Tag: Mike Harrington

A Decade Later — Chris DuPont Celebrates 10th Anniversary of “Outlier” Album With Willis Sound Show

Chris DuPont. Photo – Misty Lyn Bergeron

After more than a decade of releasing music, Chris DuPont wants to revisit one of his earliest albums.

The Ypsilanti, Michigan singer-songwriter is paying tribute to his second album, Outlier, for its 10th anniversary with a show at Willis Sound.

“For many Ann Arbor listeners, Outlier was an introduction to my songwriting,” said DuPont, who’s performing songs from the indie-folk album with a full band on July 10.

“The longer I make music, the more important it feels to pause and celebrate milestones and to look at how I’ve changed and grown since then. The season of creating and releasing that album holds a great deal of memory, and I want to honor it before I dive fully into my next body of work.”

In 2015, he penned Outlier’s 10 tracks after confronting personal challenges related to his mental health and faith.

“In terms of what it means to me now, I think Outlier contains the opening statements of a discussion I’m still having with myself and the world around me,” DuPont said. “It’s the writings of a young man who’s coming to terms with his own mental health challenges, but still in the earliest stages of owning his problems and being good to those around them.”

Looking back, DuPont sees the emotional and spiritual growth that’s come from that creative experience.

“It’s the serpentine spiritual musings of someone who is enamored with the faith tradition he came from, yet deeply saddened and enraged by the abuses it inflicts,” he said. “These songs took some big swings to talk about relatively tough things, but looking back I think I may have pulled my punches in ways I wouldn’t now.”

I recently did an email interview with DuPont about Outlier ahead of his celebratory show.

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DuPont Phillips Combines Catalogs and Influences for New ‘Big Sky Sessions’ EP

dupont-phillips
Chris DuPont and Kylee Phillips’ new DuPont Phillips EP, “Big Sky Sessions,” features stripped-down instrumentation, emotive duets, and lush harmonies. Photo – Misty Lyn Bergeron.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on the Ann Arbor District Library’s Pulp blog.

Ypsilanti’s Chris DuPont and Kylee Phillips decided a joint EP was long overdue.

After several years of performing and recording together, the singer-songwriters pooled their talents, catalogs, and influences to form DuPont Phillips and release Big Sky Sessions.

“This Big Sky Sessions EP was a very natural project. We used stuff that we have, and we used songs from our catalogs that have been out,” DuPont said.

“What feels good to me is that all of these interpretations of our songs that exist live now have a home. This project proved to me that putting out something doesn’t have to make you suffer. … We cut it in two days.”

During those two days at Ann Arbor’s Big Sky Recording, DuPont Phillips reimagined three tracks from prior solo releases and recorded two renditions of Sheryl Crow and Jason Isbell classics along with a new song.

“Sometimes it can be hard to explain to people what we’re doing because we’re playing things from our individual catalogs, but we’re supporting one another,” Phillips said. “For me, it’s fun to have something we can show people and say, ‘This is what it is. It’s this cross-pollination of what we both do.’”

Those collaborative efforts have resulted in an intimate folk-pop EP filled with stripped-down instrumentation, emotive duets, and lush harmonies. The six tracks featured on Big Sky Sessions offer vulnerable tales of love, growth, and change.

I recently spoke to the duo about revisiting and reworking older tracks, doing covers, recording a new song, spending time in the studio, preparing for an EP release show, and planning for the future.

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Until Now – Bill Edwards Shares Personal Tales of Life and Love on ‘So Far’ Album

bill-edwards
Bill Edwards reflects on a life filled with optimism, love, gratitude, loss, wisdom and nostalgia on “So Far.” Photo – Chasing Light Photos

Editor’s Note: This article also appears on the Ann Arbor District Library’s Pulp blog.

As an accomplished songwriter, Bill Edwards often tells stories from multiple perspectives across an astonishing catalog of songs.

This time, the prolific Ann Arbor singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist opted to share his own stories on his new Americana album, So Far.

“The songs are all, without exception, autobiographical, making this the most personal record I’ve ever released. I’ve reached an age where it seemed like it was time to look both backward and forward,” Edwards said.

“The future is never guaranteed, and I wanted some of these feelings captured. There’s a lot of emotional territory covered on the album, and it all feels true to me.”

On So Far, Edwards features 14 tracks that collectively reflect on a life filled with optimism, love, gratitude, loss, wisdom and nostalgia. The album’s honest sentiment, introspective lyrics and earnest instrumentation invite listeners to contemplate their own lives alongside Edwards.

“I wrote probably 50 songs that may have been candidates for this record over the past year or so,” he said. “I’m always writing, and these tunes got swapped in and out as new material came to be.”

I recently spoke with Edwards about opening for Rodney Crowell, writing tracks for So Far, recording his new album, hosting an album release show at The Ark and working on new material.

Continue reading “Until Now – Bill Edwards Shares Personal Tales of Life and Love on ‘So Far’ Album” →