King Chris II
By RAY PURVIS

ORIGINAL ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE WEST AUSTRALIAN 5 DECEMBER 2002

BLUES and roots musician Chris Wilson was so determined to ensure his new album, King For A Day, sounded exactly the way he
wanted, he recorded it twice - at great financial cost.

"The first version was beautifully played and beautifully produced," Wilson explains from his home in Melbourne, "but I felt I was the weak link in the chain. I'd been in a serious car accident not long before the first attempt to record the album and wasn't physically up to singing the songs."

So he shelved the tapes and enlisted famed Dingoes guitarist Kerryn Tolhurst to help arrange the songs and produce the album. "I sat down with Kerryn and tightened the whole thing up," he says. "This is the first time I've had a producer. Up to now I've done it by myself with an engineer. But I knew I was in safe hands because I've always been a big fan of The Dingoes."

The resulting album - recorded with Wilson's current band, Shannon Bourne (guitar), Chris Rogers (bass), Dave Foley (drums) and Kerryn Tolhurst on acoustic and electric guitar - is a tour de force of blues-influenced rock. King For A Day is his most musically diverse CD since 1998's The Long Weekend and reveals a country influence and even a touch of Sun Records-like rockabilly.

There is hardly a more stirring sight in Aussie music than the powerfully-built, head-shaven singer/songwriter prowling around the stage like a caged animal bellowing out the words to his songs and wailing away on his harmonica. " Touring is all we do," he says. "The band is sounding really tight and together."

During the 80s - while still keeping up his full-time day job as a teacher - the singer served his apprenticeship with pioneering Melbourne blues-rock bands Soul Twister and later Harem Scarem. In 1986 he started his own outfit Crown Of Thorns, that featured bass player Rogers, who is a member of Wilson's current backing band.

After two superb solo albums recorded in the early 90s - Landlocked and Live At The Continental - Wilson returned to his blues heritage by teaming with Perth-raised singer/guitarist Diesel on the exciting album Short Cool Ones. The CD featured exhilarating interpretations of songs written by Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf and Slim Harpo.

As well as pursuing his solo career, Wilson has played on dozens of album sessions for bands and
 musicians such as Paul Kelly, Deborah Conway, Chris Bailey, Boom Crash Opera and Hunters & Collectors. His turbo-charged harmonica playing can be heard to good effect on the instrumental break of Crowded House's song Chocolate Cake.

Wilson's last album for Mushroom Records, the sprawling 22-track The Long Weekend, was followed two years later by the independently recorded and released CD, The Spiderman. These days Wilson is in total control of his career. "Like every other independent bugger in the country, we're selling our albums at gigs after the show. It's just part of a new interface between musicians and their audience. You can't just run out the back, jump into your limo and go home."

© 2002 West Australian Newspapers Limited
All Rights Reserved.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE SUNDAY HERALD SUN 5 JANUARY 2003

THE stark cover of King For a Day shows a harp–wailing Chris Wilson, cigarette in hand, on some name–less stage, seemingly belting out the blues.

But this album is a far more gentle affair from one of Melbourne's music scene stalwarts–warts.

A dynamic stage performer with a world-class voice (he'd blow the likes of Joe Cocker into rock's backwaters), Wilson this time has chosen to stick firmly to the straight and mellow.

With a fair helping of country goodness (there's even a nod to some rockabilly), King For a Day is a pleasant listen. Perhaps too pleasant, be–cause Wilson's vocals with the right material can knock your socks off.

Highlights include Black Birding and Skin That You Once Wore, with the excellent Cyndi Boste on back-up vocals.

© 2003 Herald Sun
All Rights Reserved.