Chris Harford is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and painter.

Career

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'' described him as "...A singer, guitarist, and songwriter who rose through the local club scene in the nineteen-eighties, Harford operates in the free zone outside rock's usual categories. He has a foot in country, a hand in seventies rock, a toe in folk, a finger in post-punk. With his gruff but plaintive voice and his fondness for muddied-up guitars, he sometimes recalls Neil Young...". And according to

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from othe ...

, his music "has been described as 'beautiful, heart-rending and soulful,' as well as 'dark, rocking and dangerous'". Harford's backing band, The Band of Changes, is a revolving door concept which has included notable musicians such as

Kevin Salem Kevin Salem is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He began his career as a member of Dumptruck, and subsequently played with multiple artists on tour, including Yo La Tengo and Freedy Johnston, before beginning his solo ...

, Jane Scarpantoni, members of

Ween Ween is an American rock band from New Hope, Pennsylvania, formed in 1984 by Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their respective stage names, Gene and Dean Ween. Generally categorized as an alternative rock band, the band a ...

including Dave Dreiwitz and

Dean Ween Michael Melchiondo Jr. (born September 25, 1970), better known by his stage name Dean Ween, is an American guitarist, singer and a founding member of the alternative rock group Ween. He is currently active in the groups Ween, Moistboyz and The ...

, Scott Metzger, Robert Seahag Mangano, Joe Russo, Eric Slick, Richard Thompson, and Michael Hampton. Harford was born and grew up in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, where he attended

Princeton High School Princeton High School may refer to: *Princeton High School (Illinois), Princeton, Illinois *Princeton Community High School, Princeton, Indiana *Princeton High School (Minnesota), Princeton, Minnesota *Princeton Junior-Senior High School, Princeton ...

. He then attended

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college ...

before transferring to

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art schoo ...

. In the early 1980s Harford was a member of the Boston-based band Three Colors that included

Hub Moore A hub is the central part of a wheel that connects the axle to the wheel itself. Hub, The Hub, or hubs may refer to: Geography Pakistan * Hub Tehsil, Balochistan, an administrative division ** Hub, Balochistan, capital city of the tehsil * Hub ...

, whose major label debut on Slash/London Records Harford produced in 1996; and saxophonist

Dana Colley Dana Colley (born October 17, 1961) is an American musician, best known as the baritone and tenor saxophonist in the alternative rock band Morphine. Early life Colley was born in Portland, Maine, but he was raised in Hanson, Massachusetts, ...

, who went on to be a member of the band

Morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...

.3 Colors
/ref> In 1992, as Chris Harford and the First Rays of the New Rising Sun, he released ''Be Headed'' on

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between th ...

. Subsequently, he released several albums independently:" ''Comet''; ''Band of Changes''; ''Wake''; ''Live at CBGB's''; ''Sing, Breathe, & Be Merry''; and ''Time Warp Deck''. His sixth studio album, ''Looking Out For Number 6'' (2006), was produced by Dean Ween (who also contributed drums and lead guitar) and released by

Schnitzel Records Ltd. A schnitzel is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, chicken, mu ...

Harford's paintings were first shown at New York City's famed rock club,

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

's. He has since had over 20 exhibits at galleries including Salt

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and

Gerald Peters Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Irish ...

New York City. Harford has coached college and high school lacrosse at

Princeton, NJ;

Hendrix College Hendrix College is a private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas. Approximately 1,000 students are enrolled, mostly undergraduates. While affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the college offers a secular curriculum and has a studen ...

Conway, AR; and Ransom Everglades Miami, FL.

Discography

Solo

With Band of Changes

Work for other artists

References

External links

Official Chris Harford site

Trouser Press reviews of some Chris Harford albums

Hub Moore

Hendrix Lacrosse

Michel Schlumberger Wines {{DEFAULTSORT:Harford, Chris Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Princeton, New Jersey Musicians from New Jersey Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumni Connecticut College alumni Princeton High School (New Jersey) alumni