Singer-songwriter-guitarist CHRIS ROBERTS straddles the worlds of Americana, raw country and Southern rock…or as he puts it “rock ‘n’ roll/hippie/country magic.” Following the release of his debut EP Red Feather earlier this year, CHRIS is getting ready to drop a new collection of songs on September 24, the Lost and Found EP, and he’s kicking it off with the release of his take on the Sammy Johns classic “Chevy Van,” out August 27.
“I always thought it was a cool song and had a country twang when Sammy Kershaw covered it,” CHRIS shares. “I always dug the hippie vibe and the story. I thought it fit perfectly for my style of hippie country and ‘that’s all right with me.’”
“Chevy Van” is the first of six new songs to come on Lost and Found, and the first new music since the Red Feather EP (February 2021) which earned critical praise from Relix, American Songwriter, Americana Highways, and Elmore, among others.
“I’m happy to be able to share more songs with the world,” CHRIS says of the Lost and Found EP. “These are from the same Joshua Tree sessions that the Red Feather EP came from, and they’ve been a long time coming. In fact, we’ve been in the studio again since then and have an entire full record in the bag already to go.”
Like all other touring musicians CHRIS and his band--Eli Wulfmeier (guitar), Adam Arcos (bass), Jake Abernathie (keys) and Jason Ganberg (drums)--had been forced to cancel shows due to the pandemic. So, they decided to make the best of an unpredictable time, pointed their bus toward Joshua Tree in the California desert, found a recording studio that had accommodations as well as state-of-the-art gear and spent three weeks in quarantine/isolation, writing and recording.
The songs are solidly written and executed, laced with innovative but irresistible hooks and finessed with world-class craftsmanship. Fans first got a glimpse of this with the release of the previous singles and music videos, “Get Down,” “Hate When You’re Gone” and CHRIS’s debut single “Remember That It’s Me”, which charted in radio markets throughout Texas.
It wasn’t always clear that music was in the cards for the Austin native now based in Aspen, CO. “I never tried to become a musician,” he explains. “I never thought I would play music. I never desired to play music. It’s just that music kept falling into me and out of me until I had no choice.”
From working on ranches and construction sites in Texas, laying carpet, and even washing cars, to eventually launching Aspen Hatter, a highly successful hatmaking business with celebrity fans, CHRIS has always been an independent and impulsive self-starter. Every bit of music he’s heard, every moment of sadness and joy he’s experience, informs who he is and what he does.
Track listing for Lost and Found:
1. Mr. Reaper
2. Lost And Found
3. Chevy Van
4. Creature
5. Things Are Changing
6. Loving Arms
