Chris August

Texas Christian singer-songwriter Chris August spent his early years immersed in secular recordings by the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Chuck Berry, and Stevie Wonder. His father constructed a modest home studio equipped with guitars, keyboards, a drum machine, and a four-track recorder, giving the young musician plenty of equipment to tinker with. At age fifteen August embraced Christianity and began approaching music with new intent, composing, performing, and capturing tracks in the same space while gradually acquiring whatever additional tools his projects required. By twenty-two he had completed and issued a fully self-produced independent album; a copy eventually reached Ryan Cabrera, who introduced August to manager Joe Simpson and helped secure a recording contract with Geffen Records. In 2005 August relocated to Los Angeles, where he balanced work on his label debut with production duties and a role as keyboardist in Ashlee Simpson’s touring band. A corporate restructuring at Geffen ended the arrangement, prompting his return to Garland, Texas. Back home, August redirected his focus toward explicitly Christian material and wrote “Starry Night,” whose demo earned him a deal with Word Records. Teaming with producer Ed Cash, he issued the album No Far Away on the label in 2010.