was shy and introverted, and songwriting was a very personal process. I never had any intention of performing,” she shares. Post high school, she went on to complete a biology degree at Wesleyan University, and afterwards, worked in a microbiology research lab at Smith College. Meanwhile, she established a music career parallel to her biology work through touring and issuing a clutch of well-received indie releases. In 2006, when Chris found herself turning down too many opportunities as a musician, she shifted her priorities to become a full-time artist.
Her latest album, Back in the Ring, is Chris’s first studio full length since 2010’s critically acclaimed How I Learned to See in the Dark. “I’m not interested in releasing songs I can’t get behind or records I don’t love,” she says of the five-year span between albums. The title of her latest playfully suggests something of an artistic comeback, but it also references the album’s themes of relationship conflict and making the decision to fight back against dark inner demons.
“My music is the outward expression of the work I’m doing internally. What I do comes from my experiences, and I strive to express these experiences authentically. Speaking my truth, and being myself, is the way that I connect with people,” Chris confides. Her rise as an esteemed artist with captivating emotional integrity has been organic and always on her own terms. For someone who never had an intention of being a professional musician, it’s been a life of far-reaching changes and unexpected rewards.
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“Back in the Ring” will be released in conjunction with a two-month U.S. Tour on April 1, 2016
Kelly McFarling
Kelly McFarling is a wanderer of wilderness and cityscapes. Since her first release Distractible Child(2010), McFarling has been traveling extensively back and forth across the country, making her mark in the age old tradition of performing live music in front of human beings. Sometimes solo, and other times with her band, the Home Team. (Tim Marcus, Andrew Laubacher, Jonathan Kirchner). She has been noticed by press outlets, and bar locals across the country (including a feature onCNN’s Music Monday). She also took home the grand prize at the 35th bi-annual Shoot-Out at legendary Eddie’s Attic, released an ambitious and business-savvy joint album, Conspire(2012), with fellow San Francisco songwriter Lia Rose, and she began performing as one-third of the old-time all-female trio Glittersnatch, with Megan Keely and Wolf Larsen. She spent the spring and summer of 2013 touring nationally with The Home Team in support of their 2013 release Ridgeline.
Atlanta, GA raised her in church choirs and baseball stadiums. She pays homage to those southern roots using a signature combination of clawhammer and traditional banjo playing. San Francisco gave her the inspiration to begin writing her own music and solidifying her original sound. With her band (Jonathan Kirchner, bass; Andrew Laubacher, drums & Tim Marcus, pedal steel and guitars), McFarling explores territory outside the clear influences of folk, old time, bluegrass and country. The result is a folk rooted, country influenced blend that is equally at home at firesides or festivals. Her songwriting reeks of transitions, and the ups and downs of choosing a life of shifting foundations in a place that is consciously existing in anticipation of the next big shake. McFarling's music, like herself, occupies a place between places.
show less
It’s rare for an artist to bridge the divide between critical acclaim and dedicated fan engagement. Chris Pureka is a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose body of work has resonated deeply with these seemingly disparate milieus. Her bold vulnerability in processing the intimacies of her life in song has long appealed to those listeners who crave authenticity. Now, five years coming, she shares with us another powerful entry in her life’s work, her sixth release, the aptly titled, Back in the Ring.
Chris’s elegant emotionality as a vocalist, and her flair and immediacy as a lyricist have garnered her favorable comparisons to Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, and Patty Griffin. She’s earned accolades from such distinguished taste-making outlets as The New York Times, Paste, Magnet, Billboard.com, and The AllMusic Guide. She’s shared the stage with such diverse and esteemed artists as Dar Williams, The Lumineers, The Cowboy Junkies, Gregory Alan Isakov, Martin Sexton, and Ani DiFranco. Along the way, Chris has remained fiercely independent, selling nearly 50,000 albums through her own label, Sad Rabbit Records.
Chris’s journey in music mirrors her path toward self-discovery. At 16, writing songs became a way of journaling. “I was shy and introverted, and songwriting was a very personal process. I never had any intention of performing,” she shares. Post high school, she went on to complete a biology degree at Wesleyan University, and afterwards, worked in a microbiology research lab at Smith College. Meanwhile, she established a music career parallel to her biology work through touring and issuing a clutch of well-received indie releases. In 2006, when Chris found herself turning down too many opportunities as a musician, she shifted her priorities to become a full-time artist.
Her latest album, Back in the Ring, is Chris’s first studio full length since 2010’s critically acclaimed How I Learned to See in the Dark. “I’m not interested in releasing songs I can’t get behind or records I don’t love,” she says of the five-year span between albums. The title of her latest playfully suggests something of an artistic comeback, but it also references the album’s themes of relationship conflict and making the decision to fight back against dark inner demons.
