Chris Ayer

**John Lennon Songwriting Competition
Lennon Award Winner in Folk for "Evaporate"

**Finalist in Merlefest Chris Austin Songwriting Competition

**Performing Songwriter Magazine
"Do It Yourself" Monthly Pick

LIVE VIDEOS AT:
http://www.youtube.com/user/chrisayer446

My name is Chris. I like to write songs, and do it whenever I can.

I am from Virginia. I started playing music while I was at school in California, and now I'm living in Brooklyn, but really I'm living in (and hopefully out of) my car most of the time.

I play left-handed guitar, so I've played one guitar for most of my guitar-playing life. It's getting pretty serious.

I started making music when I was 7, singing along to an Elvis tape on the way to school. Then came Paul Simon & the Beatles.

In the last few years I've put out 7 albums, and played over 500 shows around the US and UK. It's my favorite thing to do. Hope to see you there sometime!

Chris

"A folk-pop sound with an upbeat tempo that could make the sun peek through the storm clouds."
-Hybrid Magazine

"Breezy singer-songwriter pop... come for the catchy melodies, stay for the minor IV chords."
-Guitar Player Magazine

"Has it all: tight arrangements, excellent musicality and imaginative lyrics."
-Performing Songwriter Magazine

"Part street poet, part armchair philosopher, indie singer/songwriter, Chris Ayer, will leave you smiling whether you feel like smiling or not."
-BuddyHollywood.com

"He's talented.. this guy is beyond [John] Mayer, he's Bright Eyes mixed with James Taylor in the form of James Dean."
-URB Magazine

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When asked about his latest album, Don't Go Back To Sleep, Ayer sees it first as a call to action for himself. "This group of songs has really become a collective note-to-self on how I want to live. They were all born out of moments where I was going along in my day-to-day life, and something shook me out of the autopilot rhythm, and reminded me that I better open up and dig in right this second." After a listen, this creative desire is abundantly evident throughout Ayer's sophomore release. He admits they are heavy themes, even for a singer/songwriter. And yet Ayer is able to pull off that timeless trick of great songwriting, where weighty topics take on a light touch, so that they draw you in and uplift.

This magnetic quality has served him well as he has toured the country and steadily built his grassroots audience over the past 4 years. His DIY practices were given a hefty shot of adrenaline in 2007 when the John Lennon Songwriting Competition awarded him the 2006 Lennon Award in Folk for his song "Evaporate." With the award came increased visibility, opportunities to tour the UK, and many new faces in the audience at shows. But for Ayer there was an even more valuable outcome. "It was a real lesson for me. "Evaporate" was the song I wrote most immediately for myself on the first album. That's how they all should be, but you start thinking about the band arrangement and musical influences, and how it's going to sound live. Those things creep in. "Evaporate" didn't have that at all. And I finally had total confidence that just taking creative instincts and running with them is always the best call." The song was on Ayer's first full-length, self-released album, This is the Place, recorded in Nashville and produced by Jason Gantt (The Chieftains, Brooks & Dunn, Faith Hill). Of that album, Performing Songwriter Magazine said, "This is the Place has it all: tight arrangements, excellent musicality, and imaginative lyrics. If you're looking for great music, this is the place indeed."

Ayer grew up in McLean, Virginia, and got his start singing along to old cassette tapes of Elvis and Paul Simon on car rides. When his dad got him his first guitar as a teen, he started writing songs that same day. After moving to northern California, he started sharing his songs locally, while studying philosophy and music at Stanford University.

Though his songwriting started as a hobby, it quickly became his main focus. "Honestly, I started school thinking I'd study physics, but that changed real fast. And while people around me were playing music and writing songs here and there as a break, playing and writing became all I wanted to do." Though studies in music theory & history at first informed his songwriting, the dry academics of a regimented music department became increasingly uninspiring for him. It was Ayer's interest in philosophy and his affinity to the lyrical elements of poetry that ultimately gave voice to his writing. The works of writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Frost, and Rumi, as well as songwriters such as Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen make a significant impact on Ayer's own lyrics.

After spending some time out of school writing and playing local gigs, he left the comforts of northern California ("the most pleasant, relaxed place on the face of the Earth" he says), and ventur