Chris Duarte

On two previous outings—his rockin’ roadhouse debut Texas Sugar/Strat Magik and his dynamic follow-up Tailspin Headwhack—Chris Duarte established himself as one of the most formidable fretboard scorchers on the contemporary blues-rock scene. With Love Is Greater Than Me, his Zoë/Rounder Records debut, the impressive, soul-drenched chops and aggressive attack are still very much intact but they’re tempered somewhat by Duarte’s blossoming as a songwriter.

“What I wanted to come up with in this material is real simple songs that have a good groove and a hard edge to it,” says the Texas guitar slinger. “The second album was pretty much an indulgence album. John and I had the most fun we ever had making Tailspin Headwhack, but I think it sort of alienated a large portion of our fans. They liked the intensity of it but they felt it was probably a little overproduced. On this album the playing is intense and unrestrained, but there’s some really well crafted tunes on it as well.”

Chris states himself in bold, authoritative terms in a broad spectrum of music on Love Is Greater Than Me, dipping into a bit of grunge on “Metaphor”, a taste of jazzy blues with “All Night”, a touch of downhome Chicago-style blues in “How Long”, a slice of nasty funk on “Paper Dolls”, a delicate chamber-like guitar feature entitled “Duarte e Ezell”, some fiery Santana-inspired Latin fusion on “Azul Ezell”, as well as the requisite trip down Hendrix lane with “Watch Out I’m A-Coming”.

Duarte explains that he had a very small window of opportunity to complete Love Is Greater Than Me.

“John (Jordan, bassist and longtime friend) and I felt that it had been long enough without a release and we wanted to get a product out this year for our fans. So we only had about a month to record it, mix it and hand it over to Rounder.”

The result is a recording that screams with all the energy and immediacy of a live performance, while also relying on the deft hand of producer (and former Stevie Ray Vaughan collaborator) Doyle Bramhall in the studio. “I think getting Doyle to produce it was a good decision,” says Chris. “He was very easy going in the studio. I played with Doyle years ago before his songs were on any Stevie Ray Vaughan album, back in ’82. And so it was cool to be hooked up with him again in that capacity. It was a very positive experience. Doyle did a great job with some of the songs that were pretty good songs to begin with. He came in there and sort of tightened the screws down and added a little bit here, put a little oil there, and made them better songs. So I really feel this is a real good starting point for me to show my maturity as a coming songwriter.”

Several of the songs on Love Is Greater Than Me have been played by the band live for the past year, with the exception of the single “Baddness.” Says Chris, “That song I pretty much wrote two days before we went into the studio. It’s just a straight-ahead rock tune, pretty much. Brevity is what I tried to go for here, just minimalist on the guitar solo because it’s just stickin’ with the groove.”

On the other hand, “Brand New Day” is a tune that he’s held onto for nearly seven years. “I wrote it with the T-Birds ’Tear It Up’ in mind,” says Duarte. “It used to be pretty much a straight ahead but rockin’ sort of tune, but Doyle changed it to a rockabilly-ish type tune. And my solo here is definitely paying tribute to Jimmie Vaughan.”

“Metaphor,” Chris’ grungey homage to Kurt Cobain, appears in both electric and acoustic versions while “Free 4 Me” is another heartfelt homage to Hendrix. Regarding his ongoing fascination with the late guitar god, Duarte says, “I’m not trying to be like Hendrix, I’m trying to emulate the spirit that Jimi left us with—that wild, incendiary type playing that I love so much. Hendrix had this very free spirit that came across in his music. When he played, the guitar really sang, it told a story. And that’s what I get—that very loose, storytelling feeling—when I get close to even a tenth or a hundreth of what Hendrix was doing.”

A native of San Antonio, Texas, where he was reared on punk and hard rock, Duarte gravitated to the bustling music scene of Austin, at the age of 16, at a time when local guitar hero Stevie Ray Vaughan was still making the rounds of Austin-area clubs. The aspiring guitarist counts himself among the lucky few who got to see SRV at the Continental Club before the late guitarist got his first big break with rock star David Bowie. Following a short stint in an Austin jazz band—a period in which he soaked up the music of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and John McLaughlin—Duarte jumped knee-deep into a blues bag with Bobby Mack and Night Train, and later with Junior Medlow and the Bad Boys, slowly building a reputation as one of the most promising new guitarists on the fiercely competitive Texas music scene.

Signed to New York-based Silvertone Records, his 1994 debut was critically acclaimed, earning him “Best New Talent” recognition in Guitar Player magazine’s 1995 Reader’s Poll. That same year, Chris finished fourth in Guitar World’s “Best Blues Guitarist” category behind legends Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and B.B. King. Duarte maintained his momentum on his highly eclectic follow up, Tailspin Headwhack. A restlessly creative spirit, he continues to evolve from record to record rather than rely on any same ol’ proven formula. “I don’t like to stand still for very long, I wanna keep moving,” he says. “I never want to find myself stuck in one thing, I always want to keep exploring. It’s important to me that I keep evolving. And I feel that I have to keep that attitude if I ever want to get better at my craft.”

The search may be ongoing but one of the rewards along the way is developing an artistic signature that people will come to instantly identify. “I’m trying to find my own voice with all these influences that have helped me grow and mature this way,” says Duarte. “And I have so many voices inside of me talking—probably a lot worse than Sybil—and I’m just trying to get them all out. I’m trying to find some voice of my own in there because I want people to know, “ Hey, that’s Chris Duarte!” when they hear it. I want my own distinguishable voice.”

With the release of Love Is Greater Than Me, Chris Duarte is well on his way to accomplishing that goal.

:: Discography ::

2003 - Romp -
2000 - Love is Greater Than Me -
1997 - Tailspin Headwhack -
1994 - Texas Sugar/Strat Magik -
1987 - Chris Duarte & The Bad Boys -

:: Contact ::

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