"At the tender young age of 21, Chip Cruz has established himself as Milwaukee's premier rising young talent. The gifted musician has shared the stage with such artists as Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Peter Mulvey, Monte Montgomery, The Little River Band, Rusted Root, Michael Glabicki, Bill Camplin, Sammy Llanas of the BoDeans, The Wailers, Sigmund Snopek III of The Violent Femmes, Paul Cebar and the Milwaukeeans, Dale Watson and his Lone Stars, Slide Hampton and STYX...Currently at work on his debut album with the help of fellow Wisconsin native, Willy Porter Chip is truly a star on the rise. "
- The Shepherd Express"His show is filled with energy and sounds like you've never heard before. Chip's one of a kind sound has captured audiences around the world!"-The Wicked Hop"Guitarist extraordinaire...That's not hype, he'll knock your socks off!"-Scott Mullins/88.9 Radio Milwaukee
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Beginnings…Chip Cruz made his world debut on Sept. 11, 1982 in Watertown, Wisconsin (about 40 miles east of Wisconsin's capitol, Madison.)Chip's love of music has been a constant in his life. "Ever since I can remember," he says. At age three, his Christmas present was an electric guitar (although he didn't start playing guitar until many years later). He began playing drums at age 10. Upright bass and cello were added to Chip's repertoire the next year. In school, he played in orchestra and jazz bands.While his life has been filled with music, his childhood was also filled with turmoil. Chip's father, Lee, was a chronic drug addict/ dealer "Heroin and cocaine were his favorites, but he would do everything under the sun, if he could score it.")He was also a criminal. "He dealt drugs, conned people, was a thief. Worst of all he used to beat my Mom. A lot."His father was also a paradox: On one hand, a man who's drug addiction left his family penniless and homeless. And a second man who introduced his son to "amazing music", wrote poetry and volunteered helping mentally retarded children.In and out of jail, Chip's father abandoned his son and wife when Chip was 10 years old. The last Chip heard of him, was in 2005 when Lee got out of prison in Texas, after serving six years. "For what, I don't know."It was Chip's mother, Jean, who was the only constant in Chip's childhood. "She put food on the table, kept me in school and encouraged me in my music. And she also took some beatings that were meant for me."At age sixteen, Chip formed a popular local band, Lathe. But a year later, disaster struck: A serious injury to his right hand left Chip with partial use of only his thumb and index finger.Unable to even hold a pick, it should have been a career-ending injury. Instead, fiercely determined to play music, Chip painstakingly developed a distinctive, complex style using the only two functional fingers on his right hand.A mind-boggling blend of fingerpicking and two-handed fretboard tapping, Chip's technique has been compared to such guitar innovators as Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, Keller Williams, Monte Montgomery and Stanley Jordan.Chip's 'chops' may grab an audience's attention, but for Chip it's merely a 'tool' for 'building' something far more important. "For me, it's all about the song," says Chip. "I don't want to be known as a 'monster guitarist'. I want to be a great musican who happens to play guitar."Chip's influences are widely varied: Sigur Ros (Iceland rock), Ry Cooder, Blackalicious (hip hop), Greg Brown (folk), Sublime (ska/punk), Thelonious Monk, and Rachmaninoff, just to name a few. Among his vocal influences: Greg Brown, Richie Havens, Tom Waitts, soul singer Bill Withers and soul-rocker Joe Cocker."it's like what Thelonious Monk says in that documentary "Straight, No Chaser" to a pesky journalist who's trying to categorize him," says Chip. "Hey man, I like all music."by Al Kammen, Guitar Picks..
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