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Chris Pureka is an American acoustic singer-songwriter from Northampton, Massachusetts.[1] Raised in Connecticut,[1] she began writing songs at the age of eight and began playing the guitar at 16.[1] She soon became a frequent performer at local coffee houses and open mics. As a young performer, she opened shows for such artists as Erin McKeown and Pamela Means while completing a degree in biology at Wesleyan University.[1] After graduating, she worked in a microbiology research lab at Smith College in Northampton, eventually leaving to focus on her music full-time. In June 2001, she recorded a self-titled seven-song EP in preparation for a three-month nationwide tour with lesbian folk poet Alix Olson.[1] The EP, which was home-recorded in two weeks and featured her playing back-up accompaniment on the mandolin and bass, was later mastered and reprinted for her 2005 summer tour.
In 2004, Pureka released Driving North, her first full-length album, earning rave reviews from fans and fellow artists alike. In 2006, she released Dryland, and toured the US a second time as a headlining act. The album received rave reviews and was featured on the Paste Magazine Sampler in February 2007.
In May 2007, Pureka was a member of the month-long New American Songwriter Tour in New York City, Philadelphia, and Massachusetts. The tour also featured Krystle Warren, Jesse Harris and Ryan Scott.[2] In August, Pureka played at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.
In July 2007, Pureka's song, "Swann Song" won 1st Place in the Acoustic competition on the independent music site OurStage.com.[3] Because of her excellent performance there, she won a spot to perform at the Virgin Music Festival in Baltimore, Maryland, where she performed on August 5.[citation needed] Pureka had previously also won the Acoustic competition in April for her song "31 and Falling".[4]
In October 2007, Pureka was nominated for 2007's Outstanding Folk Act by the Boston Music Awards. She was also awarded an ASCAPLUS award in the summer of 2007.
Pureka has sold over 7000 copies of her latest album, How I Learned to See in the Dark, independently, on her own label, Sad Rabbit Music. She has gained popularity by performing with artists such as Dar Williams, The Cowboy Junkies, Peter Mulvey, Ani Difranco, Martin Sexton, Jeffrey Foucault, Kris Delmhorst, Melissa Ferrick, Catie Curtis, and Girlyman.
Pureka is the founder of her label, Sad Rabbit Music. She has been compared to artists like early Bruce Springsteen, Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch and Mary Gauthier. Pureka covered Welch's song "Everything Is Free" on Dryland and has expressed admiration for her music as well as that of Griffin. She cites influences from Peter Mulvey and Pamela Means, as well as Ani DiFranco, though she says that her music differs greatly from DiFranco's often-outspoken political messages. Pureka has lent her vocals and guitar playing to several tracks by artists like Olson and Arjuna Greist; a notable track is "Checking My Pulse" with Olson, which went on to become a relative hit for Olson.
Pureka identifies as genderqueer[5] and cultivates an androgynous appearance. She has received positive reviews in the long-running radical feminist publication off our backs[6] and other magazines. Pureka's music does not deal explicitly with LGBT issues, focusing instead on emotional interactions between individuals.
On January 20, 2009, Pureka released a fourth album, an EP entitled Chimera. The EP has seven tracks; one new, original song (with a prelude as the first track), a reworked studio version of a song off of her 2001 EP, three live tracks, and a cover of Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor's Wagon Wheel. The hard copy of Chimera is complete with written commentary from Pureka on each track.
In April 2010, Pureka released her fifth album, How I Learned To See In The Dark, which she co-produced with Merrill Garbus. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.