Chris Dorman

Artist Bio

Chris Dorman, from Lansing, is a musician, a father, and a friend to the community. He writes about his friends, his family and his feelings and reflects upon the intrinsic value within a local culture that cannot be quantified or commoditized. He hopes his sounds will nurture and inspire all who hear them to appreciate that which is unique to them. So what is unique to him, you ask? Chris dreams of being an old man who tells funny stories over and over again even though he knows everybody already knows the punch line.

REVIEW of 'begin again'
Chris Dorman is both dreaming and living a dream shared by perhaps a small fraction of people living and working and playing and dreaming on this planet, a slice of the population striving to get back to, or forward to, a simple way of life in which it is possible to slow down, live true and begin again. This is the message on Dorman’s new release, To Begin Again, a hybrid of contemporary folk tunes merging grass roots instruments like banjo, harmonica and saw with instruments commonly associated with orchestras, such as cello and oboe.

Driven by Dorman’s guitar and insistent vocals, To Begin Again unites a whole slew of vocals and a wide range of instruments—from marimba to udu to viola—compliments of Dorman’s musician friends. The lyrics on the cd are both reflective and urgent.

Dorman dares to be hopeful in a time saturated with cynicism; he asks questions and provides prescriptions without being preachy. The title track, “To Begin Again,” presents Dorman’s primary message: community can come together; people can start over—if they choose to. The horns on “All Roads Lead Home” are mellow while the finger picking and strings are fast-paced and poignant. “Slow Down” pits a pre-adolescent dream of contentment against that moment of crisis when innocence is outrun.

If there is an ounce of hesitation in the heart, a small part of the self stored away in the heart’s drawers and closets, as is the case with most of us, the textured combination of Dorman’s breathy, piercing vocals and the music on To Begin Again will coax it out and onward.

-timlane

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  To Begin Again