truth i by Chris Anderson

First of all, I'd like to dedicate this album to my mother, Bonnie Anderson. She was, undoubtedly, the reason I ever had any decent taste in music, introducing me to many guitar greats, classical music on FM radio early on, and - yes - even her tastes in country music. More than that, though, she was the nicest person I knew on earth. I miss her every single day, and I am still here just trying to do the very best by her and my memories of her. Love you, Mom!

I'd like to thank my family (my sons, my wife, especially, who sits near me at home while I play and creates her dollhouses and figurines, as well as my father in law, Bob Blackmun), co-workers, Steven Leak, and anyone who likes/follows my posts on Facebook for all the encouragement and feedback. It means the world to me, really; and, though I love what I do, I like to talk about music, creativity, and art, in general and kind of close the loop on what I do. I'm just grateful to be here and grateful for everyone I reach and meet.

This album is a part one of a living collection of both improvisations and compositions. The main intent is to explore the palette of sounds available through an ambient effects pedal chain, backed up by a Line 6 Helix.

The background to this album stretches nearly 40 years. I have long played guitar and bass, while sometimes dabbling in synthesizers. A struggle, especially in later years, has been that of finding like-minded musicians who want to explore and create, and largely outside of a "rock'n roll" context. Do not get me wrong, I love rock music and maybe even primarily rock music; but, I find that in order to explore a lot more musical plains, the sonic landscape and possibilities need to be opened up. Also, and very specifically, I don't want my music defined by whether or not I have a drummer (and an isolated practice space!) set aside in order to play music.

Going back even further, though, to high school, where I first started playing electric guitars, my approach was always to learn scales and chords (and music theory), and I was never the guy who wanted to copy every Poison, Motley Crue, or (later) Pearl Jam licks (although, I knew folks who were masters at learning those - and that is awesome in its own right). I wanted to create music on my own terms, and only within the last few years, really, did I become infinitely more comfortable with that idea. The Chapman Stick (and the whole Stick community, including Emmett Chapman, Greg Howard, and others) was a great catalyst for gaining this comfort level and, more recently, the fans and musicians I have met via Bandcamp. There's a lot of self-realization going on here, this is to say.

I realize, too, that there are musicians and creators on Bandcamp (and elsewhere) who create on a very sophisticated level. I won't pretend to be "like that", but I do my best with what knowledge and intent that I have.

Chapman Stick player and ambient music composer based in Charlotte, NC, USA.

The focus of this music is on improvisation, ambient, experimental, and texture-based music using a 10-string Chapman Stick with some occasional synthesizers.