Rocky Mountain High: Former New Jersey boy Jak found himself in Fort Collins, Colorado, a couple of years ago, and was surprised to discover that the town’s temperament was strangely well-suited to his wry, introverted, East Coast self. "Singer-songwriters are introspective," he explains. "I don’t know if it’s self-awareness or self-consciousness, but it’s definitely self-centered. And Colorado people are outgoing and smiley and so god damn happy with their 300 days a year of sunshine and their mountain streams. I could live somewhere like New York and be completely content, but being here feels right right now because the people won’t let me live in my own little bubble, writing song after song about myself. They force me out."
Beginnings: Listen to Chris sing and you’re sure to detect a touch of the angelic in his tone; turns out he got his start as an honest-to-goodness choirboy. At ten, he started touring with the exclusive American Boychoir and by fourteen he’d seen nine countries, 49 states, and heard all the opera an adolescent lad can reasonably be expected to handle. "I was burned out for a while," he admits. Salvation came when Chris went off to boarding school and discovered the Allman Brothers, David Crosby, and Al Green. "I found a reason to sing again," he says, "and everything else came from that."
Under Construction: Even if the production on Jak’s debut, Applause of the Rain (440 Records), is spare by Britney Spears’s standards, each moment and each measure is deeply felt. And the compelling melodies and literate lyrics illustrate the benefits of his slightly-less-than-scientific songwriting style. "I’ll have a little tune kicking around in my head, and after I hum along long enough, words fall in to place. Then I start to build around it with other little pieces. It’s like making a spaceship out of Legos. And if you end up with a dune buggy by accident, that’s okay."
Pop Life: "Commercial success is absolutely a goal," Chris says candidly, "and any artist who tells you otherwise is either kidding himself or you. If you’re trying to connect with people, and tell your story, the best way to know if it’s working is to see if they’re buying the record. It’s not a bad way to judge if you’re coming across. So far," he adds with a smile, "it’s going okay."
