BIO
Songwriter and artist Kristy Krüger has an extensive
history in music that spans classical, jazz, folk, and rock
genres. Throughout the course of her career as a pianist
and composer, Krüger won a multitude of state, national,
and international awards for jazz and classical composition
and performance. When she shifted gears into the world of
the singer/songwriter, she brought a broad spectrum of influences
with her, ranging from Hank Williams, Sr. to Miles Davis
as she criss-crossed the country, touring alone for over
six years. Her untraditional jazz-influenced approach to
folk music has carried her throughout the United States,
and secured her status as a favorite in her hometown of
Dallas, Texas. The Dallas Morning News says she has grown
into one of the most eclectic singers in the area, citing
her as a “female Tom Waits.” Krüger has
also received two nominations for Best Acoustic Act and
recently won the 2006 Dallas Observer Music Award from Dallas’
leading entertainment weekly for Best Female Vocalist.
With a wealth of life experiences from her solo journeys,
Krüger is also an engaging storyteller and essayist.
She has contributed to Public Radio International's This
American Life and even made a fan out of the show’s
host Ira Glass. In addition to these efforts, Krüger
has released four full-length albums. Her latest, Songs
From a Dead Man’s Couch, is a meeting of her Texas
Americana roots, her love of New Orleans-style jazz, her
not-so-sunny disposition, and a touch of the cosmic –
a sound she’s calling: “Ameritronica.”
Krüger began studying classical piano at age five.
She studied jazz at the Dallas Arts Magnet, whose alumni
includes Norah Jones, Edie Brickell, and Erykah Badu. There
her strength became composition. By the time she was 17
the Texas Music Teachers’ Association presented her
with an award for winning more musical awards than any other
high school senior in the state of Texas, leading to scholarships
at the country’s best music schools.
Krüger chose the University of Southern California
in Los Angeles where she majored in Music Industry. During
this period, she began writing songs on piano and guitar
and released her debut album, Bachelor of Apathy in 1998.
Upon completing her degree at USC, Krüger relocated
to her native Texas and began booking her own tours, performing
solo across the country and released a second album, The
Noise I Make.
In 2003 Krüger relocated to New Orleans where she
recorded a third album, An Unauthorized Guide to the Human
Anatomy, an elaborate anatomical concept album, with Dave
Pirner of Soul Asylum and Andrew Gilchrist, long-time engineer
for Ani DiFranco. Krüger produced the record playing
piano, guitar, mandolin, banjo, and was able to put her
classical counterpoint skills to work, composing background
vocals that move like string arrangements throughout the
album. Anatomy also won Best Female Singer/Songwriter Album
of the Year at the Just Plain Folks International Independent
Music Awards.
After six years of touring the country alone, Krüger
recently released her fourth album, Songs From a Dead Man’s
Couch, a title which came about from her writing songs on
the second-hand couch of a dead man. The title suits this
collection of dark and deliberate songs and her voice sounds
of a lone, well-traveled woman. She gives a nod to her Texas
roots, offering up a sullen, classic country influence on
several numbers. There is also a definite hint of New Orleans
in her writing, inspired by the traditional jazz she heard
while living there. Other tracks offer a fusion of dark
Americana and electronics, a sound Krüger is calling
“Ameritronica.” Engineer Ethan Allen, who has
worked with countless artists, including Emmylou Harris,
Lucinda Williams, and more recently Gram Rabbit and the
88s, put the finishing touches on the record. Krüger
produced the record, leaving some tracks raw and layering
others with ambient electric guitars, keyboards and her
latest instrumental endeavor, the pedal steel.
