Chris Antonik - Morningstar (2022)

From his nomination as Best New Artist at Canada’s Maple Blues Awards following the release of his 2011 debut album, Toronto-based Chris Antonik’s star has been on the rise – wowing live audiences with his passionate guitar virtuosity, delivering innovative and thoughtfully-crafted songs that transcend limitations or expectations of genre, and assembling an impressive forward-looking body of recorded works that pay deep respect to diverse musical influences while seamlessly forging ahead in exploring new sonic and artistic territory.

Not to be stopped by any pandemic, Chris has developed a wealth of powerful, captivating material for his highly anticipated fourth album. His February 2021 crowdsourcing video for the project received an incredible response from fans, supporters and followers. These themes of community, re-engagement, rebuilding and self-compassion resonate throughout the album. To be released in August 2022, Morningstar is Chris Antonik’s most ambitious and fully-realized musical vision to date, building on nuanced songwriting, an amazing assemblage of musicians (including guest appearances by award-winning blues guitarists Jarekus Singleton and Paul Deslauriers, and Tedeschi-Trucks’ Mike Mattison), and of course Chris’s own sophisticated, mesmerizing guitar work complimented by stellar vocals. Morningstar is a cohesive collection of songs and musical experiences reminiscent of the best albums of the 1970s, in the ways in which the elements fit together to generate a transcendent experience for the listener.