Ken Chapple & Another Country - "Shades Of Life"
  • Corita (new single 10/1/2020)
  • A Little More Time (new single 10/1/2020)
  • Willie Nelson (new single 10/1/2020)
  • Into My Arms (new single 10/1/2020)
  • Beautiful Day (New Single 2020-08-24)
  • Cutie Pie
  • Golden Belle
  • See Where She Goes
  • Pair Of Twos
  • Black River Cabin
  • Without Your Warmth
  • Salvation
  • Sweet White Clover
  • Crossing The Black
  • The Wheel
  • Corita (new single 10/1/2020)
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (03:32) [8.11 MB]
  • A Little More Time (new single 10/1/2020)
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (03:48) [8.7 MB]
  • Willie Nelson (new single 10/1/2020)
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (03:49) [8.74 MB]
  • Into My Arms (new single 10/1/2020)
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (04:24) [10.07 MB]
  • Beautiful Day (New Single 2020-08-24)
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (03:17) [7.53 MB]
  • Cutie Pie
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (03:32) [8.11 MB]
  • Golden Belle
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (03:07) [7.12 MB]
  • See Where She Goes
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (03:41) [8.43 MB]
  • Pair Of Twos
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (04:51) [11.1 MB]
  • Black River Cabin
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (03:11) [7.3 MB]
  • Without Your Warmth
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (03:59) [9.12 MB]
  • Salvation
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (05:06) [11.68 MB]
  • Sweet White Clover
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (04:58) [11.36 MB]
  • Crossing The Black
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (06:16) [14.36 MB]
  • The Wheel
    Genre: Bluegrass
    MP3 (04:29) [10.26 MB]
Debut Record From Flatpicker + Singer/Songwriter Ken Chapple

Summary

Ken is an artist active in the Pacific Northwest bluegrass scene, and is about to release his debut record, Crossing The Black on September 18th, 2015. He is running a self-propelled, DIY pre-order campaign. You are welcome to share the pre-order campaign page, which can be found at kenchapple.com/ctb.
About Crossing The Black

Ken’s debut record is called Crossing The Black, and contains 10 tracks of original material recorded at Big Red Studio with Billy Oskay, engineer. For the first time, Ken is the sole songwriter, arranger and producer for the record. The record’s namesake is the Black River in upstate New York, where Ken spent most of his weekends and summers as a child; Songs inspired by his family’s Black River cabin are intermixed with his life experiences while living in Portland.

“The biggest inspiration behind recording Crossing The Black was leaving Portland and my families upcoming move to Asheville, NC…”

It has been over 12 years now, since Ken moved Portland. His leaving the city prompted him to assemble a collection of songs that represented his life up until this pivotal moment, including falling in love with his wife, Michelle, and meeting his daughters. The record is also intended to showcase some of the brightest and bravest acoustic musicians in the Portland area.

“Crossing The Black features some of the finest musicians I have come to know through my bluegrass community, and one of my goals was to show North Carolina and the world the fabulous musicianship of this hand-picked group of Northwesterners.”

Stream Crossing The Black

Ken's Bio

Bluegrass flatpicker and singer/songwriter, Ken Chapple, out of Portland, OR, has always challenged himself and stretched the boundaries of his field. Ken is in the midst of releasing his debut record of 100% original material. After two records, and countless shows with Wayward Vessel, and songwriting partner Julie Schmidt, Ken is branching out with his own record, and his own brand of acoustic music. Once again he is stretching the musical boundaries of his bluegrass genre, as well as the norms of music production and release.


Ken has studied guitar since he was 12 years old, strumming Grateful Dead, Neil Young and Bob Dylan songs with his older brother, Matt. Ken discovered bluegrass and flatpicking guitar while attending college at SUNY Fredonia in early the 2000s, where he studied classical guitar and computer science. At Fredonia, Ken stumbled upon a group of musicians who were picking fiddle tunes, and singing high lonesome songs. He followed that trail, which led to Tony Rice, David Grier and Clarence White who remain Ken’s biggest guitar influences.

It was Ken’s heavy interest in newgrass, especially Psychograss (Gavid Grier, Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, Tony Trischka and Todd Phillips,) that drew Ken out to Portland, Oregon in 2002 to visit west coast friends, and attend the Northwest String Summit, where David Grisman and Psychograss were participating in Yonder Mountain Stringband’s new festival.


After an exhilarating weekend at the String Summit, Ken decided to move to Portland. He relocated to Portland the following summer, where he attended graduate school at Portland State University for computer science, and later met his wife, and began a career track in music.

