Woodstock singer-songwriter, guitarist, and award-winning soundtrack artist Chris Maxwell is one
of those folks who quietly hold the whole local music scene together. Ensconced
in his Goat Hill Studio as one half of the production/composer duo the Elegant
Too, he makes music for shows like “Bob’s Burgers” and “Inside Amy Schumer.”
But at the Colony on September 27, he’ll celebrate the release of his newest solo
album, Nothingland.
The horn-laden, electro-spiced “Wish I Could See It Coming” is Nothingland’s first single. “This is not a
song about Will Smith punching Chris Rock, but it was inspired by the
collective gasp that followed,” says Maxwell about the tune. “It got me thinking how little
control we have over our destiny. We design our lives around the idea that if
we follow a certain path then we can guarantee the outcome, but it rarely works
out exactly how we imagine. We each live in our own micro-climate where it’s
impossible to predict the weather. Take it as it comes and enjoy the ride.”
Maxwell grew up in Little
Rock, Arkansas, where he was in the Gunbunnies, an alt-pop band that was
produced by Southern music legend Jim Dickinson (Big Star, Rolling Stones,
Replacements). In the 1990s he made two albums with noisy New York “junk rock”
outfit Skeleton Key before relocating to the region and releasing 2016’s Arkansas
Summer and 2020’s New Store No. 2 under his own name. Guest players on Nothingland include Nels Cline (Wilco), Marco Benevento, Cindy Cashdollar (Bob Dylan, Asleep at the Wheel), and Eli Crews (Tune-Yards, Nels Cline).
Chris Maxwell will
perform at the Colony in Woodstock on September 27 at 7pm. Meg Lui will open.
Tickets are $17.46 in advance or $23.37 on the day of the show.
This article appears in September 2024.
