Chris Castle (born January 29, 1976) is an American
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
/
Americana
Americana may refer to:
*Americana (music), a genre or style of American music
*Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States
Film, radio and television
* ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...
singer-songwriter, community activist and politician.
Early life
Castle was born in
Sandusky, Ohio
Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( wes ...
, and his family moved to
New London
New London may refer to:
Places United States
*New London, Alabama
*New London, Connecticut
*New London, Indiana
*New London, Iowa
* New London, Maryland
*New London, Minnesota
*New London, Missouri
*New London, New Hampshire, a New England town
* ...
around the time he was four. His parents had migrated to Ohio from eastern
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
in the late sixties, and Castle was exposed to
Appalachia
Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...
n Music from a very early age. His father (a
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
veteran) committed suicide when Castle was nine years old; a theme that would later inspire Castle's first official single and video, ''Both Ends of A Gun''.
Early career
Castle spent his teen years as a staff-writer in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
, working under such notable writers as
Casey Kelly
Casey Patrick Kelly (born October 4, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the LG Twins of the KBO League. He was a first-round draft choice, 30th overall, in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft by the Boston Red Sox. Kelly was ...
,
Wood Newton
Wood Newton (born September 16, 1946 in Hampton, Arkansas, United States) is an American songwriter and musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. Newton was born in Hampton, Arkansas, and graduated from Hampton High School in Hampton, Arkansas ...
, and
Earl Bud Lee. At twenty-one, he would leave
Music Row
Music Row is a historic district located southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Widely considered the heart of Nashville's entertainment industry, Music Row has also become a metonymous nickname for the music industry as a w ...
to again perform in bars and coffeehouses in northern Ohio.
Castle enrolled in
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...
as a
Political Science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
major, where he met
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
winner
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...
in 2006. The veteran playwright convinced him to return to songwriting and Chris began crafting the songs that would become Hollow Bones in Monotone. "He's the one who talked me into dropping out of college, so I can blame it on (him). He was telling me about holding up a mirror to our society and holding it up to yourself. He had great stuff to say about real art."
As a recording artist
Castle's 2007 release, ''Hollow Bones in Monotone'', established Castle as an accepted player in the modern
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
scene. That same year, Castle was named featured artist at Folk Alley, in addition to being a finalist in the Granite State Songwriting Contest, in
Newmarket, New Hampshire
Newmarket is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 9,430 at the 2020 census. Some residents are students and employees at the nearby University of New Hampshire in Durham.
The densely settled center of town ...
.
In January 2012, Castle released ''
Last Bird Home'' through his own record label,
Dirtsandwich Music Company. Dirtsandwich also served as Castle's publishing arm, and was a BMI-affiliated limited-liability corporation. The album was recorded and in 2011 at
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...
Studios in
Woodstock, New York
Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 2000 ...
. Contributing to the performances were
The Band's
Garth Hudson
Eric "Garth" Hudson (born August 2, 1937) is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for rock group the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He was a ...
, Maud Hudson,
Tommy Ramone
Thomas Erdelyi (born Tamás Erdélyi; January 29, 1949 – July 11, 2014), known professionally as Tommy Ramone, was a Hungarian American record producer and musician. He was the drummer for the influential punk rock band the Ramones for ...
of
the Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...
, Gabriel Butterfield (son of Blues musician
Paul Butterfield
Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...
) and
The Womack Family Band
The Womack Family Band is an Americana music quartet from Norwalk, Ohio. The group consists of Haley Heyman (guitar, mandolin, keyboards, vocals), Noah Heyman (guitar, mandolin, bass guitar, banjo, vocals), Tony Schaffer (piano, guitar, bass guit ...
, among others. ''Last Bird Home'' marked the first chart success of Chris Castle's long career.
Castle returned to performing in October 2019, releasing his first collection of new songs in nearly a decade. "Still Portrait Of A Spinning Wheel" was released on October 4 at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom and Tavern.
''
The New London Day
''The Day'' newspaper, formerly known as ''The New London Day'', is a local newspaper based in New London, Connecticut, published by The Day Publishing Company. The newspaper has won Newspaper of the Year and the Best Daily Newspaper Award from t ...
''s Rick Koster calls Castle "a tunesmith of almost scary vision, narrative acumen and hooky instinct".
Community leadership
Castle began focusing his energies on the city of Norwalk as a whole, through his Imagine Norwalk campaign. Imagine Norwalk hosted several community-wide events throughout the summer of 2014 and 2015, which bolstered the local economy and garnered an exciting degree of citizen participation. The program was adopted by the Norwalk Economic Development Corporation in April 2015, and was presented the Ohio Art Education Association's "Distinguished Business/Organization for Art Education" award for north central Ohio the following October.
Castle was honored in October 2014 by Norwalk City Council and both the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate. The Norwalk Economic Development Corporation (NEDC) recognized Castle and Imagine Norwalk with their 2014 "Innovation Award".
In April 2015, Castle was named Assistant Director for the Norwalk Economic Development Corporation (NEDC) where he focused on the Norwalk area's business attraction, retention and expansion efforts. That same year, he was elected to Norwalk City Council, garnering 58% of ward four votes, beginning a four-year term in January 2016.
In March 2017, Castle co-sponsored legislation with at-large Councilman Kelly Beck, which would have legalized medical marijuana cultivation within the city of Norwalk. The ordinance passed in a 4–3 vote but was quickly vetoed by Norwalk Mayor Rob Duncan.
In June 2017, Castle began producing and co-hosting a Norwalk-centric video podcast called ''The Maple City Minute'' with fellow Norwalk City Council member Samantha Ludwig Wilhelm. He resigned from his position at the Norwalk Economic Development Corporation in September 2017, to re-focus his energies on the podcast and on the wider-reaching goal of overall community development.
Discography
References
External links
Chris Castle's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castle, Chris
Living people
1976 births
Americana musicians
People from Sandusky, Ohio
Singer-songwriters from Ohio
Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee
Bowling Green State University alumni
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee
People from New London, Ohio
21st-century American singers