New Album From Chris Henry is Entirely Free

Chris Henry is a devoted student of Bill Monroe’s music but casual listeners to his new — and free — album, Making My Way To You,  might easily overlook his more traditional leanings.

Indeed the songs on Making My Way To You draw from a very deep well of influences that range from straight ahead bluegrass to hip hop.

Download The Album HERE .

“As someone who loves Bill Monroe so much, the last lesson to learn from him was not to do just what he did,” says Henry, the son of noted bluegrass veterans Red and Murphy Henry.  “He expected music to grow, not to become stagnate. If you’re going to follow his model,  learn what he did and be progressive with it.  Be yourself.  I’m not interested in making a career out of ‘bluegrass theater’.”

Monroe himself was a revolutionary figure in the music world, Henry points out. The Father of Bluegrass brought influences to country music that were at the time largely unheard of, blending modern black influences of blues and jazz music with hillbilly, folk and old time Celtic.  

While Henry grew up in the bluegrass and folk circles, he has followed a natural muse that has opened his own sound to country, rock and hip-hop music. “I’ve not tried to sequester myself from any of the modern influences, and even though you can’t hear it distinctly, the hip-hop is there,” Henry says.  “In fact, one line in my song, ‘Down’ is directly lifted from GZA of the Wu Tang Clan.  ‘Medicine Man’ has drums similar to ones I would use for a hip-hop track.”