Chris Isaak Retro-cool rocker Chris Isaak has danced to a non-mainstream beat since his 1984 debut, Silvertone. Part rockabilly curator, part break-up song poet, part quirky spaceman, Isaak has the ability to make homages to Duane Eddy, Roy Orbison and the Everly Brothers appeal to modern ears. Ironically he’s probably better known for his acting roles and soundtrack contributions than he is on mainstream radio, but his meticulous attention to his music craft is worthy of attention.

Two-thirds of Isaak’s post-college rockabilly band Silvertone — bassist Rowland Salley and drummer Kenney Dale Johnson — remains at his side today. (Guitarist James Calvin Wilsey departed in 1993.) Isaak’s early albums were critical darlings, but he broke out when “Wicked Game,” from his Heart Shaped World was prominently featured in David Lynch’s 1990 film Wild at Heart.

Isaak’s connection with film is essential to his success on more than one level: his surfer-boy looks have landed him enough roles to bankroll his niche-y music output, and some of his soundtrack contributions have been permanently etched into pop culturedom. He’s acted in films by Jonathan Demme (Married to the Mob, Silence of the Lambs) and Tom Hanks (That Thing You Do!, From The Earth to the Moon), and his “Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing” was used to eerie effect in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. The “Chris Isaak Show” ran on Showtime for three seasons, and his Biography Channel music/talk show debuted in early 2009 — both afforded him the chance to showcase and perform with a wide range of artists.

Amidst soaring falsettos and fat-sounding hollow-body guitars, Chris Isaak’s catalog encompasses a steady groove of melancholy love songs, dirty Sun Session-inspired gems and wistful seaside remembrances — it’s a calling card from which he rarely wavers, and in his case, that’s not a bad thing.

Provenance: Stockton, California

Latest Release: Mr. Lucky (2009)

© 2009 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.

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