We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chris Ahlman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Chris, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Last year in September 2022 I travelled to Nashville to record a new album of original music. For my last two albums I have been working with Grammy award winning songwriter/producer/teacher Cliff Goldmacher. This new one would be our third album together. Cliff is a true professional and working with him is always an amazing process. He is so connected to the music world. We co-produce when we work together, and part of the deal is that he provides the studio musicians. To give you an idea, we’ll be sitting in the studio and Cliff will say, “how about we get James Taylor’s fiddle player to play on this song?” I’m like, “are you kidding me!?” The most important thing for me and my career right now is to create really good quality music that people can truly enjoy. That’s number one for me. In terms of meaningful projects, this new album comes to mind as the most meaningful I have done. The name of the album is “TheSunCrashers” and it is set for release on February 26th this year, 2023. The quality of the music we came up with is really something special. There are a couple songs that rock out, a couple mellow slower songs, and some right in the middle. Not only did we get James Taylor’s fiddle player, Andrea Zonn, we had Kerry Marx on lead guitar for all the songs. Kerry, also a Grammy winner, is music director at Grand Ole Opry and has played along side Johnny Cash, John Legend, Taylor Swift, you name it… Kerry’s wife Catherine played piano and Hammond B3 on a number of the tracks. She recently played with Willie Nelson and tours with Reba. You begin to see the level of talent that we got together for this new album. The whole experience of being in the studio with these musicians is something I will never forget. The music we came up with is by far the best work I have done musically. This is definitely my most meaningful project.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I currently call the San Francisco Bay Area my home, and have lived here for most of my life. For the last roughly fifteen years I have been playing music as a career. Music has been a part of my life since I was very young. My Mom started me at piano lessens early on, along with some voice lessons. I played a little saxophone in middle school and picked up the guitar at 15. For high school I went to a boarding school in Southern California called Cate School. It was here that I started to come into my own, writing songs, and excelling academically. I also was deeply involved in theater and had a number of leading roles on the stage. My first concert of original music I performed in the library senior year. I was accepted to UC Berkeley for college and opted to major in history to learn about the world. I stepped away from theater and started to spend more time playing music. I began going to an open mic near campus every Sunday night where I got comfortable playing my music in front of crowds. One thing that helped me stand out and begin to have some success was my focus on playing original music that I had written myself. To this day that is something I still pride myself on. During my college years, I spent some time in a couple of studios, learning and becoming comfortable with that environment. I even picked up a gig playing every Friday at the bar on campus, The Bear’s Lair. After graduating from UC Berkeley in 2004 I set out with an open mind to see what life had in store for me next. Soon thereafter I ended up getting offered a gig playing for free coffee and tips at a local coffee shop. After one of my gigs there a woman approached me saying she enjoyed my music and that she knew the GM at the local Hilton where they do live music, and that I should use her name to see about playing there. Well they ended up hiring me to play every Saturday night for about two years. During this time I started really having some success… Getting into some new studios and recording more, playing a lot of new gigs and venues, and writing a bunch of new music… Since then I really haven’t looked back. These days I average 100+ shows per year. I’ve played from New Orleans to San Diego, Nashville and Los Angeles up to Oregon. I have done a number of weddings over the years, had some good radio exposure, done a couple of music videos, and just finished my fifth studio album, The SunCrashers, set to release soon on all the platforms. I am most proud to say that I do what I love for a living. I provide good music that people can enjoy and appreciate. I’ve been doing mostly solo gigs recently, just me singing and playing acoustic guitar. But I do play gigs with other musicians from time to time as well.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I used to smoke cigarettes. And did so for about 10 years. There came a time when I realized it was conflicting with my singing probably not good for my overall health either. So I found some strength and stopped. I haven’t had one for going 12 years.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

As I alluded to before, quite simply my main goal is just to create really good music for people to experience and enjoy. Although some of my side goals are to- get an opening spot for a bigger name act, get my music into movies, tv etc… and get that elusive hit single…

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chrisahlman.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/chrisahlmansongs
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/chrisahlmanmusic
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-ahlman-5a48294/
• Twitter: @chrisahlman
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNt83qF-NAmGDJjWGJ2uLA

Image Credits
Sarah Goldmacher Ron Essex Photography