A Dirty Dozen with CHRIS WALZ – March 2025

Photo Credit: David Spector

According to a recent press release: “Chicago-based folk performer and guitarist Chris Walz is set to release his first solo album, All I Got and Gone, independently on March 14, 2025. A musician’s musician and esteemed educator at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music for the past three decades, Walz brings his considerable talents to fruition on the new album. Influenced by legendary greats such as Doc & Merle Watson, Tony Rice, Elizabeth Cotten, Etta Baker, Dave Van Ronk, Blind Willie McTell, Stefan Grossman, John Renbourn, and Woody Guthrie, the 11 songs on All I Got and Gone pay homage to his most pivotal musical inspirations. Combined with Walz’s resonant vocals, his intuitive prowess on the guitar as his sole accompaniment, and a selection of songs that he puts his own unique stamp on, this album is a culmination of how these artists have helped shape him while honoring them all. Walz, who specializes in bluegrass, old-time, and folk music, is known for his dynamic, precise fingerpicking and ability to capture the essence of American roots music traditions.” We get Chris to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

This is really a collection of old songs and tunes. These are all pieces that I’ve been living with for a long time. I paired them down from a larger number when I started working on the album. I looked through many old versions of the songs to find obscure verses that would create, hopefully an interesting narrative. I was looking for a complete narrative for each song. I wanted to have the music be a cohesive set that would sound like a collection that made sense.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

The thing that really got me into wanting to play the guitar when I was a teenager was hearing some of the old country / blues fingerstyle players. There used to be a lot of folk and acoustic music programs on the NPR station where I grew up in upstate New York. On Saturday nights, it would start around 6 p.m. and keep going until 1 o’clock in the morning. And there was a lot of fingerstyle guitar, ragtime, and blues. If there was any one artist who is the genesis for me, it is Mississippi John Hurt. I remember there was a radio show that came on at 11 o’clock at night called Goodtime Folk, Jug Bands and Blues. On this particular night, the deejay decided he was going to play an entire hour of Mississippi John Hurt. I was tape recording the show off the air and was amazed at how this great artist played and sang. I realized that that was the direction I wanted to follow.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

I think my musical taste has been guided by several artists. In fingerstyle, when I first started out, I was listening to a ton of Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie McTell, and Dave Van Ronk, as well as some of the contemporary fingerpickers at that time like Stefan Grossman and John Renbourn. With a flatpick, Doc Watson, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice were the ones I listened to the most. I remember when Tony Rice’s Church Street Blues came out, there was a lot of airplay from that record on the folk shows I was listening to.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

I’ve always liked the songwriting of Greg Brown. I remember hearing him on the old Prairie Home Companion radio show back in my high school days. I would listen to that show every weekend and hear him do a different song that he wrote. The way he would write about rural areas, which was how I grew up – I thought it was great. His poetry, his imagery. The way he crafts a simple line that has so much in it, like, “If your dream came true, would you still want it then?” I don’t know what the writing session would be like, but I would hope there would be some interesting conversation over a couple of cups of coffee, a pad, a pencil, and two guitars.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour? What do you like to do to unwind?

I’ve always been a listener. I can remember, even as a little kid, liking radio. I’ve always liked music and spending time just listening. I like history and documentary. Finding out what elements brought us here. I get into things like that. Thelonious Monk is someone I go to. I remember years ago I was doing some work in Pennsylvania, and there was a jazz show that I think was called My Favorite Things. If I couldn’t listen to the show, I would record it off the air and then come back and see what I had. I remember on this particular day the deejay decided to play the entire B-side of the Thelonious Monk Underground album. I had never heard anything like it. That’s what got me started listening to Monk. He’s someone I visit frequently. Also, I like playing. I spend time with the guitar every day. That can be very meditative.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

