Chris first came to the rooms of recovery in 2008 after getting exquisitely painful feedback from the world that his way of living was not working out so well. In addition to beginning his 12-Step journey, at about the same time Chris took other steps to make improvements in his life. One of those included learning how to play the piano, and he began taking lessons – at the tender age of 40 - through the Jefferson Academy of Music at Ohio State University.
While always a music fan, Chris had never before played an instrument and knew nothing about the craft of music making. Therefore, his first lesson began with the professor explaining, “This is middle C.” At first, things were rough. The required quarterly recitals were simultaneously funny (Chris was often the only adult student and looked very out of place among kids as young as 5 and 6 years old) and cringe-worthy (Chris’ memorized pieces routinely went off the rails and devolved into child-like bouts of frustration – while he was still on stage at the piano).
But, just like recovery, learning to play an instrument is a process, not an event. After several years, Chris had found his footing and began to explore songwriting. He enrolled at Second Floor Studios and began composing music and playing out at local open mics. In 2013, his love of songwriting and recovery came together when he began writing songs that align with the 12 Steps of recovery. By 2015, he had finished composing the songs and headed into the recording studio.
Shortly after that, Chris began performing the songs at recovery events – meetings, anniversary celebrations and conferences. Along the way, he recruited some fellow recovery mates to occasionally join him for performances. Chris and the guys went back into the recording studio to capture full-band versions of the songs. When performing as a group, Chris and his bandmates called themselves the “12 Steppers” and had lots of fun making music together while deepening their recovery bond. These days, Chris performs the songs solo.
The step songs have been performed at a variety of recovery events, including Founders Day, the AA Miami Valley Mid-Winter Conference, the state Al-Anon conventions in both Ohio and Vermont, as well as Vermont’s Spiritual Day. If you’re interested in having Chris perform the songs at your recovery event, please see the “Book a Performance” page on this site.
Of late, Chris has been working on a series of illustrated recovery books and has created workshops that center on the content of the books. Like with his step songs, Chris offers to do these free workshops at recovery events. The first book, a compilation of (mostly) original recovery acronyms, was published in June 2024 and is titled “Because We’re Worth It.”
In April 2024, Chris went to Nashville and recorded a new album entitled "The Horizon". While not a recovery-specific record, many of the songs have recovery-related themes.
See the "Other Stuff" page for more information on Chris's books and links to the new record on Spotify and Apple Music. If you'd like a physical copy of the record (on either vinyl or CD), just drop Chris a note and he'll get one in your hands!