Current Live Band:
Drums - Richard Hewett
Guitar/vocals - Dylan Sneed
Studio Band for upcoming 2008 release:
ROSE'S PAWN SHOP (they are in my top friends...check them out, they are amazing!)
Studio Band for "Songs From a Dead Man's Couch"
Todd Unruh - Drums (Also drummer for Cowboys and Indians)
Lyndah Garner - Bass
Eric Neal - Electric Guitar
Todd Pertll - Pedal Steel, Banjo
Studio Band for "Anatomy" album
Kristy Kruger - Vocals, ac. guitar, elec. guitar, piano, keyboards, samples, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, pedal steel
Dave Pirner - Electric Guitars (Frontman of Soul Asylum)
Tony Nozero - Drums (Drummer of Drums and Tuba)
Brad Houser - Bass (Bassist for Edie Brickell and Critter's Buggin')
Influences
Johnny Cash
Django
Really early Ella Fitzgerald
Bessie Smith
Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
Tom Waits
Lucinda Williams
Aimee Mann
Ani DiFranco
Hank Williams (Senior, that is)
Beck
Wilco
Sounds Like
Rilo Kiley
Emmylou Harris
Lucinda Williams
Tom Waits
Cowboy Junkies
Son Volt
Wilco
Kristy was named Best Female Singer in the 2006 Dallas Observer Music Awards and The Dallas Morning News describes Kristy as "one of the most eclectic singers in the Dallas music scene. Imagine a female Tom Waits, produced by Daniel Lanois." Below is Kristy's bio and keep scrolling down if you'd like to read press quotes for "Songs From a Dead Man's Couch."
Songwriter and artist Kristy Krüger has an extensive history in music that spans classical, jazz, traditional country, folk, and rock genres. Throughout the course of her career as a pianist and composer, Krüger won a multitude of state, national, and international awards for jazz and classical composition and performance. When she shifted gears into the world of the singer/songwriter, she brought a broad spectrum of influences with her, ranging from Hank Williams, Sr. to Miles Davis as she criss-crossed the country, touring alone for over six years. Her untraditional jazz-influenced approach to folk music has carried her throughout the United States, and secured her status as a favorite in her hometown of Dallas, Texas. The Dallas Morning News says she has grown into one of the most eclectic singers in the area, citing her as a "female Tom Waits." Krüger has also received two nominations for Best Acoustic Act and recently won the 2006 Dallas Observer Music Award from Dallas' leading entertainment weekly for Best Female Vocalist.
With a wealth of life experiences from her solo journeys, Krüger is also an engaging storyteller and essayist. She has contributed to Public Radio International's "This American Life" and even made a fan out of the shows host Ira Glass. In addition to these efforts, Krüger has released four full-length albums. Her latest, Songs From a Dead Man's Couch, is a meeting of her Texas Americana roots, her love of New Orleans-style jazz, her not-so-sunny disposition, and a touch of the cosmic a sound she's calling: Ameritronica.
Krüger began studying classical piano at age five. She studied jazz at the Dallas Arts Magnet, whose alumni includes Norah Jones, Edie Brickell, and Erykah Badu. There her strength became composition. By the time she was 17 the Texas Music Teachers Association presented her with an award for winning more musical awards than any other high school senior in the state of Texas, leading to scholarships at the country's best music schools.
Krüger chose the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where she majored in Music Industry. During this period, she began writing songs on piano and guitar and released her debut album, "Bachelor of Apathy" in 1998. Upon completing her degree at USC, Krüger relocated to her native Texas and began booking her own tours, performing solo across the country and released a second album, "The Noise I Make."
In 2003 Krüger relocated to New Orleans where she recorded a third album, "An Unauthorized Guide to the Human Anatomy," an elaborate anatomical concept album, with Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum and Andrew Gilchrist, long-time engineer for Ani DiFranco. Krüger produced the record playing piano, guitar, mandolin, banjo, and was able to put her classical counterpoint skills to work, composing background vocals that move like string arrangements throughout the album. Anatomy also won Best Female Singer/Songwriter Album of the Year at the Just Plain Folks International Independent Music Awards.
After six years of touring the country alone, Krüger recently released her fourth album, "Songs From a Dead Man's Couch," a title which came about from her writing songs on a second-hand couch, whose previous owner had passed away. The title suits this collection of dark and deliberate songs and her voice sounds of a lone, well-traveled woman. She gives a nod to her Texas roots, offering up a sullen, classic country influence on several numbers. There is also a definite hint of New Orleans in her writing, inspired by the traditional jazz she heard while living there. Other tracks offer a fusion of dark Americana and electronics, a sound Krüger is calling Ameritronica. Engineer Ethan Allen, who has worked with countless artists, including Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and more recently Gram Rabbit and the 88s, put the finishing touches on the record. Krüger produced the record, leaving some tracks raw and layering others with ambient electric guitars, keyboards and her latest instrumental endeavor, the pedal steel.
Hey Kristy, just letting you know I saw you were nominated for best female vocalist for the D. Observer music awards and of course I voted for you. Love what ya do!
Wanna give me a heads up the next time you sing with Rhett!? Good job lady! Haven't seen you in awhile but looks like you're coming through your old stomping grounds. Would love to see you!!
Dear Kristy Kruger, you shine on your own! Your songs carry me a little closer to home. Greetings from Last Waterhole, Dirt Farm/Austria. Stay well and take care.
I really enjoyed your performance at the Hostel in Indy! Your new CD is awesome too. Little Pollyanna, and The Peddler are my favorites. I can't wait to let my wife check it out! Let me know what you think of my CD when you get time.
Kristy you are the cats meow!!! You have to come out to the LA area so that we can do a show together. I can't believe that I just got turned on to your music. Cool beans.
