Chrissy Flatt
Walk With Kings
You can learn a lot about a new or emerging artist by the covers they choose to adopt as part of their own repertoire. Covers, more so even than even the best msongwriter’s originals, tell the story of where an artist’s coming from, what lights their creative fire and the standards by which they measure their own material and aspire to. At a typical performance by Austin signer-songwriter Chrissy Flatt, if time allows her to reach beyond the songs that have comprised her first two albums, you can always count on a Buddy Holly song or two, a little Del Shannon, and at least one choice gem plucked from the catalogs of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke and even John Denver — all of which help shine a little light on how she developed into the artist she is today. And then there’s the one cover that pretty much says it all: Ray Davies’ misfit manifesto “I’m Not Like Everybody Else.”

From her earliest childhood memories of growing up in Waco and San Antonio to the present day, Flatt has always walked way outside the lines of convention. Whether as an awkward middle-schooler wearing clothes from her mother’s closet she thought were cool or as a mohawked punk in high school, the girl just never fit in with the status quo, even among the other misfits (she was, against form, the “polite” punk). After high school, she took a few college courses, searching for direction in drama, painting, photography, woodworking, even beauty school. Fortunately none of the above fully captured her restless spirit and imagination, because destiny, while long-delayed, was right around the corner. At 27, inspired by the death of a dear friend — which for this life-long outsider happened to be a beloved black cat — Flatt picked up her guitar and wrote her first song.

“After that, I found songwriting to be the biggest comfort in my life,” she explains. “Ever since I was a little kid — and especially after my father died when I was 4 — music has always been an escape for me. From the gospel songs my dad sang around the house, to the Beatles, Stones, Pretenders and Patti Smith … music connected me to so many different places. And it just feels so good to create my own music now and then share it with the world. I was a late bloomer getting on my path, but now I can’t imagine ever wanting to do anything else.”

Wings of a Butterfly, Flatt’s 2002 debut album, flew well under the radar. She remains one of the best-kept-secrets in Austin, proof that even in the “Live Music Capital of the World,” standing apart from the crowd isn’t always the best way to get noticed. But those who did stumble upon Flatt’s debut sat up and took notice. Magnet’s Robert Baird tapped Flatt as a gutsy artist “worth keeping an eye on,” while Texas Music’s Richard Skanse hailed Butterfly as “the best debut album from an unknown singer-songwriter I’ve ever heard.” “Like the great boxer, singer-songwriter Chrissy Flatt stings like a bee,” chimed in David Pyndus of Pop Culture Press with a Butterfly review nearly two years later — proving that the quietly self-released record had wings indeed. But promising as that debut was, belying Flatt’s fresh-from-the-cocoon status as a songwriter, it only hinted at the artist now fully revealed on her second album, Walk With Kings.

“There was definitely an innocence to Wings of a Butterfly,” says Flatt. “When you go into something for the first time, you don’t have a lot of expectations because you really haven’t done anything yet, so you’re just happy to be doing something that you love. With this record I was a lot more critical of myself as a writer. But there was more confidence too because I knew more about the whole process, from writing to recording to picking the musicians I wanted to work with to help me get the sound I wanted. It’s definitely a bigger record than Wings of a Butterfly — and a lot more focused in the direction I want to go.”To wit, while Wings of a Butterfly flirted at times with classic country, Walk With Kings hones in on the ’60s-tinged rock and pop that’s truest to Flatt’s heart — as evidenced by the soaring, Del Shannon-worthy chorus of the opening “Further Away,” the playful nods to both Highway 61-era Dylan and the sweet soul of Sam Cooke on the title track, and the hauntingly beautiful, violin-swept chamber pop of “I Can’t Love You.”

“I found country songs pretty easy to learn when I first started writing,” explains Flatt. “But as much as I like it, that’s just not really who I am. I’ve never been that much into simplicity. I like loud guitars and soft cellos and really good production, like Phil Spector. I wanted the songs on this record to sound both raw and palatial, kind of like the Rolling Stones: that classic sound where being a hippie and being royalty meet.”

To achieve that desired majestic scope, Flatt recorded Walk With Kings with an A-list cast of some of Austin’s best musicians: Wings veterans Eric Hisaw (production, guitar), Ron Flynt (bass and organ), Stephen Belans (drums) and Brian Standefer (cello), along with guests Darcie Deaville and Erik Hokkanen (violin), Paul Pearcy (drums) and Michael “Cornbread” Traylor (backup vocals). The result is an album that rocks (“Came Back Broken,” “Murder in the Garden” and of course, “I’m Not Like Everybody Else”) as convincingly as it showcases Flatt’s gift for mining songs of pure grace and beauty out of themes of loss and despair, from unrequited love (“Madman”) to death (“Reach Out Your Hand”) to depression (“Cold Day”). It’s an empathetic record and a defiant one, offering a compelling portrait of an artist as comfortable taking a hard stand against the system (“Sign Up Here”) as she is celebrating the wonders of a timeless love spanning multiple lifetimes (“Walk With Kings.”)

“I normally try not to write so much about love, but it’s hard because that is the essence of life and what we all strive for,” says Flatt. “In general though, I definitely like to look at the darker side of life — be it emotional or societal or even political. Sometimes the only way to change harsh realities is to look them square in the eye and see what can be done to create positive change. Patti Smith has a great line in her song ‘One Voice’ where she says, quite simply, ‘Lift up your voice.’ Our voices are one of the most powerful ‘arms’ a person has, and if more people used their voices for good positive change, the world would be a better place.”

True to characteristic, not-like-everybody-else-form, Chrissy Flatt
remains a true believer.