“My music is the outward expression of the work I’m doing internally. What I do comes from my experiences, and I strive to express these experiences authentically. Speaking my truth, and being myself, is the way that I connect with people,” Chris confides. Her rise as an esteemed artist with captivating emotional integrity has been organic and always on her own terms. For someone who never had an intention of being a professional musician, it’s been a life of far-reaching changes and unexpected rewards.
###
“Back in the Ring” will be released in conjunction with a two-month U.S. Tour on April 1, 2016
Kelly McFarling
Kelly McFarling is a wanderer of wilderness and cityscapes. Since her first release Distractible Child(2010), McFarling has been traveling extensively back and forth across the country, making her mark in the age old tradition of performing live music in front of human beings. Sometimes solo, and other times with her band, the Home Team. (Tim Marcus, Andrew Laubacher, Jonathan Kirchner). She has been noticed by press outlets, and bar locals across the country (including a feature onCNN’s Music Monday). She also took home the grand prize at the 35th bi-annual Shoot-Out at legendary Eddie’s Attic, released an ambitious and business-savvy joint album, Conspire(2012), with fellow San Francisco songwriter Lia Rose, and she began performing as one-third of the old-time all-female trio Glittersnatch, with Megan Keely and Wolf Larsen. She spent the spring and summer of 2013 touring nationally with The Home Team in support of their 2013 release Ridgeline.
Atlanta, GA raised her in church choirs and baseball stadiums. She pays homage to those southern roots using a signature combination of clawhammer and traditional banjo playing. San Francisco gave her the inspiration to begin writing her own music and solidifying her original sound. With her band (Jonathan Kirchner, bass; Andrew Laubacher, drums & Tim Marcus, pedal steel and guitars), McFarling explores territory outside the clear influences of folk, old time, bluegrass and country. The result is a folk rooted, country influenced blend that is equally at home at firesides or festivals. Her songwriting reeks of transitions, and the ups and downs of choosing a life of shifting foundations in a place that is consciously existing in anticipation of the next big shake. McFarling's music, like herself, occupies a place between places.
Chris Pureka
It’s rare for an artist to bridge the divide between critical acclaim and dedicated fan engagement. Chris Pureka is a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose body of work has resonated deeply with these seemingly disparate milieus. Her bold vulnerability in processing the intimacies of her life in song has long appealed to those listeners who crave authenticity. Now, five years coming, she shares with us another powerful entry in her life’s work, her sixth release, the aptly titled, Back in the Ring.
Chris’s elegant emotionality as a vocalist, and her flair and immediacy as a lyricist have garnered her favorable comparisons to Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, and Patty Griffin. She’s earned accolades from such distinguished taste-making outlets as The New York Times, Paste, Magnet, Billboard.com, and The AllMusic Guide. She’s shared the stage with such diverse and esteemed artists as Dar Williams, The Lumineers, The Cowboy Junkies, Gregory Alan Isakov, Martin Sexton, and Ani DiFranco. Along the way, Chris has remained fiercely independent, selling nearly 50,000 albums through her own label, Sad Rabbit Records.
Chris’s journey in music mirrors her path toward self-discovery. At 16, writing songs became a way of journaling. “I was shy and introverted, and songwriting was a very personal process. I never had any intention of performing,” she shares. Post high school, she went on to complete a biology degree at Wesleyan University, and afterwards, worked in a microbiology research lab at Smith College. Meanwhile, she established a music career parallel to her biology work through touring and issuing a clutch of well-received indie releases. In 2006, when Chris found herself turning down too many opportunities as a musician, she shifted her priorities to become a full-time artist.
Her latest album, Back in the Ring, is Chris’s first studio full length since 2010’s critically acclaimed How I Learned to See in the Dark. “I’m not interested in releasing songs I can’t get behind or records I don’t love,” she says of the five-year span between albums. The title of her latest playfully suggests something of an artistic comeback, but it also references the album’s themes of relationship conflict and making the decision to fight back against dark inner demons.
“My music is the outward expression of the work I’m doing internally. What I do comes from my experiences, and I strive to express these experiences authentically. Speaking my truth, and being myself, is the way that I connect with people,” Chris confides. Her rise as an esteemed artist with captivating emotional integrity has been organic and always on her own terms. For someone who never had an intention of being a professional musician, it’s been a life of far-reaching changes and unexpected rewards.
###
“Back in the Ring” will be released in conjunction with a two-month U.S. Tour on April 1, 2016
Kelly McFarling
Kelly McFarling is a wanderer of wilderness and cityscapes. Since her first release Distractible Child(2010), McFarling has been traveling extensively back and forth across the country, making her mark in the age old tradition of performing live music in front of human beings. Sometimes solo, and other times with her band, the Home Team. (Tim Marcus, Andrew Laubacher, Jonathan Kirchner). She has been noticed by press outlets, and bar locals across the country (including a feature onCNN’s Music Monday). She also took home the grand prize at the 35th bi-annual Shoot-Out at legendary Eddie’s Attic, released an ambitious and business-savvy joint album, Conspire(2012), with fellow San Francisco songwriter Lia Rose, and she began performing as one-third of the old-time all-female trio Glittersnatch, with Megan Keely and Wolf Larsen. She spent the spring and summer of 2013 touring nationally with The Home Team in support of their 2013 release Ridgeline.
