Album Notes

Weaned on tidewater Maryland AM radio, Christopher Russell parlayed a passion for Beatles, Byrds, Monkees, and Motown into a songwriting avocation.

His essential guitar and vocal skills were honed on underground subway platforms in Montreal, Canada. Christopher then took to dozens of small stages on the Washington D.C. acoustic music circuit in the late 1980s. In this milieu, Christopher embraced song writing in earnest, drawing from the pop aesthetics of Elvis Costello, John Hiatt, Richard Thompson, and Marshall Crenshaw. Local D.C. luminaries such as Steve Erwin and Kevin Johnson also left tire marks on Christopher's notebook.

His work eventually culminated in a 1998 compact disc, Leaving Pretoria. One of his crowd-pleasers, Hip Hugging Dress, was covered by the DC-area band Blame it on Jane on their debut disc, Love and Tonic. Christopher Russell mixes performances with professional travel. He insists that his presentation skills are the product of "stage knees" developed through his musical pursuits.

A bunch of D.C.-area musicians contributed to this collection:

Hassan Ali: drums
Jerry Bresee: acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Mary Byrd Brown: backing vocals
Matt Holsen: backing vocals, producer
John Previti: stand-up bass
Rob Receveur: electric guitar, bass, backing vocals
Lisa Taylor: drums
Sue Ledesma Westlake: drums
Mike Woods: dobro
Christopher Russell: guitars, bass, harmonica, keyboard, percussion, vocals