christopher rees

Christopher Rees

Christopher Rees is a singer-songwriter from Llanelli, Wales, born in 1973. He begins his career in the early 1990s after studying at Cardiff University, where he develops his guitar playing and songwriting before leaving for the United States in 1994.

Early career and return to Wales

After arriving in New York, Rees spends time travelling across the United States, including periods in Vermont, Chicago, Montana, Seattle and San Francisco. During this time he starts performing his own songs in public, first at a low-key venue in Haight-Ashbury and later in bars and coffee houses in Southern California. On returning to Wales, he becomes part of the Cardiff music scene and is spotted after his first local gig by a producer from the BBC arts programme The Slate, which leads to television appearances and radio sessions.

He performs for years as a solo acoustic act before gradually building a larger sound, adding cello, violin, double bass, slide guitar, piano and drums until his line-up becomes a seven-piece band. He also plays a UK tour supporting John Cale in 2001, becoming the first and only act in more than a decade to do so.

Recordings and releases

Rees releases the Kiss Me Kill Me EP on Cardiff label FFvinyl in 2001. His debut album, The Sweetest Ache, follows in 2004, and he records and produces much of his later work himself. In 2002 he sets up his own recording studio and, with fellow composer, pianist and band member Dave Stapleton, forms the film music production company and record label Red Eye Music.

His second album, Alone On A Mountain Top (The Ty Bach Twt Sessions), is recorded alone over six days in a 200-year-old cottage in the mountains outside Aberystwyth. It uses a stripped-down arrangement with resonator slide guitar, blues harp and country banjo. His third album, Cautionary Tales, is recorded mostly in an isolated mid-Wales mountain retreat and combines the fuller string arrangements of The Sweetest Ache with the more intimate, roots-based qualities of Alone On A Mountain Top. It includes guest vocals from Victoria Williams, Charline Rose and Becky Newman.

Style, collaborations and touring

Rees’ music moves between orchestral rock, country blues, Appalachian folk, delta blues and string-led ballads. His songs and influences include figures such as Jack Kerouac, John Cale, Neil Young, Nina Simone, Tim Buckley and Tom Waits, as well as blues and country artists including Son House, Townes Van Zandt, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. He tours widely in the UK, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States, and shares bills with artists including Willard Grant Conspiracy, William Elliott Whitmore, Freakwater, Kelly Joe Phelps, the Deadstring Brothers and Nels Andrews.

Recognition

Rees receives early critical attention for The Sweetest Ache and is nominated for Best Male Solo Artist at the Welsh Music Awards in 2001 and 2002, winning the title in 2004. His recordings also draw radio support from presenters including Janice Long and Huw Stephens.