SMALL BIO
Chris K is a third-generation musician whose roots run from Tin Pan Alley to modern Americana. A veteran of radio and touring bands, he’s played everything from English pubs to Northern Colorado’s biggest stages, opening for legends like Blackhawk, Guy Clark, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and Jim Lauderdale. Drawing on influences from the Marshall Tucker Band to Billie Joe Shaver and Dave Alvin, Chris delivers a Rocky Mountain inspired mix of heartfelt originals and timeless covers.
UPCOMING APPEARANCES
FRIDAY JAN 16 – Warehouse25sixty-five Grand Junction, CO
FRIDAY MAY 22 – Roots Music Project Boulder, CO (details coming)
SATURDAY MAY 23 – Fort Collins, CO (venue tbd)
PAST SHOWS – WHERE WE WERE IN ’25
- 17th Dacono Music & Spirits Festival
- 48th Cedaredge Applefest
- Fort Collins Music Experiment aka FoCOMX
- Fruita Downtown Concert Series
- Mesa Theater, Grand Junction
- Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids and Solids, Longmont CO
- Palisade Brewing Company
- Restoration Vineyards, Palisade CO
Chris K bio
Chris “K” started playing music as a child in the early 1960s, following in the footsteps of a family steeped in performance. His father was a jazz musician and actor, and his maternal grandfather had been a multi-instrumentalist during the Tin Pan Alley era of the 1920s and 30s.
At fifteen, Chris announced to his parents that he wanted to be a professional musician. His father replied, “learn to wash dishes, it’ll pay better”—but like most kids, Chris didn’t listen. In high school, his ambitions shifted toward theater, with plans to study acting in college. Those dreams were postponed when he joined the U.S. Air Force after graduation.
After his military service, Chris attended broadcasting school in Denver and launched his radio career in 1978. In 1981 he left Colorado again for Los Angeles and then to the Eastern seaboard where he toured with a contemporary Christian rock band and jammed alongside artists like Vicki Sue Robinson and Roger Ball (Average White Band).
Chris returned to Colorado in the mid-1980s and resumed work in radio while playing guitar with a popular Northern Colorado classic rock band. In the 1990s, he co-founded Alien Cowboy, a southern rock-inspired jamband that toured England before disbanding in 1999.
Since the formation of his current band, Goatz!, Chris has performed in direct support of country and Americana legendary acts, including Blackhawk, Guy Clark, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and Jim Lauderdale, performing at venues such as the iconic Mishawaka Amphitheatre, Washington’s FoCO, and countless breweries, distilleries, and back-alley bars across Colorado.
His musical influences span from the early country rock of Gram Parsons and New Riders of the Purple Sage, to the southern blues-rock of the Marshall Tucker Band, Little Feat, and the Allman Brothers, to the Americana alt-country wave of the 1990s.
Alongside his original songwriting, Chris also brings his own touch to songs by Billie Joe Shaver, Rodney Crowell, Dave Alvin, Merle Haggard, and other masters of the craft.
SOME OF THE ATISTS AND BANDS CHRIS’ PROJECTS HAVE PERFORMED IN DIRCT SUPPORT OF OVER THE YEARS
Blackhawk, Black Oak Arksansas, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Edgar Winter Band, Dave Mason, Firefall, Guy Clark, Jim Lauderdale, Johnny Van Zant Band, Marshall Tucker Band, Mickey & the Motorcars, Reckless Kelly.
SOME of the SONGs WE COVER
Alcohol and Pills (Fred Eaglesmith)
Big City (Merle Haggard)
Bob Away My Blues (Toy Caldwell)
Framed (Chris Knight)
Get Your Kicks On Route 66 (Bobby Troupe)
Glendale Train (John Dawson)
I Like Trains (Fred Eaglesmith)
I Wish It Would Rain (Rodney Crowell)
Long Way Home From Anywhere (Bruce Robison)
Mexico (Toy Caldwell)
Old Chunk of Coal (Billie Joe Shaver)
Rio Grande (Dave Alvin)
Swingin’ Doors (Merle Haggard)
T for Texas (Jimmie Rogers)
The Years Will Not Be Kind (Bernie Taupin, Raul Malo)
Things Going On (Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington)
Three Wooden Crosses (Kim Williams, Doug Johnson)
Turns to Tears (Chris Wall)
Who’s Gonna Build the Wall (Tom Russell)
Worry Be Gone (Guy Clark)
VIDEOS AND OTHER RECORDINGS
BANDCAMP …if you want to buy a download to support
SOUNDCLOUD …for some demos and other assorted tracks
YOUTUBE …videos from 2018-the most recent
48th CEDAREDGE APPLEFEST OCT 5, 2025
Chris K (guitar, vocals), Kyle Elliott (dobro, lap steel), Jon JD Davis (bass), Don Pokorny (drums)
FRUITA DOWNTOWN CONCERT SERIES JUNE 12, 2025
Chris K (guitar, vocals), Kyle Elliott (dobro, lap steel), Pete Langford (bass), Don Pokorny (drums).
GOATZ “LARGE BAND” LIVE – OCT 2019
Chris K (vocals, guitars), Chris Jackowski (guitars, vocals), Chris Kennison (pedal steel), Jackson Earles (fiddle, mandolin), Janeen Bogue (bass, vocals), Oscar Dezoto (drums). This was the final show for the large band.
GOATZ “STRING BAND” LIVE – JUNE 2019
Chris K (vocals, guitar), Chris Jackowski (guitar/vocals), Janeen Bogue (bass/vocals) and Jackson Earles (fiddle/mandolin).
SWEET INSPIRATION, TITLE TRACK FROM DEBUT EP – RELEASED MARCH 2019
Chris K (lead vox/guitar), Chris Jackowski (lead guitar/vox), Richard Hartrick (fiddle/mandolin/vox), Chris Kennison (dobro/pedal steel), Kalin Capra (bass), Mike Ray (drums) and special guest Angie Stevens. Recorded, mixed and mastered at Mighty Fine Productions in Denver with Colin Bricker in 2017 and 2018.
COUNTRY IN MY SOUL – LIVE AT THE MISHAWAKA AMPHITHEATRE – AUGUST 2017
Chris K (lead vox/guitar), Chris Jackowski (lead guitar/vox), Chris Kennison (pedal steel), Riley Ann (fiddle/vox), Janeen Bogue (bass/vox) and Oscar DeSoto (drums)
ONCE UPON A SNOWFLAKE – DECEMBER 2009
The only thing Miss Patti and I ever recorded together, although she sang with me for sixteen years. She wrote the lyrics based on a Christmas night story she and her three year old granddaughter dreamed up. Produced by John McVey. Recorded at Coupe Studios in Boulder.
PRESS/MEDIA
Colorado Sound DJ Chris Kresge’s Debut Album Honors His Late Wife
Album Review: Goatz! – Sweet Inspiration
Chris K's Colorado Playlist 