Our
Unsung Hero of TX Music - Cristian
It
was 2005 and early in my career in the music business, as a booking agent in
the early days. My partner, Ricky Brown, and I made it a major part of our
development to get on the road and see the venues, crowds, and towns all over
TX for ourselves. I had no intention of first discovering how big the music
world really is but our then client Rodney Hayden was asked to tour through
parts of France and Italy, and he asked me to go with. We scraped together some
money and I managed to get myself to Europe. It was my first time crossing the
Atlantic.
I
quickly realized how great music can travel anywhere in the world and the fans
were discovering music by buying Cd’s of Texas/Regional artists for whatever
they cost; which could range from $25-100 depending on the cost of shipping and
the available quantities on some of these somewhat obscure and unknown regional
artists. We had a great time navigating our way through Paris and then we
booked a Train car from Paris to Bologna, Italy… We had our own 2 bed Car and
we would spend the next 12 hours with no food (The Train told us they ran out
after we boarded) and so we tried to sleep and take in some of the passing
landscape. I think Rodney wrote a few songs that he has since released on that
train ride.
Basically,
upon arrival in Italy and our greeting from Max and Cristian; we instantly knew
this was going to be much more memorable trip. Both Cristian and Max treated us
like family almost right away. We ate the best food in every town, we drank the
best wine, and Rodney played a few packed shows for Italian fans of Texas music
that sang every word to every song. I was floored by Cristian and Max’s
knowledge of Texas, the music scene, and their love of live music. Cristian introduced
me to the real Jack Ingram on a car ride from Maranello to Ferrara, Italy. Yes,
I knew Jack; but I didn’t know “Electric” and Cristian knew every word; as did
I by the end of the next few days listening to the album nonstop.
I
left Italy with a completely new approach to artist development and discovery.
Since that trip, we started a management company and have developed some of the
greatest bands in Texas history; starting with Whiskey Myers and Josh Abbott
Band, who was accompanied by Kacey Musgraves to sing their now Gold Record “Oh
Tonight”. Both of which would then make trips to France and Italy and play in
front of thousands in southern France at Rendezvous’ and then jumping in with
Cristian and Max (who did this on their off days from their day jobs) and
touring across Italy playing shows C&M would promote themselves, risk their
own money, and still not let any of us buy a single meal or glass of wine along
the way. Cristian and Max have now brought Randy Rogers Band, Stoney Larue,
Bart Crow, Mike and the Moonpies, Cody Canada, etc. etc. etc. over to Italy and
single handedly created a market for TX music in foreign speaking Italy of all
places.
I
have now signed bands and artists from all over the world (KALEO, FERBY, BELLE
MT, Seaforth, etc.) and I have continued to tour all over the UK and Europe
with my clients, building artists from all genres like; Chase Rice, Whiskey
Myers, The Cadillac Three, KALEO, etc. into major headline acts from Scotland,
London, Wales, Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, Austria, Greece, Italy,
Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Spain, Chile, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and
more...
I
have gotten to see most of the world, and it all started with these two guys in
small town northern Italy. Passionate about real music and about telling
everyone they know until they built a market in one of the most surprising
markets. Now we have streaming, and music is discoverable anywhere you go in
some way without leaving your house, but it's guys like Cristian and Max that
really build markets and create consumer demand for new genres.
Sadly,
we lost Cristian this morning to a very sudden heart attack.
He
was young, he was full of passion, love, faith, and drive to keep discovering
and keep building just about every act that I have signed in the last 15 years.
He leaves behind his wife Simona, who is absolutely the rock and one of the
kindest people I have ever met. I was lucky to be able to hang out with
Cristian one last time in Jan when Kaleo played a showcase for the global Warner
team in Milan. We ate the best meal of my life. Again. We hung out and talked
music and life. They fell in love with JJ and KALEO and we all spent time
together for a couple days before we had to say goodbye. I’m listening to Jack
Ingrams “one thing” right now and I can smell his little Italian truck and hear
him talking about how much he loves Simona.
Cristian
is the hope that the music business needs everywhere.
He
believed so strongly in a sub-genre of country music in Texas that he risked
his savings to bring the bands to his home country. It worked! His legacy
should live on in the halls, honky tonks, and backstages of Texas music
forever. I know we have lost some of the greatest TX artists in history in the
last month, and now we lost one of unsung heroes of our genre.
RIP
Cristian. We have so much to thank you for! Enjoy your playtime and snuggles
with Cody (His puppy they named after Cody Canada, who passed last summer). I
will miss the checkups, the Italian jokes, and music talks.
Now
you are the “Chosen One”…
Keep
an eye on TEXAS Music for us!