Chris Bethmann

Music became part of Bethmann’s identity the moment his father taught him Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” at his family’s Clayton summer cottage. He was eleven years old. In fact, a love of music is a family legacy. A third generation guitar player, Bethmann carries on his grandfather’s country, blues, and bluegrass campfire jams and his father’s affinity for 70s rock ‘n roll. If it wasn’t Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and John Denver at grandma and grandpa’s house, it was Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Beatles, and Tom Petty at home. In college, he discovered the blues and the world of jazz studying under Rochester resident jazz master Bob Sneider. After graduating college and moving to Nashville as part of the 2013 Teach for America Corps, Bethmann has been heavily influenced by some of modern country’s leading artists like Eric Church, and by the songwriting of rising Americana artists like Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson. Mix all of these influences together, as well as hard learned lessons finding his way back to Rochester and into urban education, and you get Bethmann’s style: a little on the countryside, but still true to his roots; honest songs about everyday life, stories about real people, and real emotion. True Americana. Three of his songs, “The Only One I Need”, “So in Love With Her”, and “Can’t Stop Thinking About You” were recognized by the Song of the Year Songwriter Contest. He has twice shared the stage with award-winning Native American singer-songwriter Keith Secola. Bethmann performs around Western New York and is currently working on an EP (expected 2018) to be followed by his first full-length album.