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| Like a Thief |
| Written by: Kristina Stykos |
| Song Plays: 14 |
| Genre: Folk-Singer/Songwriter |
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| In memory of the late, great Johnny Cunningham |
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| Homeward |
| Written by: Kristina Stykos |
| Song Plays: 10 |
| Genre: Instrumental-Folk |
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| Demo version of a new guitar instrumental |
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| Sprouted on: December 06, 2008 |
| Total Views: 341 |
| Total Song Plays: 24 |
| Total Fans: 1 |
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| Kristina Stykos |
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| Chelsea, Vermont - USA |
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Kristina Stykos is a singer/songwriter and producer working in Central Vermont. Her 2005 solo release "In the Earth's Fading Light" was acclaimed "Best Vermont Album of 2005" by the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus:
"...perhaps the best new album I have heard this year by anyone, and I'm a heavy consumer of music. Bruce Springsteen may have gotten all the hype for his latest effort "Devils and Dust," but for my money Stykos has written far better songs, delivered them with wonderful style, and can play the pants off of the King of Asbury Park..." - Art Edelstein
Born in Ithaca, NY, Kristina came of age in the heartland of an exploding folk music scene, led by a new wave of acoustic guitar junkies and fiddle driven bands. Watching from the sidelines as a teenager, she was there for Trumansburg's first old time music gatherings and moonshine parties as well as Phil Shapiro's nascent "Bound for Glory" radio show at Cornell University. At the larger campus venues, artists such as Joni Mitchell, The Byrds, Taj Mahal, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Bonnie Raitt, the Incredible String Band, Aretha Franklin and James Taylor were regular fare.
Kristina's performing life got started in Cambridge, MA where she moved in 1976 to be a student, and began playing solo gigs in clubs and restaurants, occasionally joined by friend Bela Fleck. Meanwhile, her double life as a volunteer in the avante garde film-making community took her to diverse performance venues, including the punk rock lofts of Boston’s North End, the Barnum and Bailey Circus Train, Metallica parties in city mansions and onstage filming with Holly Near. A short stint as a cook in Sweden and a spiritual awakening later, in 1980 Kristina found Vermont, where she settled and began the slow work of honing her skills as a songwriter. In the quiet of a remote mountain farmhouse in winter, she wrote most of the material for her first self-produced album of original music "Crazy Sorrows" in 1986, while living with no running water, and just enough electricity to run her electric piano.
For the next decade Kristina's composing and performing went underground, as she rose to the demands of full-time single parenting, eventually working her way back into music from a new angle, one that could be compatible with family life. In 1997 from her home office she built a successful non-profit organization whose mission was to reinvigorate central Vermont's relationship to national folk music. Her work as founder and director of "Live Art", booking major acts at the newly restored Barre Opera House and other regional venues, enabled her to forge new personal connections locally as well as within the music industry.
Kristina and her guitar began to make their way back into the local music scene shortly thereafter, bringing a distinctive voice and cadence to Irish-oriented sessions. In the years following she brought her considerable skills to several celtic music bands exploring traditional Irish, Scottish and French repertoires on guitar, mandolin and cittern. She also became aware of a new generation of regional contradances, and made haste to support the trend with her solid rhythm backup. As an accompanist, she continued to perform aside singer-songwriters including David Francey, Michele Choiniere, Patti Casey and Nikki Matheson.
At around the same time, Kristina and fiddler Susannah Blachly started playing contradances together and their partnership led to the formation of two bands, the most recent being WAGTAIL. Wagtail’s “new trad” sound - original songs, celtic reels, jigs and old time jamming - has been a dynamic new voice in the Vermont folk scene. Wagtail produced their first album (“One Clear Moment”) in Kristina’s Pepperbox Studio in 2007.
Kristina currently plays with guitarist Doug Perkins. (Perkins is best known for his stint with the nationally touring newgrass band Smokin' Grass, and for his duo with jazz mandolinist Jamie Masefield). Their partnership features original instrumentals, Kristina’s songs and Doug’s free-fall soloing on both guitar and mandolin.
Pepperbox Studio is fully off-the-grid and located on a remote dirt road in rural Central Vermont. In 2008 Kristina received her “Specialist Certificate in Studio Production” from Berklee School of Music's online degree program. In addition to her own projects, Kristina’s recent engineering credits include a CD of stories for children, "Second Hand Tales" with story-teller Simon Brooks, in-studio recordings for Revels North's “I Know the Road” CD produced by Pete Sutherland, and a full-length debut CD by singer/songwriter Erin McDermott and her band the Dixie Red Delights.
In between music projects and gigs, Kristina runs a small gardening business called GARDENESSA. She lives in Chelsea, VT with her husband, guitar-maker Michael Millard of Froggy Bottom Guitars.
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| Charles Charles |
Ft Myers, FL - USA |
Age: 20 |
Gender: male |
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| Copyright 2008 - Song Sprouts - Music Promotion for Independent Artists - Free mp3s for Music Fans |
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