Chris Silver

bluegrass

Chris Silver is a roots musician based in River Falls, Wisconsin, in the eastern Twin Cities area, who began playing bluegrass in Minneapolis and St. Paul clubs in the mid-1980s. He sang and played mandolin and guitar with Stoney Lonesome from 1987 to 1992, the leading Minnesota bluegrass band of that era, touring nationally and overseas, appearing on A Prairie Home Companion and cutting two albums for Red House Records; he also worked with Tangled Roots and the Kate Mackenzie Band. From the early 2000s he widened his range from straight bluegrass into roots, Americana, blues and other traditional idioms, and he is known as a flatpicking guitarist and mandolin player who also plays fiddle. He performs under several banners rather than one fixed group: a solo show, a trio with Rich Casey and J.D. Shaffer, the Chris Silver Band, the Chris Silver Bluegrass Band, a rotating-guest series called Chris Silver and Friends, and Old-Timeless Conversations, devoted to Appalachian string band music. He has released eight albums on the Catch and Release label, among them Over Time, Quiet Fortune, Everything Can Wait, Souls and Spirits, Fool Yourself, Who Will Sing For Me and a self-titled Chris Silver Band record, plus Sheltered, a duo album with Ari Silver. He has guested on dozens of other recordings, including a session with Taj Mahal. He works a western Wisconsin and Minnesota circuit of breweries, small halls and festivals, including Rush River Brewing in River Falls, and hosts open jam sessions at some of his dates.

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