In the process of writing a music blog, one tends to look harder for good music than the average end user does. As a result, you tend to encounter injustices from time to time. The absolute lack of coverage of Chris Bathgate’s album Throatsleep is one such injustice. With criminally few articles about him out there and only a myspace site in his support, one could miss Chris Bathgate even if you were searching under rocks for talent. Had it not been for Songs:Illinois regular mentioning of him, I probably would have. So I figure, what the hell, I’ll try and add a little to his Google footprint, Lord knows he deserves it.

Chris Bathgate is a leading player in what is apparently a rather prolific folk scene in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His version of folk music features him on his guitar or piano, with backing instruments ranging from banjos to horns. There is something cozy and familiar about his voice that pulls me into his songs and makes it feel as though he is singing to me, and me alone. Most of the time, I find that singer/songwriter folk albums tend to have 3 or 4 strong tracks and then a large collection of tracks that will never make it to the iPod. There really aren’t too many tracks on the self-released Throatsleep that I can say will not be making the move from CD to iPod.

Hopefully, overall Bathgate awareness will increase in the coming future. He recently hooked up with Quite Scientific to put out A Cork Tale Wake, his newest album, which was released on July 26. Hopefully he will get on the road and begin to show the rest of the country why The Detriot Free Press named him “Best Solo Artist in Michigan”.

Chris Bathgate – Creak, Cure, Dawn
Chris Bathgate – Buffalo Girl
Chris Bathgate – We Die

Chris Bathgate’s Official Site, Chris Bathgate on myspace, Buy Chris Bathgate’s music