| Christopher Carithers

Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest

Chris recently won both 1st & 2nd place in The 2024 Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest, for his songs “Peddler’s Grave” and “Prince Of Pennsylvania”.

Read about The Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest:

https://www.lockhaven.com/news/local-news/2024/06/2024-heritage-songwriting-winners-announced/

About the winning songs:

According to Chris, “Peddler’s Grave was an old haunted spot we used to hike to as kids in the coal region. In this song I imagine the Peddler’s Grave story as the “original sin” of coal country history. Since 1797, the peddlers ghost has lingered, witnessing all the boom and bust of our local anthracite mining communities- from the Molly Maguires, the bootleg coal rebellion, & the Centralia mine fire, to acid mine drainage and population decline.

Our local legend was that the Peddler’s ghost still roamed the mountain, always looking for his lost horse.”

Hear “Peddler’s Grave”- 1st Place Winner, Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest 2024

According to Chris, “Prince Of Pennsylvania” is a song about Prince Farrington, a Robin Hood-style folk hero who bootlegged along Susquehanna tributaries in Lycoming and Clinton Counties. He was popular in the area, despite his illegal activities, because he paid farmers double the market value to plant rye for his mash. When asked why he operated in central Pennsylvania, he said “I like these close-mouthed Dutchmen”.

Hear “Prince Of Pennsylvania”-2nd Place Winner, Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest 2024

Christopher Carithers

& Fellow Travelers

on Pennsylvania Pipeline

Music Television

Here is a preview of our upcoming appearance on WYLN TV 35– Keep an eye out for us on Pennsylvania Pipeline Music Television (schedule available at http://www.wylntv.com/)!

Thanks to Jeff Pittinger & WYLN TV35!

Read about

Christopher Carithers and Fellow Travelers:

http://www.dailyitem.com/news/lifestyles/band-s-music-travels-across-genres-time/article_7e43fa8f-2254-5b7e-9295-c256f6259728.html

Rec Room Radio Hour

Check out Chris’s appearance on Episode 30 of “WXPI’s The Rec Room Radio Hour”- Locally Sourced Music From Central Pennsylvania! with host Michael Lundy.

Listen to the podcast:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2111188/episodes/15803881-episode-30-chris-carithers

Check out WXPI Community Radio, Williamsport, PA:

https://wxpiradio.org/

Central Pennsylvania

Music Awards

Chris was a 2024 Central Pennsylvania Music Awards nominee for his work with The Dirty Mojo Blues Band.

Read about Dirty Mojo:

https://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/dirty-mojo-blues-band-it-is-what-it-is-album-review/

Check out Dirty Mojo’s album “It Is What It Is”:

https://thedirtymojobluesband.bandcamp.com/album/it-is-what-it-is

The Sylvan Dell Stragglers

Read about Chris’s adventures in bluegrass with The Sylvan Dell Stragglers, a newgrass quartet:

https://www.sungazette.com/life/showcase/2023/02/local-players-sylvan-dell-stragglers-bring-progressive-curiosity-to-bluegrass-will-open-for-steep-canyon-rangers/

Check out The Sylvan Dell Stragglers:

https://www.facebook.com/share/yqmrxHuheaiqq5NA/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.instagram.com/sylvandellstragglers/profilecard/?igsh=a3lvZnM1MjI0dGF2

Autobiography Of A Thief

Out now! From Crotalus Records…

CRG-1901

Christopher Carithers

Autobiography of a Thief

CD + digital album

Stream + download:

http://store.cdbaby.com/cd/christophercarithers

http://christophercarithers.bandcamp.com

https://crotalusrecords.com/

On “Bullet to the Brain” the first single from his debut album Autobiography of a Thief, Christopher Carithers sings “Excuse me officer, kill your lights / I ain’t slowing down tonight.” The imagery conjures more than the desperation of a suspicious protagonist (although it does that quite well too): it speaks to the album’s very nature. Because even during its ballads & gentler numbers, Autobiography of a Thief glides along effortlessly like a ghost train through the coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania where Carithers finds inspiration.

Album opener “The Spokes of the Collapse” is a fever dream smoldering in strong acoustic downstrokes and dark harmonics. The sound of crickets chirping beneath starry skies beautifully underscores the tender “Lullaby,” while “Do Unto Others” introduces some of the album’s most elegantly abrasive lines: “There aint a heart that your brain couldn’t kill / you laugh like a spider bite.”

Wailing harmonicas accent slide guitars and bright acoustics throughout, as Christopher invokes Steinbeck & Sallinger, Workingman’s Dead & Bob Dylan’s enigmatic “John Wesley Harding.” These songs walk us past painted porches & familiar faces, and pause us beside rusting bridges. The buoyant, fingerpicked instrumental “Isabella” closes the album with a celebration of newborn life. It’s a fitting climax for an album filled with stories of experience & possibility.

Check out a review of “Autobiography of a Thief” by Hidden Sound!

Click here to read the full review!

Thanks Hidden Sound!

Partnering with

Crotalus Records!

Chris is proud to announce a partnership with Crotalus Records, an independent label specializing in Folk, Roots, Americana, and Folk Punk bands! Check out the Crotalus Records catalogue at https://crotalusrecords.com/

Check out Chris’ appearance on WBRE’s PA Live!

Chris recently visited WBRE studios for 2 solo acoustic performances on PA Live… click to watch:

Indian Dreams– The “Ramedio And The Strangers: Martina’s Exchange” soundtrack.

I was honored this year to be asked to collaborate with author J.C. Menapace, as well as with the Swamp Bottom Blues Band, in the creation of a soundtrack for “Ramedio And The Strangers: Martina’s Exchange.”

Read a review of “Ramedio And The Strangers: Martina’s Exchange,”:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jc-menapace/ramedio-and-the-strangers/