Gin Ridge Records Chris Vallillo Illinois Chris Vallillo is a nationally acclaimed singer/songwriter and folk musician who makes the people and places of “unmetropolitan” America come to life in song. Having spent the last 30 years in the rural Midwest, he has a natural affinity for American roots music. Performing on six-string and bottleneck slide guitars and harmonica, Vallillo weaves original, contemporary, and traditional songs and narratives into a compelling and entertaining portrait of the history and lifestyles of the Midwest. Dirty Linen magazine described the music as, “vivid, original story songs” delivered with an “eye for detail and a sense of history” while Folk Wax Magazine Editor, Arthur Wood said “Vallillo’s guitar playing flows like warm honey and is a true aural delight.” For Chris, a good song is as much a work of art as any painting or sculpture. His music has a timeless quality about it, with one foot in the past and one foot in the future. Perhaps the archaeology degree Vallillo earned at Beloit College (BA Anthropology, 1976) helped him see the important little details of life which imbue his songs with a sense of history. His prairie poet style has been compared to Edgar Lee Masters and Vachel Lindsay and you can hear the strains of the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers reflected in his writing. It’s roots based original and contemporary folk with the rich acoustic textures of bottleneck slide, finger style and flatpicked guitars that echo the influences of Mississippi John Hurt, Norman Blake, Doc Watson and John Fahey. A recipient of a 1986 Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award for music composition, Chris was also a nominee for the Illinois Arts Council’s 1987 Governor’s Award for Individual Artist. In 1987 he conducted the Schuyler Arts Folk Music Project to document the last of the pre-radio generation. These recordings were accepted into the American Folklife Collection at the Library of Congress. From 1990 through 1998 he served as the performing host and co-producer of the nationally distributed, award-winning public radio performance series Rural Route 3 where he performed next to (and with) a virtual who’s who of contemporary and traditional folk musicians. His most recent project, a one man show titled Abraham Lincoln in Song, received the endorsement of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the accompanying CD of music reached #10 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Album Chart in March of 2008. His latest album “The Last Day of Winter” was released in January, 2013. Gin Ridge Records’s popular tracks Dixie's Land by Gin Ridge Records published on 2023-04-23T02:38:30Z Battle Cry of Freedom by Gin Ridge Records published on 2016-02-22T21:02:31Z 13 Let The Band Play Dixie by Gin Ridge Records published on 2024-02-12T18:54:32Z Small Victory by Gin Ridge Records published on 2024-01-08T16:45:42Z Chris Vallillo - Forgottonia - 12 Softly And Tenderly by Gin Ridge Records published on 2022-12-07T16:16:24Z Shawneetown by Gin Ridge Records published on 2012-11-28T17:50:41Z Bloody Williamson by Gin Ridge Records published on 2014-07-28T14:32:15Z Chris Vallillo with Rich Renik on WJOL FM (5-7-24) by Gin Ridge Records published on 2024-05-26T21:29:14Z Supertone Mandolin by Gin Ridge Records published on 2012-11-20T07:30:58Z Battle Cry of Freedom by Gin Ridge Records published on 2012-12-10T16:47:11Z Chris Vallillo - Forgottonia - 01 The King Of Iowa by Gin Ridge Records published on 2022-12-07T02:09:36Z Cumberland Waltz, Rural Route 3 by Gin Ridge Records published on 2023-06-10T04:43:56Z Amazing Grace by Gin Ridge Records published on 2015-01-10T20:42:59Z Oh Freedom! by Gin Ridge Records published on 2015-09-07T20:30:25Z The Dance by Gin Ridge Records published on 2021-09-21T19:12:47Z Homemade Ice Cream by Gin Ridge Records published on 2013-12-16T17:06:17Z Chris Vallillo - Forgottonia - 04 When Whiskey Had Wheels by Gin Ridge Records published on 2022-12-07T02:18:08Z Walnut Fiddle by Gin Ridge Records published on 2019-03-18T15:56:57Z Lyon & Healy 9 String Parlor Guitar, Steel Guitar Rag by Gin Ridge Records published on 2013-01-17T02:33:10Z 2004 National Tri Cone, Bonnaparte's Retreat by Gin Ridge Records published on 2013-01-17T02:47:39Z
Chris Vallillo - Forgottonia - 12 Softly And Tenderly by Gin Ridge Records published on 2022-12-07T16:16:24Z
Chris Vallillo with Rich Renik on WJOL FM (5-7-24) by Gin Ridge Records published on 2024-05-26T21:29:14Z
Chris Vallillo - Forgottonia - 01 The King Of Iowa by Gin Ridge Records published on 2022-12-07T02:09:36Z
Chris Vallillo - Forgottonia - 04 When Whiskey Had Wheels by Gin Ridge Records published on 2022-12-07T02:18:08Z
Lyon & Healy 9 String Parlor Guitar, Steel Guitar Rag by Gin Ridge Records published on 2013-01-17T02:33:10Z