Dear Friends,
I hope you are enjoying our new site. Greg and I put a lot of time and love into it, and I'm very pleased. The images come from my 1980's tour book. We will be adding content along the way like more video clips from my archive files. I have been digitizing all kinds of footage from VHS, Hi8 and DV and editing them for the site. I hope you will find them entertaining.
I thought I would catch you up on what I've been up to. I have been playing shows. The first part of 2006 was pretty slow in comparison to years past but it's picking up. In addition to what is on the schedule. Greg will be posting a tour in Europe in September with my old pals America. It's a co-billed tour of about 15-18 shows. The plan at the moment is for us to playing England, Ireland, Germany, Norway and Italy.
I've also been back in the studio working on a few new projects. I am recording a Christmas album for release Christmas 2006. The songs are my favorite non-religious Christmas standards, as well as a couple of new Christmas songs from Rob and I. I am also recording a new version of "Best Christmas" written by my good friend Steve Dorff, whom I wrote "Swept Away" with. This is a project I have threatened to do for many years and I'm very pleased with the tracks I have done so far. Some of you who have suggested I do a more acoustic guitar type record will be pleased to know that this is the approach for this CD. It's solo acoustic and for the most part solo voice (very few BG's) as well as acoustic piano and upright bass. I may add some strings, but I am not sure at this point. One interesting note is Michael Omartian will be guesting on most of the piano tracks. For you techies, I am recording the project on Pro Tools HD at a 96K sample rate. It is really effective when you have tracks like this that are sparse. I think this could be the most pristine vocal sound I have ever gotten. The album will be released on Christopher Cross Records and will be on iTunes as well as retail outlets.
I have just finished the 2nd track with my daughter Madison. It's a rock track and is very different than "He Was Just Like Me". I am talking to Disney Records about signing her as an artist.
I have also recorded the first track for what I hope will become a Spanish translation CD of my hits and selected other songs. Ana Guigui, my keyboardist is originally from Argentina and is bi-lingual. She is doing the translation for me. It's great because being a singer songwriter herself, she really captures the meaning and spirit of the songs. We have recorded "Open Up My Window". The Spanish title is "Abro Mi Vetana". We just sang it in Spanish at our shows in Ecuador and Peru and it was very well received. I was born in San Antonio and now live in California so I have lived most of my life on the border with a Latin culture, and have a great fondness for the people. My manager is in the process of approaching some Latin record companies for distribution. It's impossible to distribute and manage products in other countries by yourself. We will be recording more tracks as time permits. As far as a release date I can't say for sure, but I would guess early 2007.
I know many of you are wondering about a new CC album. After WIA I didn't write any songs for about 5 years. It wasn't writers block, but after so many albums from "Back of my Mind" on that we were so proud of that did not get exposure at radio we just got kind of discouraged. Particularly WIA which Rob and I consider to be the best album we have made as songwriters in terms of the whole album holding up. That combined with a busy tour schedule and wanting to spend time with my family I have just put in on the back burner. Working with Madison was the impetuous to get back into it. Rob and I are working on new songs all the time. But, please don't hold your breath. We are very pleased with what we have. I really can't postulate about where we are in terms of an album. My priorities are the Christmas album, Madison, and the Spanish CD.
On a personal note, my family and I are well. My kids continue to show a great interest in the arts. Madison of course in musical theater and Rain is becoming quite a good guitarist, although our tastes are a bit different since he is a Deadhead at the moment. Jan and I will celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary this month. Our 3 cats, Tucker, Maggie and Pinocchio are doing fine.
For you Kiki fans, she will be joining me on some upcoming dates. In August. Ana Guigui will be taking the summer off for a gig in Vermont. So, I will be working with a new lady as well named Anna Abbey from Santa Barbara.
Well I hope that catches us up a bit. I will try and put something on the blog when I have something new to report.
Thanks as always for your love and support.
Christopher
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