Gantry, Chris

***The annals of Nashville, the 20th century’s immortal Music City, are filled with lore of the legends, as well as tales of the one-shots, the lesser-knowns and the delightful obscurities: singers, writers and players who had a moment, were a step away from stardom or just stood in the same room with the men and women whose names we know. Like the outlaw he defines himself as, CHRIS GANTRY doesn’t really fit in any of those boxes—and 50-plus years since he wrote his first and biggest hit, he’s still writing and singing, having lived to tell the tale of his serpentine but ultimately joyful path, a “Life Well Lived.” Now in his mid-70s, Gantry is still a consummate performer and an inveterate writer, appearing in performance as a lusty, genial man, grateful to have drunk of the experience he’s had, transcendent in that experience and ebullient in the moment of singing it. Nashlantis is the ninth record of Gantry tunes to be released since Chris moved to Nashville in early 1960. Then, he fell in with like-minded others: Shel Silverstein, Kris Kristofferson, Eddie Rabbitt, Vince Matthews and Mickey Newbury—guys working day and night to break into the business, writing and singing their way through the chaos of their youth. It was an intoxicating environment—everyone with his own vision, and Chris’s cosmic stirrings setting him a little apart from the rest. Recorded in Nashville with the legendary engineer ROB GALBRAITH, Nashlantis features 11 mesmerizing Gantry performances. Features guest harmony vocalists EDITH FROST and BILL CALLAHAN.