Chris Ross "Mostly Sober" on Stay Tuned
"Mostly Sober" from the album "Halfway to Wonderland"
Chris Ross has already spent most of a decade playing in bands — for nearly five years with roots rockers Stiff Whisker and the Driftwood Kids and, since early 2011, as a fixture of the eastern Maine live music scene. It sometimes seems as though nearly every weekend of the year you can find him playing somewhere in Maine. The man is nothing if not hardworking.
For his first two solo albums, “The Steady Stumble” (2011) and “Halfway to Wonderland,” (2012) he hightailed it to Nashville, Tenn., to work with the best studio musicians in the world and crank out a full-length album in a week before heading back to Ellsworth. For his new album “Young Once,” he stayed home, recording with Maine producer-to-the-stars Jonathan Wyman at The Halo in Windham, and working out the 11 tracks that comprise the album with his new band, The North, including multi-instrumentalist Zachary Bence, bassist Caleb Sweet and drummer Ryan Curless (grandson of legendary Dick Curless).
Maybe it’s that comfort of being at home in Maine, maybe it’s the three-year break in between albums and the luxury of time, maybe it’s the hundreds of gigs played, maybe it’s the input of Bence, Sweet and Curless and the magic ears of Wyman — whatever it is, “Young Once” is by far the best thing Ross has ever written and recorded. The confidence, the musicality and the maturity on display leaps ahead of his previous work; thematically similar, but with experience and plenty of that hard work under his belt. ~ Bangor Daily News
For more info on Chris please visit: http://chrisrossandthenorth.com