Virginia Beach - At first listen, Chris Merritt offers unabashedly forthright music combined with a sound that one cannot quite put their finger on.  Virginia Beach’s “The Jewish Mother” hosted Chris Merritt on April 1.  As his fingers hit each key, the room came to life amidst the upbeat tones and witty lyrics.  After a lively jam on the keyboard, Chris continued to lure the audience in with compositions that set an indie-jazz yet comedic ambiance.  His third number entitled “North” begins with line “Driving up north to get some…”  He then pauses as the crowd laughs, and with a sly smile asks if his fly is unzipped.  From this moment, it was clear that Chris has more to offer than just raw talent.  It is not often a crowd can tap their feet, air drum, nod their head, and laugh wholeheartedly while truly relating to the music.  As he invites special guest Melissa Hanson to the stage, he laughs and says, “This is going to be tricky…I have this problem where I can’t remember any of my own lyrics.”  Once again, laughter arises from the crowd.  Melissa Hanson is a voice that Chris is excited to have on his upcoming album Virginia Is For Hoverers (Part II).  Some avid listeners of Chris traveled to see the show and support him as he attracts more and more fans.  Though he resides in New York City right now, he was raised in northern Virginia and is recording in Richmond.  Chris says he is hoping for a “punchy, perfect, quick little album."

33: Your bio says you’re obsessed with jazz and blues.  Are there any musicians in particular that inspired you to pursue music?
Chris Merritt: Marcus Roberts, Miles Davis...it comes from “Blues Scale,” first thing I ever played, and my mom said, “That sounds like jazz.”

33: As far as your career, how would you define the word success?
CM: Get to the point to have a budget for albums.  Do I want to be famous?  I don’t think I really want that.  No one is really famous anymore.

33: After listening to your music and the way it varies, I had some question as to what genre you fall under.  I was feeling an indie/jazz sensation to your music.  Do you consider yourself a certain genre?
CM: Indie/Jazz…yeah, I like that…I don’t really know…that is still a hard question.  It’s all rock 'n' roll to me.  To me, Beethoven is rock 'n' roll.

33: Ok…I have a pretty serious question for you Chris.  What is your favorite device to listen to music on?
CM: That is such a great question.  A CD in a crappy car with an awesome stereo system driving down a country road...and...and a record player.  I am never happy with my final choice on MP3s.

33: Agreed.  It doesn’t get much better than vinyl.  Well Chris, when can we expect to see your latest album?
CM: Hoping for May 1.  The vision is close to 100 percent.  We are looking at 20 songs for the new record and a bonus CD Virginia Is For Hoverers (Part II)…Part II Part II.

Chris will make you want to pop a cassette of his music into an old car and drive for hours down back roads.  Throughout the entire show, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.  There is more meaning in a few of Chris’s words than some artists accomplish in an entire album.  Though he was the opening act, it was easy to see that the crowd yearned for more.  A fan of three years that traveled to see him play suggested to me that he create his own genre called “awesome.”  Chris Merritt is lyrically bizarre, witty, and exactly what the soul craves in music.  Listen, follow, and memorize his lyrics.  This is an act to remember.

Recommended Songs:

The Cult of Karl
North
Sugar
Big Girl

Chris Merrit official website

Chris Merritt on MySpace

By Correspondent: Cassandra Carson

Cassandra is an aspiring writer and an enthusiast of words, music, and traveling.  By the age of five she lived in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Iceland.  Four years later, she moved to upstate New York, where she embraced her inspiration to write.  She has since attended Jefferson Community College while working on her Associates in Business Administration and Eastern Nazarene College to work on her Bachelors in English.  She joined the U.S. Navy in 2006, and serves in Norfolk as an IT.  She has published poetry at a very young age, performed in readings for her college open mic nights, and is now taking on the art of journalism and screenplay writing as well as traveling Europe and the Middle East.  An assortment of music has served as inspiration to this young writer.  Artists include everyone from Louis Armstrong, John Legend, and J. Holiday to Atreyu, Sublime, 30 Seconds to Mars, and Journey.  Her eclectic collection of writings is comprised of authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nicholas Sparks, Walt Whitman, and Simon R. Green.  Cassandra maintains her stride towards her passion for writing and hopes to be an addition to her assorted collection of authors someday.