I play traditional acoustic music. There are some elements of folk, blues, flatpicking, and bluegrass in what I do. I have worked in bands. I spent three and a half years in The Special Consensus as a full-time touring bluegrass guitarist. But what I do is solo traditional acoustic music on the guitar. I try to come up with original and hopefully interesting arrangements of the material. I’m a guitar player and singer. I don’t know if that answers your question at all well. Occasionally, someone will make a comparison of what I do to a player I really admire. And it is always a little uncomfortable. I am not a patch on the great players I admire, and there are lists of them. It’s nice to hear that somebody likes what I do. And I like to leave it at that. But a comparison between me and one of my heroes is always a little embarrassing to me.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Well, because I don’t have a band, none of that stuff really happens. Where it does happen is at my other job, which is teaching at Chicago‘s Old Town School of Folk Music. Because there are so many great teachers / players at the school, there is always some kind of impromptu picking and singing that goes on. When I started teaching there in 1996, I was amazed at how often it would happen. It’s truly one of the perks of the job.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Tony Rice came to the Old Town School of Folk Music in 2004. I got him to give a musicianship workshop. I was the moderator, which meant dropping bullet point topics into the conversation, fielding questions from the attendees, and staying out of Rice’s way. It was a fantastic event, which I recorded and is one of my prized possessions. He spent almost two hours with everyone in the room, answering every question, telling his own story, and playing some examples on his treasured herringbone. When the workshop was over, I walked up and thanked him for such an amazing experience on behalf of the school and the students. He shook my hand and said, “Well, you made it easy.” He played in concert that night with the Lonesome River Band, which was an amazing show. Afterwards, I went down to the green room where he was packing up. I thanked him again for the workshop, and for the amazing show I just witnessed. Then I asked if I could look at his old herringbone, the one previously owned by Clarence White. I just wanted to look at it, I didn’t really want to touch it. I’m not sure what I was afraid of. But he reached into the case, grabbed the guitar by the neck, hauled it out, and said, “Oh sure.” Then he handed it to me. And for a few minutes, I got to play, softly and carefully, Tony Rice’s treasured Martin herringbone. One of the things that truly amazed me was how alive and vibrant that guitar was. When I strummed the chord, it vibrated like it was a living thing. I’d never held instrument like that. It was amazing, and he gave me that gift. I don’t have any pictures of it, no recordings, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

I think the best part of being a musician is the audience. You’re there to maybe give them something that’s not a regular part of the rest of the day. Tell them a story through some old song that they might not have heard. A reaction of laughter is always satisfying. Connecting with people through music – I think it’s pretty great. I guess the other half of that is my teaching. I really love beginners. I love taking people from zero to some. People who have never played anything leap a wide chasm when they learn their first chords and can play a song. It’s always very satisfying to be able to do that for people, especially when they think that they can’t do it, or that it is going to be harder than it is. I like the connection between myself and the students. It’s a lot like the audience, but in a different way.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

That’s a good one. I guess if the person interviewing me had dug around in my bio, they would see that I got a degree in theater from Syracuse University. An interesting question they might ask would be if any of the theater training has translated into the work that I do as a guitar player and singer. I would say that I didn’t make a direct connection to it until a good friend of mine, Wes Holden, came to see one of my very early gigs. It was so long ago that I barely remember anything about it. But Wes, who has had a long career as a theater performer, came up to me, and said, “The songs were fine, the singing was fine, and the guitar playing was fine. But you have to remember it’s a show.” I hadn’t made the connection that you have to engage with the audience as a musician, in the same way that you do as an actor. And you have to provide the script, which is different every time. A very valuable lesson. I don’t know if there’s a question that I get tired of. I think it’s all in how you ask it.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

The great bluegrass band Hot Rize was playing the Old Town School of Folk Music in 1998. Their guitar player was Charles Sawtelle. He was a powerful, inventive guitarist who played differently from a lot of conventional bluegrass guitar players at the time, with a lot of crosspicking, note bending, and playing with time. There was a bluesy soulfulness to a lot of what he did. At the time, he was going through treatments for leukemia, which I understand was pretty rigorous. I had never seen Hot Rize live before, and when the band came out, I didn’t recognize Charles Sawtelle from the pictures I had seen. The treatments for his leukemia had altered his appearance somewhat. But two notes into his first guitar solo I realized it could be no one else. Hot Rize played two incredible shows, including two shows with their alter egos, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. I was amazed at how powerfully Charles Sawtelle was playing. And I thought to myself that this is a man who is going to beat this illness. His playing was so strong. After the shows, the band was at the record table selling merch. I had just joined The Special Consensus in January of that year and was on the road as a full-time touring bluegrass musician. I knew that Charles was a somewhat shy man, and I saw a small crowd of people had quite literally cornered him and was talking to him. All I wanted to do was to go up to him, thank him for an amazing show, shake his hand, and wish him well. But because he had played so strong that night, and because both Hot Rize and The Special Consensus were touring bluegrass bands, I thought that I would see him again, and, when our paths crossed, I could have that moment with him. Because I didn’t want to be one more person in that crowd that was cornering him, I didn’t shake his hand. A year later in 1999 Charles Sawtelle passed away. Our paths had not crossed again, and I missed an opportunity to give him my sincerest thanks, appreciation, and well wishes. If I could go back and do anything over again, it would be waiting for the opportunity to shake hands and thank Charles Sawtelle, someone I truly respected.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

I guess because it all started with Mississippi John Hurt, I would want to go back to 1928 and watch him in his prime recording those first sides. Some were recorded at the wrong speed, so it would be amazing to hear them as Hurt really did them. Also, to hear him as a young man with his music reverberating in the room, instead of off a shellac disc, would be the greatest.

CHRIS WALZ LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

Category: Interviews