One of the leaders of the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti folk scene, Chris writes seminal folk songs that are at once new and old, rock and sometimes not roll, but all seem to reel you in with the intensity of voice, lyricism, and depth.

For those in and around the Ann Arbor vicinity it's difficult to speak about Chris without spiraling towards hyperbole. Now, as the remainder of the globe gets ready for their first glimpse at the talent who has risen to the top among the ever fruitful Michigan music scene, perhaps it's better that we stick with the facts surrounding Chris Bathgate.

Having drawn comparisons to Jeff Tweedy, Will Oldham, etc., Chris has risen from the ranks of everyday singer/songwriter to a national touring favorite, spending the early part of 2007 on the road with Saturday Looks Good to Me and making his first trip to the SXSW Music Festival. After releasing and selling out of two separate records on his own in 2006, he was recently named the Best Solo Artist in Michigan by Real Detroit Weekly and was approached by YerBird records to provide a track on their upcoming compilation featuring additions from the likes of Hayden, O'Death & Paleo.

Never wanting to rest on his laurels, 2007 saw Chris Bathgate team up with Quite Scientific Records to release his third full length, A Cork Tale Wake, and spend the remainder of '07 touring nationally for the first time. In the begining of 2008 Chris kept it coming by releasing the limited edition EP Wait, Skeleton., and embarking on a two week UK tour, to support the european release of A Cork Tale Wake by One Little Indian/Tangled Up!.

We couldn't be more excited to be a part of exposing Chris to the rest of the world. In an age of too much hype surrounding too little substance, it feels good to have an abundance of ability behind such anticipated releases.

QUOTES
  "If Bathgate has mastered one thing in his young and enormously promising career, it's the art of distilling alienation into bruised-sounding beauty."
            - NPR (Song of the Day)

  "You'd be misguided to pass up a performance or purchase."
            - Billboard

  "Very impressive... an album that finds hard won triumph in the darkest of circumstances"
            - CLASH

  "In the saturated parade of indie singer-songwriters, Michigan native Chris Bathgate carries enough bleak, brooding identity to gain attention beyond the Sufjan Stevens crowd."
            - The Onion AV Club

  "It's the unexpected ways he fleshes out the heartache in his voice that makes this album such a melancholy treasure"
            - HARP Magazine

  "Best Solo Artist: Make no bones about it, Chris Bathgate writes extremely smart and beautiful indie folk pop.
            - Real Detroit Weekly

  "A Cork Tale Wake is full of gems... This is an album, and talent, worthy of your most careful attention."
            - Popmatters

  "Chris Bathgate is one of the stars of yet another Ann Arbor folk generation."
            - Metro Times