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Biography
Chris Sharp
is best known for his Grammy Award winning work on the “O’Brother Where
Art Thou?” Soundtrack, and his appearance in the film “Down From The
Mountain”. In addition to recording with such artists as Alison Krauss and
Earl Scruggs, Chris toured with the late John Hartford for the last four
years of John’s life. With three of his own recordings out on Red Clay
Records and one independent release with mandolin player David Long, Chris is now traveling and playing his own music for people.
Born in Asheville, NC, in 1973, at the age of 5
Chris showed a
musical interest and started taking piano lessons. This was short lived
and he didn't start playing music again until
age 11 when he started
learning to play the fiddle and the banjo.
Chris has music
in his family. His grandfather, Bernard
"Shorty" Baston
was a
professional musician in the 1940's and 50's. He played all over the south
and lived in Nashville for some time. He played with groups such as The Sauceman Brothers and
with his friend
Benny Martin in Big Jeff's band.
In their
early teens Chris met Asheville native George Buckner. George and some
other guys had a band
called The Tarheel Bluegrass Boys and Chris joined the band.
This is where Chris’ musical education really began. George had a great
love for the music of Flatt and Scruggs and it began to rub off at first
in the form of Benny Martin's fiddle style, and later as Lester Flatt's style
guitar. The Tarheel Bluegrass Boys continued for a few years
and Chris played in various other bands until moving to California in 1993
for a short stint with the Navy.
In 1995 Chris
left the Navy and moved to Nashville with friends George Buckner and Kevin
Sluder. While in
Nashville Chris and company were very fortunate to meet various working
Nashville musicians and be included in their inner circle. However, after about
2 years they returned home to North Carolina where
they started a band called the Tipton Hill Boys. In the mid 1990’s Chris and Kevin
got a job playing with
Josh Graves and Kenny Baker.
Chris didn’t
stay home in North Carolina long before he was back in Nashville and in
1997 he landed a job with "John Hartford". Along with
John
Hartford and Mike Compton he played on the "O' Brother Where Art
Thou?" and "Down From The Mountain" projects, which earned him 2 IBMA
awards and 1 Grammy for his participation in the Soggy Bottom Boys hit
"Man of Constant Sorrow". After John Hartford passed away Chris moved
back to North Carolina.
Since then he
has recorded 3 more CD's. One with George Buckner and Kevin Sluder
called "The Tipton Hill Boys" a CD with David Long called
"Chris Sharp and David Long 'One Hand On The Radio' " and his
latest release "Chris Sharp 'Working It Out' ". At the moment the Tipton
Hill Boys are working on their new project which should be out around
the first part of 2009.
In February of 2002
Chris took a trip to Japan where he met his wife Sachie, a fiddle player
from the Tokyo area. They were married on March 26,2003, in Asheville.
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