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Concerts & Events

Friday, April 11, 2025  ·  8:00 PM CDT

Chris Walz

4545 N Lincoln Ave · The Myron R. Szold Music & Dance Hall · 773.728.6000


Chris Walz, a musician, a performer, and esteemed educator at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music for roughly the past three decades, brings his considerable talents to fruition in the release of All I Got and Gone. Influenced by legendary greats such as Doc & Merle Watson and Tony Rice to Elizabeth Cotten, Etta Baker, Dave Van Ronk, and Woody Guthrie, All I Got and Gone pays homage to these and other of Chris's most pivotal musical influences.

Chris's passion in discovering the music he now plays came from listening as a boy to the radio - including the “Bluegrass Ramble” on WCNY in upstate New York. Radio being the window into a new musical landscape broadened the young Chris Walz's desires, passions, and indeed aptitudes, resulting in him becoming the respected and multi-dimensional artist he is today. With the release of All I Got and Gone, Chris brings his well-lauded, Chicago-based talents to the national audience it deserves.

During his youth, excited by hearing various programs from bluegrass to blues, it was one particular night that ignited Chris to figure out how to play fingerstyle on the guitar: he heard an entire show of Mississippi John Hurt music, and this was the genesis of Chris's style he plays on this album. You'll also hear strains of his favorite artists, along with his other influences including Blind Willie McTell, Stefan Grossman, and John Renbourn. Combined with Chris's resonant vocals, his intuitive prowess on the guitar, as his sole accompaniment, and a selection of songs that Chris puts his own unique stamp on, this album is a culmination of how these artists have helped shape Chris while honoring them all.

https://www.chriswalzmusic.com/