Album Notes

Church of Betty is the brain child of composer/singer/sitarist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Rael. The group formed in the East Village of New York City in the late eighties, morphing over time from an experimental recording project into one of NYC’s most enduring live club bands. Rael’s acrobatic vocal style was influenced by years of classical music study in Varanasi, India. The group’s revolving personnel included some of Downtown’s finest progressive musicians, eventually settling into the lineup of Jon Feinberg on drums, Joe Quigley on bass, Marlon Cherry on guitar, Rima Fand on violin, Deep Singh on tabla, and Rael on sitar, guitar & lead vocals. Church of Betty was part of the first wave of progressive acts through the original Knitting Factory, and later became a regular favorite at Greenwich Village's legendary Bottom Line. The group has recorded seven albums; this is a digital greatest hits collection from 1994 to 2003. Church of Betty has performed at Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, the Contemporary Indian Music Festival in Vienna, the National Mall in Washington DC, the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and has toured in Europe, Canada, and the States. The New York Times described Church of Betty’s music as "sliding, scalloped phrases shaping Hindustani music to the concision of pop hooks... irresistible." All Music Guide wrote that Church of Betty "conjures and cleanses, swoons and seduces. If otherwordly rock exists, surely this is as lofty as it gets… Thrilling work, overflowing with vision."