Chris Ayer Live @ TAB September 17, 2010

Chris Ayer grew up in McLean, Virginia, and got his start singing along to old cassette tapes of Elvis and Paul Simon on car rides. When his dad got him his first guitar as a teen, he started writing songs that same day.

Over the last six years, Ayer has been writing and recording new material on a regular basis. His independent releases include “Static” (2003), “New Songs” (2005), “This is the Place” (2006), “Live Sessions” (2007), and “The Center Ring” (2007).

He has toured the country and steadily built his grassroots audience over the past four years. His DIY practices were given a hefty shot of adrenaline in 2007 when the John Lennon Songwriting Competition awarded him the 2006 Lennon Award in Folk for his song Evaporate. With the award came increased visibility, opportunities to tour the UK, and many new faces in the audience at shows. The song was on Ayer’s first full-length, self-released album, “This is the Place”, recorded in Nashville and produced by Jason Gantt (The Chieftains, Brooks & Dunn, Faith Hill).