| C. W. Stoneking | |
|---|---|
C. W. Stoneking at The Basement, Sydney, 2007 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christopher William Marshall |
| Also known as | C. W. Stoneking |
| Born | 1974 |
| Origin | Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia |
| Genres | Blues |
| Years active | 1985-present |
| Labels | Low Transit King Hokum Records Swiss Voodoo Rhythm Records Hillgrass Bluebilly Records |
| Website | C.W. Stoneking MySpace |
Christopher William Stoneking[1] (born 1974, Katherine, Northern Territory) is an Australian blues singer-songwriter and guitar and banjo player. He currently resides in Bristol, England and performs across Australia and internationally as a solo artist and with his backing band, the Primitive Horn Orchestra.
To date Stoneking has released two full length albums of his original material, they are King Hokum (first released in 2006 on Low Transit Industries Recordings, re-released on Stoneking's own King Hokum Records label in February 2008[2]) and Jungle Blues (released on King Hokum Records, October 2008).
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Stoneking was born to American parents in Katherine, Australia in March 1974 and raised by his father in the Aboriginal community of Papunya (his father is the writer and teacher Billy Marshall Stoneking), until the age of 9 (1983) when they moved to the inner west suburb of Balmain in Sydney. He began playing the guitar at the age of 11 and performed in bands from age 13, from age 18 (1991) Stoneking. He performed mostly pre-war acoustic blues styles working mainly as a guitar player.
In 1995 he moved from Sydney to Naroghid in rural Victoria, then in 1997 to Melbourne and began performing as a solo blues guitarist/singer in the 1920s-30s style. In 1998 he formed a band, The Blue Tits, which consisted of double bass, clarinet and mandolin with Stoneking on guitar and vocals. The band lasted one and a half years and disbanded after the death of the mandolin player. One recording was made of the Blue Tits at Melbourne's 3CR radio station but it was never commercially released. Stoneking continued to perform as a solo artist. In 2005 he recorded an album of original blues compositions titled King Hokum. The album was received with great critical acclaim in the Australian media after its release in 2006 and in Europe after its 2007 release on the Swiss Voodoo Rhythm Records label. Currently Stoneking tours extensively with his backing band, the Primitive Horn Orchestra.
In 2006, radio presenter Tim Ritchie picked Stoneking's King Hokum as his album of the year on Radio National's Breakfast program.[3] Radio National also presented his February 2007 Australia-wide tour. King Hokum was nominated for the Best Blues/Roots Album in the 2007 ARIA Awards and won the Best Independent Blues Release award in the 2007 AIR Awards (Australian Independent Record Industry Awards). In 2008 Stoneking released Jungle Blues, his second album of original compositions. Jungle Blues was nominated for Best Blues/Roots Album, Best Independent Release, Best Male Artist and Best Album Cover Art at the 2009 ARIA Awards. At the fourth annual AIR Awards held on 22 November 2009, Stoneking was nominated for Best Independent Album, Best Independent Blues/ Roots Album, and Independent Artist of the Year, with Jungle Blues winning the award for Best Independent Blues/ Roots Album.[4][5] Jungle Blues was also shortlisted in the 2008 Australian Music Prize. He appeared on 'Later... with Jools Holland' on 5 October 2010, playing " Jungle Blues" and "Jungle Lullaby".