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Kristy was named Best Female Singer in the 2006 Dallas Observer Music Awards and The Dallas Morning News describes Kristy as "one of the most eclectic singers in the Dallas music scene. Imagine a female Tom Waits, produced by Daniel Lanois." Below is Kristy's bio and keep scrolling down if you'd like to read press quotes for "Songs From a Dead Man's Couch."
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Songwriter and artist Kristy Krüger has an extensive history in music that spans classical, jazz, traditional country, 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 shows 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 a second-hand couch, whose previous owner had passed away. 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.
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Press Quotes for Kristy's new album, "Songs From a Dead Man's Couch."
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One of my favorite interviews this year. Way more comments
about her than say, our coverage of Iraq.
-Ira Glass, Host of Public Radio International's "This American Life"
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Like a hot hand in the small of your back leading you to the
dance floor you are powerless to resist.
-David Cowling, Americana-UK.com, The largest resource for
Americana in the UK
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One of the most eclectic singers in the Dallas music scene.
Imagine a female Tom Waits, produced by Daniel Lanois.
-Thor Christensen, The Dallas Morning News
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Kristy Krüger has confidence and thoughtfulness and an artistic sensibility that reflects a caring, sensitive soul.
-Edie Brickell
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Far from a typical self-released set. A startlingly mature work, full of whispered secrets and quiet affections.
-Darryl Smyers, The Dallas Observer
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.A heavy-lidded Dallas Americana songstress with the vox and
gumption to remake Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again"
as a bluegrass rambler.
-Chris Gray, The Austin Chronicle
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Kristy's the only female singer I've ever heard that reminds
me of Johnny Cash.
-John Cross, fan, Dallas, TX