Atlanta, GA raised her in church choirs and baseball stadiums. She pays homage to those southern roots using a signature combination of clawhammer and traditional banjo playing. San Francisco gave her the inspiration to begin writing her own music and solidifying her original sound. With her band (Jonathan Kirchner, bass; Andrew Laubacher, drums & Tim Marcus, pedal steel and guitars), McFarling explores territory outside the clear influences of folk, old time, bluegrass and country. The result is a folk rooted, country influenced blend that is equally at home at firesides or festivals. Her songwriting reeks of transitions, and the ups and downs of choosing a life of shifting foundations in a place that is consciously existing in anticipation of the next big shake. McFarling's music, like herself, occupies a place between places.
read more
It’s rare for an artist to bridge the divide between critical acclaim and dedicated fan engagement. Chris Pureka is a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose body of work has resonated deeply with these seemingly disparate milieus. Her bold vulnerability in processing the intimacies of her life in song has long appealed to those listeners who crave authenticity. Now, five years coming, she shares with us another powerful entry in her life’s work, her sixth release, the aptly titled, Back in the Ring.
Chris’s elegant emotionality as a vocalist, and her flair and immediacy as a lyricist have garnered her favorable comparisons to Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, and Patty Griffin. She’s earned accolades from such distinguished taste-making outlets as The New York Times, Paste, Magnet, Billboard.com, and The AllMusic Guide. She’s shared the stage with such diverse and esteemed artists as Dar Williams, The Lumineers, The Cowboy Junkies, Gregory Alan Isakov, Martin Sexton, and Ani DiFranco. Along the way, Chris has remained fiercely independent, selling nearly 50,000 albums through her own label, Sad Rabbit Records.
Chris’s journey in music mirrors her path toward self-discovery. At 16, writing songs became a way of journaling. “I was shy and introverted, and songwriting was a very personal process. I never had any intention of performing,” she shares. Post high school, she went on to complete a biology degree at Wesleyan University, and afterwards, worked in a microbiology research lab at Smith College. Meanwhile, she established a music career parallel to her biology work through touring and issuing a clutch of well-received indie releases. In 2006, when Chris found herself turning down too many opportunities as a musician, she shifted her priorities to become a full-time artist.
Her latest album, Back in the Ring, is Chris’s first studio full length since 2010’s critically acclaimed How I Learned to See in the Dark. “I’m not interested in releasing songs I can’t get behind or records I don’t love,” she says of the five-year span between albums. The title of her latest playfully suggests something of an artistic comeback, but it also references the album’s themes of relationship conflict and making the decision to fight back against dark inner demons.
“My music is the outward expression of the work I’m doing internally. What I do comes from my experiences, and I strive to express these experiences authentically. Speaking my truth, and being myself, is the way that I connect with people,” Chris confides. Her rise as an esteemed artist with captivating emotional integrity has been organic and always on her own terms. For someone who never had an intention of being a professional musician, it’s been a life of far-reaching changes and unexpected rewards.
###
“Back in the Ring” will be released in conjunction with a two-month U.S. Tour on April 1, 2016
Kelly McFarling
Kelly McFarling is a wanderer of wilderness and cityscapes. Since her first release Distractible Child(2010), McFarling has been traveling extensively back and forth across the country, making her mark in the age old tradition of performing live music in front of human beings. Sometimes solo, and other times with her band, the Home Team. (Tim Marcus, Andrew Laubacher, Jonathan Kirchner). She has been noticed by press outlets, and bar locals across the country (including a feature onCNN’s Music Monday). She also took home the grand prize at the 35th bi-annual Shoot-Out at legendary Eddie’s Attic, released an ambitious and business-savvy joint album, Conspire(2012), with fellow San Francisco songwriter Lia Rose, and she began performing as one-third of the old-time all-female trio Glittersnatch, with Megan Keely and Wolf Larsen. She spent the spring and summer of 2013 touring nationally with The Home Team in support of their 2013 release Ridgeline.
Atlanta, GA raised her in church choirs and baseball stadiums. She pays homage to those southern roots using a signature combination of clawhammer and traditional banjo playing. San Francisco gave her the inspiration to begin writing her own music and solidifying her original sound. With her band (Jonathan Kirchner, bass; Andrew Laubacher, drums & Tim Marcus, pedal steel and guitars), McFarling explores territory outside the clear influences of folk, old time, bluegrass and country. The result is a folk rooted, country influenced blend that is equally at home at firesides or festivals. Her songwriting reeks of transitions, and the ups and downs of choosing a life of shifting foundations in a place that is consciously existing in anticipation of the next big shake. McFarling's music, like herself, occupies a place between places.
show less
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