Christine

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"Christine...Chanteuse."

My mother is from Switzerland, and she spoke French in our home with my beautiful artist aunt, Andree, and my sweet Parisian grandmother, Lily. When I heard the music of Edith Piaf and learned to sing "La Vie En Rose", I knew I had touched a vein of creativity that runs deep in my European blood. I will sing in French for the rest of my life. I share my birthday with Maurice Chevalier, so I must be on the right track.

Information on the French Show

"Christine...Country Singer"

At 16, I left our brick farmhouse in upstate New York and followed my songwriting big brother, Rick, to Santa Fe. (Thanks to my folks for giving me wings at an early age.) I finished high school and began my education in the honkytonks of northern New Mexico and Colorado. I was born again when I discovered Tammy, Loretta, Patsy, Dolly, Merle, and George Jones, who I also share my birthday with. This is me at 19 with Tammy watching over me.

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Christine Albert has followed her creative spirit through the hills of upstate New York, the mountains of northern New Mexico and the hill country of central Texas. Along the way she developed a voice of amazing depth, clarity and honesty. Jimmy LaFave describes Christine as a "wondrous singer with a beautiful focus and unrestrained grace". Prior to joining forces with Chris Gage she released three independent albums, including "TEXAFRANCE", a bilingual tribute to her European heritage and love of the French chanson. Her solo CD, "Underneath the Lone Star Sky" on Antone's/dos Records, climbed into the top twenty on the national Americana radio chart. She has appeared on Austin City Limits and The Texas Connection, written and performed her own "Don't Mess With Texas" ad and was featured in the popular Bluebell Ice Cream television commercial. Christine was recognized as Outstanding Female Vocalist at the 1996 Kerrville Music Awards and has performed in a dozen foreign countries. An active community volunteer, she was co-founder of the Austin Songwriters Group, is a public spokesperson for The Austin Rape Crisis Center (SafePlace), has served on the Board of Governors of the Texas Branch of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Board of Directors of The Texas Music Association and The Austin Rape Crisis Center. Christine was the recipient of The Austin Chamber of Commerce 1994 "Superstar of Austin Music" award, in recognition of her contributions to the community.

Christine has been involved in publicity or fundraising efforts for the Austin Rape Crisis Center, Center for Battered Women, Meals on Wheels, Austin's Resource Center for the Homeless, Blue Santa, The Beat Goes On Blood Drive, CEDEN Family Resource Center, United Way, AIDS Services of Austin, Austin Childrens' Museum, The Childrens' Hospital of Austin at Brackenridge, St. David's Hospital, United Cerebral Palsy Association, Austin Area Candlelighters, Austin Youth Hostel, Communities In Schools and SafePlace (Center For Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence).

Her speaking engagements have included:

Take Our Daughters To Work Day, Travis County Family Violence Task Force "Clothesline Project", The SAFE Conference on Self Defense, The Metropolitan Breakfast Club and The Austin Rotary Club.

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A bio by Arthur Wood that appeared in Folkwax, a free folk music newsletter on the web at: www.folkwax.com

Christine Albert
was born in Rome, Upstate New York, during 1955, the youngest of four children. Her mother was of French/Swiss stock. Although her parents weren't musically inclined, her older brother Rick was and he sparked Christine's interest in music. Albert studied the piano and flute from an early age. On her thirteenth birthday Christine was given her first guitar. Between her sophomore and junior high school years, Christine spent the summer in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with Rick. He had moved there a few years earlier, worked as a professional musician and his band was called, Honky De Luxe. Tony Gilkyson and his sister Lisa, now Eliza, were also members of this Rhythm and Blues/Soul band for a time. At the turn of the nineties, recalling the summer of 1970, Christine told me "I was very turned on by all the songwriting - New Mexico, the West, the mountains and the wide open spaces."

Although she returned to Rome and graduated from high school, Albert then enrolled in a college course in Albuquerque. A year later she went on the road with Honky DeLuxe, acting as nanny for Eliza's children. Aged nineteen, Albert formed her first band Ozone Express, initially toured within New Mexico and later throughout the Southwest. She recalled, "Classic country was our speciality. Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Lynn Anderson and Tammy Wynette tunes. We also played some Country Rock and material associated with Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt." Christine also worked with Eliza Gilkyson's Turquoise Trail Band, as a backing vocalist. Back to my early nineties interview, "I wanted to be around her, because she was doing original music. I wanted to see how that felt, and knew I could learn a lot from her as a performer and a stylist."

In the summer of 1981, while touring Texas with Eliza, the Turquoise Trail Band played a couple of dates in Austin. Christine met Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and David Halley during that trip, and later returned to play more club dates. In 1982 Christine Albert moved to the Texas state capitol and continues to be a resident to this day. Within a couple of months she met Ernie Gammage who had played in such seminal Central Texas bands as Plum Nelly, and the Austin All Stars. They became a couple and over time Christine established herself as an in demand, backing vocalist. In early 1985 Christine cut demos of five of her songs, and later that year, supervised by Mark Hallman, cut five more. Albert, accompanied by Gammage and Texas guitar legend John Inmon, played the Kerrville Folk Festival that year, and her performance of "Take Me Dancing" later appeared on the festival's Live Highlights album. Across The Miles, Christine's debut album (a cassette only release) surfaced in early 1986. Albert's song publishing was credited to Sutters Gold, a reference to her mother's maiden name, and to a distant relative, John A. Sutter, who was associated with the discovery of gold in California, circa 1848. In the summer of 1986, Albert toured Europe.

Although initial contact was made with CBS in 1986, it wasn't until March 1988 that Albert signed an eight album recording deal with the label. With one album in the can, produced by Don Potter [guitarist for The Judds], and its July 1989 release date a matter of weeks away, the label released her from the contract. Larry Hamby, who had signed Albert during his tenure as head of the label's A&R Dept. was caught in a corporate reshuffle, and the label's interest in her album appeared to cool. The following year Christine's You Are Gold was another self-released cassette only recording, on the Gambini Global label. "Joie De Vivre [The Joy of Life]," one of the outstanding tracks on You Are Gold, which she co-penned with Verlon Thompson, led Christine to her next recording project.

Produced by Mitch Watkins, TexaFrance became Albert's first CD release, and the songs, mostly covers plus two originals, celebrated her European heritage. The High Road was her final Gambini Global release, and Underneath the Lone Star Sky appeared on the short-lived Dos imprint, an Antone's subsidiary. In the late nineties Albert formed a new partnership, with South Dakota born guitar slinger, Chris Gage, a veteran of the Red Willow Band. Gage also spent time on the road with Roy Clark and had worked with Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The pair made their debut as Boxcars, with the co-produced collection Jumpin' Tracks. The pair went on to issue a number of recordings under the name Albert & Gage. Albert's first official solo recording for some seven years, TexaFrance - Encore! appeared in the late Spring of 2003. Discography:

Solo: Across The Miles cassette only [1986]; You Are Gold cassette only [1990]; TexaFrance [1992]; The High Road [1993]; Under The Lone Star Sky [1995]; Christmas With Christine initially a limited edition cassette release, CD version 2000 [1995]; TexasFrance - Encore! [2003]:

Albert & Gage [with Chris Gage]: Jumpin' Tracks [1997]; Burnin' Moonlight [2001]; One More Christmas [2001]; Albert and Gage At Anderson Fair [2003]:

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