From runaway to dad — Connor Christian’s musical journey goes on

By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff
Originally published: August 27. 2009 12:45PM
Last modified: August 27. 2009 12:45PM

His story sounds as if it were lifted from the pages of Jon Krakauer’s acclaimed novel “Into the Wild” — a 14-year-old boy leaves home, getting onto the first bus that pulls into the station, and doesn’t reconnect with his family until almost two years later.

It’s not something Connor Christian is particularly proud of — especially now that he has a 12-year-old daughter of his own — but it’s his story, and it’s a journey that shaped the worldview he presents in his music today.

“I think about that all the time,” Christian told The Daily Times this week. “I wonder what would have happened if I’d stayed home and gone the regular route. Maybe I could have gone to Berkeley or Julliard; who knows? That’s what happened, and I can’t change it.

“Now that I’ve got a 12-year-old of my own, I can’t imagine, a year and a half from now, her taking off like that. It just blows my mind that I did something so crazy.”

Growing up, Christian moved frequently with his family. His father, a government employee, moved the family from Indonesia to South Korea to the United States and back again during Christian’s childhood, and one year — the summer between middle school and his high school years, in fact — the teen said no more.

“We were finally back in the States, and I didn’t want to move again,” he said. “My stuff was already packed to move, so I took what I needed and took off. That was kind of the start of my musical journey in earnest.”

A rock ‘n’ roller from an early age, he started playing in bars when he was 12 or 13, he said. After his folks got the orders to move, he had a month to prepare, so he sold all of the music gear he wouldn’t be able to take with him, pocketed roughly $1,000 in spending money and told each of his friends a different destination.

“I told them all something different — that I was going to Portland or San Antonio or wherever,” he said. “My parents looked for me, but they were looking in all the wrong places. And by the time they tracked me down 18 months later or so, I had been gone for a long time and they were already living in Europe, so what could they really do?”

His journey initially took him to Philadelphia, he recalled, where he checked into a seedy motel and went exploring. He happened upon a group of hippies living out of an old multi-colored school bus; that led to an encounter with a group of Deadheads; from there, more traveling and busking and performing and learning about life and music.

One lesson, he remembered, came from some time spent in Atlanta. He would set up outside the gates of the city’s Music Midtown Festival, playing for change.

“Over and over, I would hear people bitching about their favorite band and how they would just play stuff from the new records and none of the hits,” he said. “One year, I got the schedule in advance, and I learned every hit by every artist who was playing there. People would come out complaining because they didn’t hear this or that, and I would invite them to hang out with me so I could play that for them.

“Everybody wants to play their new stuff, but you’ve got to remember what got you there. It’s important to grow musically, but you can’t forget where you come from.”

That’s one thing Christian has never forgotten — mostly because his year of traveling have left him with a bit of a rootless existence, and so he’s had to craft his own identity from the things he’s seen and the people he’s met along the way.

Such is the sound of “90 Proof Lullabies,” the album Christian recorded with his band, Southern Gothic, with whom he’ll perform on Saturday at Barley’s Taproom in Knoxville’s Old City. It’s roots music tinged with a restlessness of spirit, a melancholy sense of nostalgia and a gritty feel for hard times that have all been part and parcel of Christian’s life.

“It’s been an extremely long journey; years of busking and playing on street corners,” he said. “I’ve been in a band always, ever since I was 12 years old, but the bands have gotten better and better. From a hard-rock band to a frat-rock, 311 rip-off-sounding band, I’ve slowly started putting together the band I’m in now.

“Going from that was a decision to move from singing about smoking weed and hitting on girls to trying to be honest with the music. It’s about saying, ‘This is where I’ve been, and maybe you’ve been there, too.’ We generally call it ‘y’alternative,’ and it’s just tough music, man –¬ it’s hard rock, honky tonk, Southern rock and reggae.”