Presents Series 2-Yr Anniversary Show: Chris Barron of Spin Doctors + Eddie Kamenitzer
Chris Barron • The zeitgeist is a moving target, and Chris Barron has always been a crack shot. The New York songwriter is no longer the debutant who set out on the circuit’s sharp end in 1988 with $100, a battered acoustic and a headful of the alt-rock anthems that would elevate Spin Doctors to global stardom. He’s a veteran performer living in a world changed beyond recognition, compelled to write the music that chronicles the here-and-now. As far back as he can remember, he’s had a hunger driving him onward, towards something just out of reach. “I love being in the Spin Doctors,” says Barron. “We’ve been playing together a very long time — thousands of stage hours, time in the studio, time in vans — and I feel like we’re now in this really cool phase of our career. I have no intention of leaving the group. This solo project is really about learning and just expressing the broadness of my musicality. Because as a composer and a lyricist, I can’t fit everything I do into the Spin Doctors.”
With the ever-questing Barron at the bow, the Spin Doctors were bound to have a fascinating evolution. A four-album hot streak in the ’90s established them as a heavyweight of the era. There’s been acclaim for 2005’s Nice Talking to Me, before 2013’s If the River Was Whiskey reconnected them with the Delta-inspired tunes from early days in New York’s blues clubs.
You suspect there’s no canvas large enough to capture the endless light bulbs pinging above the head of Chris Barron – but the thrilling Angels and One-Armed Jugglers is the closest we’ll get to a portrait of this visionary songwriter as a mature artist. “I’d be lying if I said that the response to this album doesn’t matter to me,” he considers. “I would like a lot of people to enjoy this record. It would mean a lot to me for it to be well received. Because in my heart of hearts, I really believe it’s a beautiful record. I got lucky with this one. It’s better than I could have imagined or hoped for. But whatever happens, I have the satisfaction of knowing I’ve made the best record that I’m capable of …”
Eddie Kamenitzer • North Jersey native Eddie Kamenitzer has been described as “a cornucopia of Appalachia, Americana, and Alt-Folk” and his solo debut album, Stuck At Home signified a return to the music scene after an almost 10 year hiatus. Previously, Eddie played dates up and down the east coast USA with a number of bands, trios, duos & even solo over the years. Enter the pandemic times of self-evaluation and it was time for a new start. Writing both new songs while also refining some he kept tucked under his belt though the years, Eddie enlisted friends through his area music scene giving the songs which made Stuck at Home a solid new chapter to his trajectory. It’s a collaborative album which flourishes the imagination, yet at the core, derived from songs that sound equally endearing performed as a solo singer-songwriter.