Ken formed Wayward Vessel in 2009 when he met fiddler Julie Schmidt at a Portland bluegrass jam. Wayward Vessel has enjoyed several years of success, releasing two records, and performing on stages all over the NW, including Wintergrass, Bluegrass From The Forest, Wheeler County, and 2nd place finish at the 2012 Telluride Bluegrass festival band competition.

Ken currently lives in Portland, OR with his wife Michelle, daughters Ruth (3) and Cora (3mo,) dog Sammy and cat Cleo. In addition to music, Ken also works on open source software development (OpenEMR) and also works with his wife on her blog and educational resource for textile designers.

In September, Ken is looking forward to relocating to Asheville, North Carolina, to be closer to his family in Greenville, Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina. This record Crossing The Black will serve as an introduction to the musical community in Carolina, and a farewell to his friends in Portland.
Unique Release Strategy

Alongside the unique music, Ken is trying something different with his release plan. Instead of doing a Kickstarter, or a PledgeMusic campaign, Ken is using his experience with blogging and software development to launch a release campaign, which uses completely FREE toolset, including WordPress, Woocommerce, PaidMembership Pro, Mailchimp and Stripe and Paypal. The challenge is to show that artists have the option to take charge of their own independent release, and still generate significant sales, without the use of a corporate platform. He uses a similar model to that of PledgeMusic, by driving traffic to a single sales page using enticing media and gifts to encourage fans to participate in pre-orders. Ken will make his strategy and platform open to the public on his blog in the upcoming weeks leading up to the release.
Crossing The Black Credits

All songs written, arranged and produced by Ken Chapple, ASCAP

Crossing The Black (UPC 888295287876)

Cutie Pie 3:32 [ISRC US-B8D-15-00030]
Golden Belle 3:06 [ISRC US-B8D-15-00031]
See Where She Goes 3:41 [ISRC US-B8D-15-00032]
Pair Of Twos 4:51 [ISRC US-B8D-15-00033]
Black River Cabin 3:11 [ISRC US-B8D-15-00034]
Without Your Warmth 3:59 [ISRC US-B8D-15-00035]
Salvation 5:06 [ISRC US-B8D-15-00036]
Sweet White Clover 4:57 [ISRC US-B8D-15-00037]
Crossing The Black 6:16 [ISRC US-B8D-15-00038]
The Wheel 4:29 [ISRC US-B8D-15-00039]

Total time: 43:08

Ken Chapple (guitar, lead vocals)
Lex Browning (fiddle, vocals on Cutie Pie, See Where She Goes, Black River Cabin, Salvation and Sweet White Clover)
Rob Wright (bass, vocals on Cutie Pie, Black River Cabin, Salvation and Sweet White Clover)
Peter Schwimmer (banjo)
Martin Stevens (mandolin)
Julie Schmidt (vocals on The Wheel)

Artwork by Lance Lovett
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Billy Oskay at Big Red Studio Corbett, OR. Assistant engineer Eric Broestl.
Ken’s vocals and guitar on Cutie Pie, vocals on Golden Belle, vocals on Pair Of Twos, vocals on Black River Cabin, vocals on Without Your Warmth, vocals on Salvation, vocals on The Wheel recorded in Ken’s Studio, Portland, OR, by Ken Chapple.
Lex’s and Rob’s vocals on Cutie Pie, Black River Cabin recorded at the Maproom, Portland, OR, by Ken Chapple.
Lex’s and Rob’s vocals on Salvation and Lex’s vocals on See Where She Goes recorded at Lex’s Studio, Portland, OR by Ken Chapple.

Thanks to this amazing band who worked hard to help me achieve my vision for this record and special thanks to Lex Browning for his encouragement, and lending me gear.

Thanks to my wife Michelle, my daughters Ruth and Cora, my dog Sammy and my cat Cleo for inspiration and motivation.

Thanks to my mother and father for providing me all of my opportunities to live and play at our Black River cabin.

Thanks to my sisters, my brother, all of my family and friends in the bluegrass community, and people that have touched me along this journey.

These songs are for you.


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11
  • Members:
    All songs written, arranged and produced by Ken Chapple. Ken Chapple (guitar/vocals)
  • Sounds Like:
    Tony Rice, Steep Canyon Rangers, James Taylor, Kenny Smith, Bela Fleck
  • Influences:
    Blue Highway, Tony Rice, David Grier, Kenny & Amanda Smith, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, James Taylor
  • AirPlay Direct Member Since:
    08/12/15
  • Profile Last Updated:
    03/19/24 13:08:04

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