I’m going to play Music for You. ​
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It's a funky orchestral folkamericana and it will break your heart.
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I imagine songs out of thin air, love my acoustic guitar and remember all scars.
Sometimes they are solo performance pieces;
sometimes expanded with Two Secrets.
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The band is fire, that's the obvious secret. Midnight Leo has been drumming with me for twenty years. Paul Prato added the upright bass in 2018, and Starchild came in with cello in late 2023.
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I connect with the simple heart of the three-chord song. But what really gets me going are progressive song arrangements, and that's where things get wild. We do genre fusion, vulnerable dynamics, inventive chords, and whimsical song sections. Just see a show, the social videos don't do fair justice.
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How did this all begin? The wide world of Music tricked me into wonderful unique experiences, all by taking risks and then showing up. Through a house concert series I’ve shared a salmon dinner with and then opened for John Craigie, Martyn Joseph, Alison Russell, Mandy Fer, the Talbott Brothers. I've gotten to sit one-on-one backstage with Victor Wooten. Peter Yarrow came up to me at a gig in 2017 in WA and kissed me on the cheek. I shared a chinese dinner with Floater in a remote desert town, requested a song for their upcoming show, and got my request granted during the ensuing concert with a tip of the whiskey glass by guitarist Dave. Props forever to Karma. I played the main stage at the Tucson Folk Festival in 2022 and was forced by the crowd to do four encore songs. One time I recorded an entire album in Derek Vanderhorst's house. One time Jim Avett came over to a couch I was sitting on, plopped down and chatted. Roland Roberts told me a story about his water diviner. I played Wildflower Festival just outside Dallas TX at the same time as Chris Barron and we didn't get a chance to meet. There's more, and there always will be.
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Award-winning songwriter Dan Weber was plied with rye whiskey to write:
"...Chris' live show exudes the wonderment and enthusiasm of an artist drawing an authentic connection with his audience...feeding off that raw live energy...
he rocks out and storytells the way Wilco and The Avett Brothers have so
successfully done..."
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The soundman at Tumbleweed Music Festival (WA) in 2019 was clearly overheard saying
"...I've been doing this for 17 years, and that was the best live set I've seen."
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I started producing original albums and EPs in 1998 at age 17. As of 2026 I have twenty-nine of them. Five of those I consider ‘solo albums’:
Searchlights In Mexico (2008) ;
Light Up The Sky (2014) ;
Relics '16-17 (2018) ;
Habits (2019) ;
Anonymous #10 (2024)
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James Book, bass player and business manager of 90s sensation The Flies (and a founding member of Ninkasi Brewing) co-produced my 2019 album *Habits* with me.
I got into the 2022 Tucson Folk Festival on the strength of my song “Give” and ended up winning first place in their performance competition, against several full bands.
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In March 2024, I was interviewed by Tom Pollard for the podcast Music Of America. It's about an hour, and I'm honest.
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My great friend Jake Riggs once yelled into the west wind
"...It's not hard to tell that Baron was born to perform. From the solemn to the goofy, sentimental to grateful, his mannerisms and charisma effortlessly transition between the songs and the mood of the room. 'How can Chris be in all moods at all times?' you have asked many times. It took thousands of hours of stage time, thousands of gallons of beer and more heartbreak than the average human can endure. Go see ChrisBaron live. He'll be the long-haired, tall approachable guy holding the guitar...and chances are he'll be smiling..."
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As 2026 rolls into an improbable existence I am particularly fascinated by Andy Frasco, Steve Poltz, the Punch Brothers, Henry Ate, Tk & the Holy Know-Nothings, John Craigie, Pete Ronstadt, and Derek Vanderhorst. To name a few.
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Need more?
My Mom drew that rabbit, free stickers at every show.
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Love History? Ok.
Two tribute bands were founded over the years. @IdiotScience performed SCIENCE by Incubus (Sony 1998) from start to finish across 2009-2012. Then we wrote songs for our own original underground self-produced EP. We gave all 200 away, and broke up. I started as singer/guitar, then moved to just singer (and djembe shredder).
@TheAvettOthers performed a wide variety of Avett Brothers covers across 2017-2020. We eventually arranged original material together and started recording but never finished and went our separate ways forever.
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Hans Vollman, via George Saunders:
"...His mind was freshly inclined toward sorrow; toward the fact that the world was full of sorrow; that everyone labored under some burden of sorrow; that all were suffering; that whatever way one took in this world, one must try to remember that all were suffering (none content; all wronged, neglected, overlooked, misunderstood), and therefore one must do what one could to lighten the load of those with whom one came into contact; that his current state of sorrow was not uniquely his, not at all, but, rather, its like had been felt, would yet be felt, by scores of others, in all times, in every time, and must not be prolonged or exaggerated, because, in this state, he could be of no help to anyone and, given that his position in the world situated him to be either of great help or great harm, it would not do to stay low, if he could help it..."
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