Chriss Sutherland – Who is this guy, no really?

So I admit I am a bit late on this one….2007 release from Chriss Sutherland “Me in a ‘field’”.  I found it via a commenter on this blog (Time Fades Away Blog) and a post they had from this past January – they had posted “La Familia” from this album.  I, of course, immediately went to find and purchase a copy of the album and was not dissapointed.

Me in a ‘field’ hits the slightly off key, anglo-mexican (??) cowboy market that is very much not a market at all…what I am trying to say is this album is a bit hard to nail down…is it folk, singer-songwriter, a bit of fringe folk, Americana?  I am not really sure, but it is refreshing and under promoted!  Whether it is Chriss’s (how many “s” is there?) raw vocals or the recording of the album seemingly going from 4-track to studio.  Well that might not exactly be the case, but there is a range on this album and I just can’t stick it inside my jacket, walk up to a stranger and say “Hey, wanna buy a ______?”.

I also tried to find out a little about Chriss (other than that he is part of Cerberus Shoal) or contact him for this post, but he seems a bit elusive (only remnants of his MySpace page are floating around the Google cache, and the CS site wasn’t updated recently) and decided I needed to post today, maybe an update to come, who knows.

So people, you tell me, Alt Country folk hero?  He just might be one day.  Pick up a copy here as I am telling you it just may be a collectors item in a few years (or just a great album for those in the know).  I have included my favourite track on the album “Grumblin’” (find a live on WMPG version here) and “Desde Maine” (From Maine), hope you like ’em.

~Smansmith