Chris Wilson: King Hit.

Chris Wilson plays the Festival Of Beers at the RNA Showgrounds on September 13

Chris Wilson boasts a long and distinguished career from his time with Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls, the Chris Bailey Combo and recording and touring with Diesel, to his own projects with the Crown of Thorns. He’s just appeared at the National Country Music Muster, in all the mud and glory, at Gympie, and last year won a swag of awards at the Australian Blues Music Awards with his release, Spiderman. Chris is back with a new album and solid touring schedule, which sees him back in these parts come September.

Part of the appeal of Chris Wilson’s music lies in is his lack of commitment to any one genre of music. Blues, rock and country all find a voice within his work, enabling him to woo a wide cross-section of punters. Such an eclectic approach can often alienate the purists, but Chris seems to have bypassed that problem.

Chris laughs: “I guess there was a good litmus test on the weekend (Gympie Muster): it seemed to go down just fine. I think there’s a lot of people who are quite open-minded. I think it’s a minority that needs music in a box.”

King For A Day is his latest album, the follow-up to the all-blues release Spiderman. Chris is joined by Shannon Bourne (guitar), Chris Rogers (bass) and Dave Folley (drums).

“Spiderman was just a pure blues record that we sort of banged down in a day. King For A Day is all original for a start; it was the first time I ever had a producer; it was more a mixture of influences—blues and country and rock ‘n’ roll.”

“I recorded the album twice. The first time I recorded it was just after I’d had a car accident, there was something missing in the songs. There was nothing wrong with the playing; it was the songs and me, because I had a bit of difficulty singing properly. I just thought I needed someone who would go through the stuff with me and tighten it up a bit. Kerryn Tolhurst has been with the Dingoes and stuff, and he knew a lot about songwriting, but jeez he was happy to sit down with me. I’d play him a song and he’d say, ‘That’s all right’ or ‘that should be different, try this’.”

Chris has been performing with the line-up on the album for about two years. He explains how they came together: “I just heard Shannon playing in a guitar factory. He was only 21 at the time. I didn’t even see him; I just heard him and I thought, ‘That guitar is fantastic.’ I looked around the corner and there was this cherub sitting there with a guitar in his hands. I asked him if he wanted to do some gigs, and we just started playing acoustically, with a little electric. Dave Folley the drummer, he just sort of drifted in. We used to have this Tuesday night residency in a pub, in the corner, and he just drifted in and brought his kit in piece by piece. Then we went electric and played as a three-piece for quite a while. Then Chris Rodgers, he’s played bass with me for about 20 years, I rang him up and said, ‘Do you wanna do some gigs?’ He completed the band.”

Even before he’s finished touring on the back of King For A Day, Chris has an eye towards the next album.

“I’ve got plans to make another bluesish record, probably more original than the last one, and I’ll probably get the band more involved with the songwriting on this one. I’m hoping to record that before the end of the year.”