Chris Knowles

Musical biography......

Chris started out playing electric and acoustic guitars during the late 60's and early 70's- mainly blues, folk and rock music. He went on to explore and play many other instruments including tin whistle, fiddle, shakuhachi, bouzouki, mandolin, low whistle, appalachian dulcimer, bowed psaltery, hammered dulcimer, alto and soprano saxophones, and various styles of music including bluegrass, appalachian old-time, and in particular traditional Irish music.
Eventually taking up the Celtic harp in 1986, he committed to it as his main instrument, playing Celtic music in particular, with Irish bouzouki as his main second instrument. After a couple of years, he started working as a freelance musician full-time, and has done so ever since.

Chris has played solo harp performances including public concerts and recitals, folk clubs, festivals, theatre productions, background music in hotels, restaurants and art exhibitions, and a very large number of private bookings including weddings, garden parties, corporate events and cruise ships. He was CADW's official minstrel at Caernarfon castle for 9 years, from 1991-1999, and performed for numerous events for CADW at many other castles & historic sites throughout Wales. He also has done session recording & live session work for various studios and artists, and on TV & radio programs. 

He was a member of the original line-up of Welsh folk band 'Gwerinos' 1987-89, but left the band to concentrate on solo and duo work.

In 1988 he formed a duo with an uilleann piper, Allan Moller, and throughout the 1990's they performed at many folk clubs, festivals, arts centres, and other venues all over the UK. At the time they were one of very few acts in the world playing uilleann pipes and Celtic harp together in a duo. Their appearances included concerts, live radio features, and they headlined at festivals including Pontardawe International Music Festival Festival (1989 & 1990), Isle of Islay Celtic Festival(1990 & 1991), Glastonbury Celtic Festival (1991), Edinburgh Folk Festival (1991) and Strathearn Festival (1995). They also played privately for H.M. Queen Elizabeth II at Conwy Castle in 1991.

In the mid-90's Chris and Allan teamed up with traditional Welsh music trio 'Hin Deg' (renowned Welsh singer Heather Jones, fiddle & bouzouki player Mike Lease, and fiddle & bodhran player Jane Ridout). This 5-piece band was called 'Hafren', and they played concerts, festivals (including Cambridge folk festival 1996, and headlining at Crawley and Aberfeldy folk festivals) and appeared on live radio sessions and several TV programmes for BBC, HTV and S4C. 

Another musical partnership during this time was a duo with acclaimed acoustic guitarist Anthony Griffiths, and Chris guested on 9 tracks of Anthony's CD "Ysbryd".

In 1998 Chris and Allan formed a trio called 'Howling at Ravens' with excellent jazz multi-instrumentalist Ben Walker, who also played trad. Irish music. Although this band was fairly short-lived (1998-2000), they played some concerts & festivals including Glastonbury Festival (1999), and they recorded a CD album 'Lovely Molly', which attracted considerable critical acclaim in trad. folk music circles. It was played on radio including Mike Harding's folk programme on BBC Radio2, plus a 1 hour special feature with live interview on Radio Scotland, and various radio stations in the USA and Canada. (See album page for some reviews).

Chris was a member of contemporary folk band 'Roam' (1999-2003) with singer/songwriter/guitarist Colin Rudd, singer Rachael Anne Davies, and Jayne Coyle on viola. When Jayne left the band due to her classical music commitments, she was replaced by Ben Walker on flutes, pipes & fiddle. Roam recorded two CDs, and played many folk clubs and several folk festivals, including Fylde (2001 & 2003) and Saltburn (2002 & 2003).

Since 2004, Chris has performed mainly either solo, or in a duo with Ben Walker, mostly in the UK but also including a short tour of concerts in Canada in 2005. They have recorded several duo albums; both of traditional Celtic music, and also of Ben's songs, which are of a more contemporary folk-jazz genre.

Between 2008-2013, Chris played numerous gigs (mainly private, for weddings etc.) in duo with fiddler Gary Matthewson.

Since 2009, Chris has played occasional performances with singer/songwriter Catrin O'Neill as a duo, and a trio including Mike Lease, and this trio recorded Catrin's album 'Cegin Nain' together in 2009.

Chris regularly plays fiddle, whistle, sax and other instruments with the North Wales based Mooncoin Ceilidh Band.

He also often plays sessions and gigs of various kinds of music (rock/pop/blues/jazz/folk) on sax and mandocaster, with musicians in and around his home area of North- & Mid-Wales.

He is available for live and recording session work.

 

CV - Timeline of some past performances
CV - list of some past performances

        



 

 

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