Kristie Stremel grew up in Hays, Kansas, a small town in Kansas' western flatlands. As a child, she played and sang along with her guitar-playing father, whose favorite artists were Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. At 12, she got her first electric guitar and began playing songs off of the radio and from her family's record collections. One of five children, she was always performing for her family. At 15, she saw Joan Jett at the Ellis County fair and was inspired to form her first garage band, performing hit songs at the skating rink and school dances. The summer before her senior year of high school, she moved to Kansas City and experienced an isolation that was no doubt helpful in refining her songwriting abilities. At 19, she started performing acoustic songs at the Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri and at the Big Bang Buffet in Kansas City. By this time, her performance was comprised of half cover songs and half originals. She was constantly writing, as she does today, keeping the guitar by her bed in case she dreamed a song during the night.
At 21, she joined Missouri band Frogpond, playing rhythm guitar and singing backing vocals. In 1996, the band went on to record their album, "Count to Ten", produced by Everclear's Art Alexakis. With a few minor alternative radio hits, Frogpond toured all over the country, and Stremel came to be known for her charismatic enthusiasm and interaction with the crowd (characterized by her willingness to climb club rafters when a set reached climactic heights). In the spring of 1997, she left Frogpond and formed her own three-piece band, Exit 159, releasing a remarkable 7-song EP, "Lost On Earth". This offering yielded one regional radio hit. With an outlet for her prolific songwriting, Stremel worked fast. In early 1998, Exit released a 12-song LP, "A Song For Every Mood", an album with radio-ready songs, two of which received a great deal of play on area alternative stations. The band won the Kansas City/Lawrence area regional music award, the Klammie, two years in a row, first for "Best New Band" and, the second year, for "Band of the Year." Exit 159 continuously built on a strong following, packing the toughest Kansas City houses and touring the West Coast twice. In the fall of '99, the now-4-piece band, featuring three songwriters with individual ambitions folded, and Kristie went straight back into the studio to record as a solo artist.
Kristie Stremel's solo material was a logical step forward from the work that she did with Exit 159, emphasizing the growing sophistication of her songwriting and delving more deeply into her personal struggles. Her first demo is a 6-song acoustic set, "The Detour Ep". In 2001, Kristie signed on with Slewfoot Records. For the next three years she would tour with her band, tour solo acoustic, and put out two full length records. A 2001 release, "All I Really Want", and a 2003 release, "Here Comes The Light". During this time, Stremel won "Best Female Vocalist" in Kansas City awarded by The Pitch Weekly.
Stremel plans to hit the road with her newest offering and play shows nationwide. The control exhibited in this new music is a sign of the maturity of an exceptionally-talented artist, and it offers listeners a glimpse of the versatility and subtlety of Stremel's voice, which draws on both her country roots and her rock background to offer an unusually soulful and personal sound.
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