About Your Host
This is what happens when a music fan and archivist is compelled to be a musician... songwriting then becomes an exercise in stepping into the shoes of someone else-- maybe Buddy Holly or John Lennon or Lyle Lovett-- and making an educated guess as to how they would put pen to paper....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 such edgy influences as 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.
Get the Christopher Russell CD, Leaving Pretoria, available online from cdbaby.com.