Chris Barron, Sam Ness
Best known as the main doc in Spin Doctors (surely you recall 1991's “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” and “Two Princes”), Chris Barron will headline a singer/songwriter showcase fundraiser for the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund’s Crescendo On Wisconsin campaign. The statewide campaign was created to provide emergency energy and rental assistance during the pandemic to entertainment industry workers — from musicians to crew to venue personnel. Sam Ness, the 2021 Madison Area Music Awards Male Vocalist of the Year, will open the show. Tickets here.
media release: The Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund’s Crescendo On Wisconsin campaign is proud to announce the next fundraising event in the Singer/Songwriter Showcase series at Funk’s Pub in Fitchburg, WI on February 24, 2022 featuring Chris Barron of Spin Doctors with special guest Sam Ness. This seated event is an intimate, limited-capacity listening room experience.
Tickets are on sale now at http://cowcampaign.com • $20 ADVANCE / $25 DAY OF SHOW
Barron is best known for his hit songs “Two Princes” and “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” by his band Spin Doctors.
This event is a fund and awareness-raising event for the Crescendo On Wisconsin (COW) campaign. COW provides a hand up by assisting entertainment industry workers (artists, musicians, stage and sound crew, venue workers, etc.) with obtaining much-needed financial assistance for keeping a roof over their heads or their heat and power on through the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund.
For more information and TICKETS: http://cowcampaign.com
FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/
EVENT LOCATION: Funk’s Pub, 5956 Executive Dr., Fitchburg, WI 53719
More on the performers:
Chris Barron:
The zeitgeist is a moving target, and Chris Barron has always been a crack shot. The New York songwriter is no longer the debutant who set out on the circuit’s sharp end in 1988 with $100, a battered acoustic and a headful of the alt-rock anthems that would elevate Spin Doctors to global stardom. He’s a veteran approaching 50, living in a world changed beyond recognition, compelled to write the music that chronicles the here-and-now. As far back as he can remember, he’s had a hunger driving him onward, towards something just out of reach. In 2017, it propels him to Angels and One-Armed Jugglers (due out October 20 on Chrysanthemum Records), the culmination of a lifetime’s craft and a record both contemporary and classic.
Ask Barron for a pivotal moment from his journey and he’ll rewind the reels to a high-school music theory class, where a cherished teacher advised him to “learn the rules so that you can break them.” Almost four decades later, that same irreverent wisdom hangs over Angels and One-Armed Jugglers. In a cynical era of songwriting by committee, these eleven songs rip up the verse/chorus template, eschew the stock lyrical themes and crash thrillingly among genres, as this fascinating songwriter acts entirely on instinct. “I’ve taken stock of everything I’ve learned about music,” says Barron, “and I’ve got to a point now where I’m just following my nose. These songs range from old jazz standards to funky beer-hall folk tunes. But I’ve never really been that interested in genres. I’m just interested in songs. I think the reason it’s so eclectic is because the songs were chosen more thematically than based on genre.”
With the ever-questing Barron at the bow, the Spin Doctors were bound to have a fascinating evolution. A four-album hot streak in the ’90s established them as a heavyweight of the era, and since the line-up reconvened in 2001 (a reunion sparked by the imminent closure of the iconic Wetlands club, where they cut their teeth), there’s been acclaim for 2005’s Nice Talking to Me, before 2013’s If the River Was Whiskey reconnected them with the Delta-inspired tunes from early days in New York’s blues clubs. “I love being in the Spin Doctors,” says Barron. “We’ve been playing together a very long time — thousands of stage hours, time in the studio, time in vans — and I feel like we’re now in this really cool phase of our career. I have no intention of leaving the group. This solo project is really about learning and just expressing the broadness of my musicality. Because as a composer and a lyricist, I can’t fit everything I do into the Spin Doctors.”
Sam Ness:
At 24 years old, many people have a quick double-take when meeting Sam Ness. “His hair and beard conjure images of Jim Morrison circa 1969, and, like Morrison, Ness writes poetry that he sets to music and prefers the character of old European cities. But Ness isn’t as lost as Morrison was” (Wisconsin State Journal). But it’s not just his looks that often surprise. After leaving his small hometown of Sauk City, WI, Sam has already seen and lived more than most could in several lifetimes.
Sam started seriously writing his own songs at age 15, and started religiously playing 8 open mic nights a week in Madison, WI as soon as he got his drivers license. This landed him his first residency gig performing weekly at Madison’s Tip Top Tavern. While his family and friends urged him to pursue theater, Sam felt connected to his songwriting and needed to see it through first.
With several scholarships to study theater in New York, California, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Wyoming, Sam rejected them all when he felt called to take some time to travel. With his guitar, a rucksack, and a few hundred dollars, Sam was given a one-way ticket to Edinburgh, Scotland by a fan he had briefly met. After he landed, he quickly ran out of money. He befriended the staff at a hostel while he learned the craft of busking (street performing). After he spent months honing his skill, he hitch-hiked and hopped busses for almost a year across Scotland, England, France, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland, sleeping in hostels, people’s couches, and occasionally in the street.
Sam returned home to Wisconsin shortly before he turned 19. He started building a following in his home, as well as recording his first full album, “Whispered on the Wind” which landed him the Madison Area Music Awards 2018 Alternative Album of the Year shortly after receiving the Madison Area Music Association Breakthrough Artist Third Place Winner 2017. He made a promise to perform for his livelihood, or starve to death, and so far he’s still playing music, and loving every moment of it.
Sam returned home to keep touring the following summer. Come Autumn, Sam got itchy feet again and decided to revisit his friends in the UK. He recorded a few ideas shortly before he left, then finished writing and mixing his sophomore album, “Lullabies & Faerie Tales” from his laptop during his journey. The album was nominated for several Madison Area Music Awards, and he was award the Male Vocalist of the Year 2019.
Knowing he couldn’t be on the road a while, in 2020 Sam took the opportunity to slow down and reflect on the last 1000 shows in the middle of Wisconsin’s Northwoods. He spent the winter isolated in a Cabin recording an album that was released in May 2021 called, The Cabin. Hitting the ground running, Sam left the cabin and played over 150 shows through the Summer of 2021.
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