About


  "Be yourself, everyone else is taken."
-- Oscar Wilde

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Christine Cochran
¡Acousta-Punka-Folk-Rock!



Accolades
      Bio      Influences     Sounds Like
 

Accolades:

2011: Winner: Taylor & Elixir Strings online contest
2010: Pandora Internet Radio accepts Someone I'll Never Meet
2010: Publicist Signing: Jo Rae Di Menno, Hard Pressed Publicity
2010: Featured Artist: MS Windows’ – Playlist 7
2009: Featured Artist: Original Source Music
2008: Signs: Six Songs @ Original Source Music
2007: Winner: Sterling Sound – Emerging Artist Player
2007: Song Hold: Big Screen Entertainment "Baby Sitter Wanted"
2006: Featured Writer: ASCAP EXPO – Pop-Rock Listening Critique


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Bio

Singer, songwriter, rhythm guitarist, fine artist, writer, music publisher, label owner, raconteur.

Originally from Dallas, TX, Christine has also lived in London, New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles. Moving with her family several times, young Christine often felt the loneliness and isolation of being the "asthmatic-new-kid-at-school." But the outsider grew into an astute observer and natural storyteller whose songs focus on the human condition, touching on alienation and acceptance, love and longing, materialism and modesty.

She "wrote" her first song at age four and later learned guitar in fifth grade. But an unfortunately long hiatus ensued, and it was not until after college that songs eventually incubated and arrived as she gleaned life experience (such as living in a pub over a former debtor's prison in London!) in the major cities mentioned above. While getting her second degree and living in and near Nashville, Christine picked up the guitar again and hasn't stopped writing songs since. 

Her instinctive pop writing talent marries an indie flair, and yields pleasing melodies, beautiful harmonies, and intelligent lyrics. She delivers her songs confidently with a soulful voice "full of feeling and beauty," (LA recording artist, Rane).


An avid reader, Christine has a BA in history (Texas A&M), a BS in Recording Industry Management (MTSU), and part of a master's in technical writing, which was cut short when she was kicked out of graduate school (UNT)! She is writing a book about her life. More information forthcoming.

 

 


 

 

"Style is being yourself on purpose."
-- Raquel Welch

 

 

 
Influences

To me, (non-classical) vocal style probably forms via mimicry, repetition, and assimilation, though not necessarily on the conscious level. I did eventually take voice lessons, and I hope to work with a vocal coach again.


Just as a small child plays dress-up in the clothes of the parents, a singer will sing songs and try on different worlds just to see what they are like. Repeatedly listening to songs or singing them over and over, combined with the business of living and observing, likely forged the groundwork for my vocal style and writing ability.

Vocally, I feel I’m most indebted to:

 

 

Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays)
Rickie Lee Jones Reba McEntire
Cyndi Lauper The Cars (Ric Ocasek & Benjamin Orr)
Patty Loveless Ian McCulloch (Echo and the Bunnymen)
Robert Smith (The Cure) Cy Curnin (The Fixx)
Dwight Yoakum Jim Kerr (Simple Minds - They had the mega hit, "Don't You Forget About Me")

 


The Formative Years

"In the 1950s, hi-fi became a generic term, to some extent displacing phonograph and record player."

My parents had a "hi-fi," or what now might be called a stereo or merely a record player. I won't say it was the center of my universe, as I loved playing outside, but I grew intimately acquainted with it's tweed-fronter speakers, its strange moving "tonearm," which seemed to have a life of its own, and the satisfying-to-turn buttons. It had tube circuitry, and I vaguely remember the warm electronic smell when it had been on for a while.

My parents' record collection contained all kinds of classical music, some jazz, and some Flamenco. Any popular fare I heard was likely on the radio in the car. I had a folk record or two and adored a handful of songs on them. Alas, I cannot figure out what songs these were, nor who sung them. I very clearly recall standing at the hi-fi and playing the LP of "Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66" over and over and over. I sang along both in English and in my own brand of Portuguese to their versions of Mas Que Nada, One Note Samba, Going Out of My Head, and more.

At the end of third grade, my mom re-married, so she and I moved to Beaumont, TX. I was still very much a square until once, my friend Vicki Somebody played the 45 single of "Rocket Man" to me over the telephone in the 70s. It was all over. It was, indeed, gonna be a long, long time.

 

 

 


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Sounds Like

com·pare \kəm-ˈper\ verb -- To estimate, measure, or note the similarity or dissimilarity between two or more objects, ideas, people, etc."


While fans often compare artists they hear to other artists, people do tell me that I have a unique vocal style, and I am honored to think that my voice can actually convey that which I hoped it one day would.

Depending on where I have been in the various stages of my artistic development, people have said I most remind them of these artists:

 

 

 

 

Deborah Harry (Blondie) Edie Brickell
Lou Reed Suzanne Vega
Robert Smith (The Cure) Rickie Lee Jones
Luka Bloom Emmylou Harris
Alanis Morissette Sheryl Crow

 


When I emerged as a singer in my mid-20s, I was extremely puzzled when listeners would (usually quite) exuberantly compare me to other artists. I often wondered why this was. “Maybe they are making comparisons because: they think I expect this sort of comment, or they think they need to bolster my confidence, or maybe they don’t like how I sing and they are just trying to be nice...” It confused me, like, what am I supposed to do with this information?

Later, I understood that I only needed to listen and receive the information. It required no action. I now see that comparing helps us humans classify and sort out the world! (And of course, should the need arise; a comparison is a great device to use in lieu of a compliment!) Even I have been guilty of excitedly blurting out, “You sound like So-and-So!” to some burgeoning artist, as if my observation would please them to no end!

 

 

 

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