Inspired by his musical hero Neil Young, Sacramento's Christopher Fairman always knew he wanted to be a musician.
He just didn't want to sing.
"I was really against it, I was really stubborn," Fairman says.
The reason? Simple: He didn't think that he could.
"I was pretty bad for a while," he insists.
The 23-year-old Rio Americano High School graduate, however, had one very important fan who thought otherwise.
"My mother encouraged me to do it," he says. "Now I think I'm pretty damn good."
And while his sentiment is, he admits, a little "cocky," it required more than a lot of practice to get to this point - it took a little ease.
"I think, just in life, I let go - and once I let go I didn't care about a lot of things that other people care about, " he says.
"I think that helps, if you don't care what other people think about you then you can let loose."
Fairman released the "Born Broken" EP in 2007 and plans to release a new CD ""85, 87" in the spring.
Produced by David Houston, the music is dark and reflective with a sound akin to Americana crooner Ryan Adams.
"It's like a diary of a year in my life," he says. "The songs are more personal than anything I'd done before."
The album's feel was also inspired by another piece of art, a ghostly, abstract image in shades of moss green, gold and orange that was painted by Fairman's friend Michael Pitcher.
"I don't know what it was, but I saw that picture and it just brought something out in me," he says.
The painting will be the album cover for "85, 87" and the fit, he says, is perfect.
"It's dark and there's so much going on - there are different characters there."
Christopher Fairman
Song: "Pages"
Style: Slow, meditative Americana
Behind the song: Written in just 20 minutes, the song epitomizes Fairman's loose, carefree approach.
"The song is very fluid and when I was writing this, I really didn't know what it was about for a while."
Eventually, the words came into sharper focus.
"It's just very confessional, talking about how I see the world and how I don't always believe in myself," he says. "It's about the pages of the books I could write, I've got a lot to say."
"It's about how sometimes I don't believe in myself really just about the 'pages and pages' of things I have to say."
See him:
Dec. 12 at the Javalounge, 2416 16th St, Sacramento.
The 9 p.m. show is all-ages.
Dec. 19 at the Blue Lamp, 14000 Alhambra Blvd.
The 10 p.m. is 21-and-over only.
On the Web: www.myspace.com/christopherfairman
Listen to "Pages" here:
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