Storyteller Concert Series, March: Chris Crown & Lee Kitzman

Continuing our Storyteller Concert Series here at Art in the Loft as we highlight and celebrate the art of storytelling in music. In this new series, we will feature a variety of talented musicians and their bands as they share stories through music. Saturday, March 28th we welcome local legends: Chris Crown & Lee Kitzman!

Inspired by his musician father, Chris Crown began performing and writing songs at an early age. Beginning in grade school, Chris played the trumpet before getting his first electric guitar. This led to him performing with various rock bands throughout high school including Dig Dug, Lucid Thumb and Half-Brassed. Chris then attended Ferris State University to study Music Industry Management and continued his education to earn an MBA from Grand Valley State University. After the birth of their son, he and his wife Lorie returned to Alpena to be closer to family. Around this time Lee Kitzman made the move “up north” to enjoy his retirement at Lost Lake Woods. Chris and Lee met at an open mic and soon they bonded over their love for music, specifically folk and blues. Turns out Lee’s first instrument was also the trumpet before becoming an accomplished folk singer-songwriter in the Detroit music scene of the 1960’s.

Chris and Lee both had dreams of bringing more of the music they loved to Alpena. Lee, with the help of other music friends went on to form the Thunder Bay Folk Society which led to the annual Folk Festival. Chris and Lee then formed the Alpena Street Performers, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing outdoor entertainment every Friday evening during the summer. Chris and Lee continue performing around Michigan as solo artists. They also perform together as a folk-blues duo with Lee on harmonica. You can also catch them with their full blues band, “Chris Crown and the Get Down Band” at area festivals and events. Recently, Lee has been busy in the studio recording music available here: leekitzman.bandcamp.com while Chris is recording youtube videos of his songs available here: www.youtube.com/crownentertainment.

Chris and Lee are excited to bring their music and stories to Art in the Loft this March.