Album Notes

A great songwriter soaks up his surroundings like a sponge. Montana native Chad Hinman has evidently done much collecting of the many musical styles around him and, as a result, has run the musician's gauntlet. From performing in rock, jazz and country bands to playing a variety of instruments as diverse as the saxophone and the banjo, he has almost done it all. It would seem that any musical product of the Inland Northwest region would be required to reflect the country-western and top 40 music genres that saturate the airwaves, and Chad is no exception. Hook-filled guitar rock and bluegrass-country pickin' have stuck with him to his mid-twenties even while performing in such diverse groups as the jazz/funk/rock group Driftopia, with whom he had a serious five year membership in the mid-nineties. One thing has been clear throughout all his endevors, though. Original songwriting has been the motivation. While local bands were performing covers for large audiences, Chad and his bandmates found more excitement in doing originals for the smaller, more eclectic crowds. It wasn't until he discovered such singer/songwriters as Greg Brown and Kelly Joe Phelps that he started to take the direction of solo acoustic guitar performances and develop a style all his own. He moved to Seattle in 1998 to pursue a larger audience, while listening to the newly found folk gems of musical history like Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zant, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Folk music became his main listening interest. Combining a prolific writing schedule (sometimes two or three songs a day) with the input of the rich, musical scene of Seattle's underground, Chad has created a huge catalog of tunes that always have their roots firmly planted in folk, bluegrass, and rock.