Performers Biography

Albert and Gage - Vocalists and Musicians

Austin, Texas duo Albert and Gage (Christine Albert and Chris Gage) have a personal and musical chemistry that radiates from the stage. The joy they experience making music together is evident as they travel through their musical roots, moving from country and folk to blues and French chansons. The integrity of their musicianship and the rare blend of their voices create a unique and cohesive sound as Gage effortlessly switches from guitar to piano and accordion throughout their set to follow the mood of the music. Austin songwriter Jimmy LaFave once described Christine as a “wondrous singer with a beautiful focus and unrestrained grace.” She had a prolific recording career as a solo artist before meeting Gage, including the acclaimed “Texafrance” series, a bilingual tribute to her European family roots. Christine’s most recent solo CD “Everything’s Beautiful Now” explores the richness of loss, an issue she deals with every day as Founder & CEO of Swan Songs®, a non-profit that fulfills musical last wishes. Ms. Albert has also served for 12 years on the national Board of Trustees of the Recording Academy (known for the GRAMMY Awards®), eventually rising to the position of Chair of the Board and currently serving as Chair Emeritus. In addition, Christine serves on the Board of Directors of Musicares® and the Latin Recording Academy®.

Chris Gage, the Academy of Texas Music’s “Musician of the Year 2011” is no stranger to a tour bus, spending many years on the road with Red Willow Band, Roy Clark and Jimmie Dale Gilmore and until recently played lead guitar on tour with Jerry Jeff Walker in addition to his Albert and Gage shows. He's a veteran of TV shows including Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show and Hee Haw. He’s a member of the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and an inductee into the SD Friends of Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Chris has been in the all-star house band on Austin City Limits Hall of Fame show for the last four years, and received 2 honorable mentions in the Austin Chronicle Music Poll.

Chris and Christine own MoonHouse Studio in south Austin, where the “Maestro” maintains a full schedule as an in-demand producer and studio musician, most recently co-producing Jerry Jeff Walker’s latest release “It’s About Time”. Since teaming up in 1996 the couple has released six Albert and Gage albums on their own MoonHouse Records label, as well as their solo projects and releases by other artists.

For many years every Monday night in Austin you could find Christine and Chris holding court at separate popular residencies. Christine and guitar legend Bill Kirchen hosted “Mystery Monday” at El Mercado, featuring a great band and a special guest each week. When that show ended at 9 pm music lovers would migrate to Donn’s Depot, where Chris Gage would sit at the grand piano surrounded by regulars every Monday (for 25 years), while a surprising and spontaneous string of guests come up to join him for a few songs. After the pandemic, Mr. Gage will return to the Donn's Depot piano bench and Ms. Albert has offers on the table for a return to a weekly stage presence.

For the past year during lockdown, the duo has live streamed concerts from their home studio every Monday and Friday at 8 pm. In the “Live Music Capital of the World” Chris and Christine have carved out an enduring place for themselves and their music.

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Chris Gage

Chris Gage, the Academy of Texas Music’s “Musician of the Year 2011” is no stranger to a tour bus, spending many years on the road with Red Willow Band, Roy Clark and Jimmie Dale Gilmore and until recently played lead guitar on tour with Jerry Jeff Walker in addition to his Albert and Gage shows.

He's appeared Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show (both Carson and Leno) and over 100 appearances on Hee Haw.

He’s a member of the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and an inductee into the SD Friends of Traditional Music Hall of Fame.

Chris has been in the all-star house band on Austin City Limits Hall of Fame show for the last four years, and received 2 honorable mentions in the Austin Chronicle Music Poll.

Gage and wife/partner Christine Albert own MoonHouse Studio in south Austin, where the “Maestro” maintains a full schedule as an in-demand producer and studio musician, most recently co-producing Jerry Jeff Walker’s latest release “It’s About Time”.

Since teaming up in 1996 the couple has each released a solo album plus having released six Albert and Gage albums on their own MoonHouse Records label, as well as their solo projects and releases by other artists.

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From the Austin American Statesman December 2010: Nobody puts Chris Gage in a box. Acoustic, electric, baritone, slide and lap steel guitar, mandolin, organ, piano and vocals — the studio ace has mastered them all. He's been a sideman to Jerry Jeff Walker, Roy Clark and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. He's gigged in the Soviet Union and the Royal Albert Hall. He's played on the television programs of three "Tonight Show" hosts — Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien.

And once a week, for roughly the past 15 years, he's sat down at a piano in the neighborhood joint Donn's Depot to play a mix of covers and originals, with special guests ranging from Troupe Gammage of local pop outfit Speak to Carrie Rodriguez to wife and musical partner Christine Albert.

Though Gage shines all on his own, his voice crackling with just the right emotional intensity on a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," he also — ever the gentleman — heaps praise on everyone who comes by, from guest musicians to an older couple in the audience dancing the night away. And before he packs it in for the night, he takes a shot at "Linus and Lucy," Vince Guaraldi's famed piano theme to "Peanuts." "This is kind of my sobriety test at the end of the night," chuckles Gage.

Perfect for: Music fans who pack the Cactus Café on a regular basis, who still buy CDs (or, better yet, records) and who like to keep mum when an artist is playing. In other words, people who go to listen to music to actually listen to music.

Christine Albert

When Christine Albert gives someone her business card these days, she has a choice to make. After almost four decades making her living as a singer/songwriter, the Austin, Texas-based musician has evolved into an artist whose philanthropic work is at the core of who she is.

In 2005 Christine founded Swan Songs, an Austin area non-profit that fulfills musical last wishes by organizing private concerts for individuals with a terminal illness. Today, Christine guides the organization as Founder & CEO and they have fulfilled over 1000 unique requests for music at the end of life – from Japanese songs to Mariachi, classical cello to Texas blues.

From 2007-2015, Christine served on the national Board of Trustees of The Recording Academy® (the 20,000-member organization that puts on the GRAMMY Awards®). She rose to the top elected leadership position – Chairman of the Board – the first independent artist and only the second woman to do so. In 2017, she returned to the Board as an officer in the Chair Emeritus position.

That is Christine’s philanthropic side; then there’s the matter of the “artiste.”

Christine still takes the stage both as a solo artist and as one half of the powerful folk/Americana duo Albert and Gage, in which she co-stars with husband and musician extraordinaire Chris Gage – bringing an energetic mix of originals, covers by Texas songwriter friends and show-stopping Edith Piaf chansons (yes, in French!) to audiences across Texas, the US and overseas.

As Albert and Gage, Chris and Christine have released six CDs since teaming up in 1997. They also own and operate MoonHouse Records and MoonHouse Studio in South Austin. Of their 2009 release “Dakota Lullaby,” Maverick magazine said “a palpable joy permeates Chris and Christine’s vocals on every one of the twelve musically diverse songs.” The Austin Chronicle’s Margaret Moser wrote, “Half Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme (the non-sappy part) and half Richard and Linda Thompson (before the split), Christine Albert and Chris Gage are as entertaining in performance as their music. The couple's sense of whimsy is strong, but never dilutes the lovely and sometimes plaintive songwriting.”

Processing the experience of losing over a dozen close friends and family members, in 2014 Christine was inspired to create her 6th solo CD - “Everything’s Beautiful Now” - a collection of songs that explore the transformation and growth that can come from loss.

Mike Davies with Folk Radio UK said "Given the number of funerals that went into the creation of this album, you might have expected to come away feeling torn and desolate, but instead there’s a sense of peace, acceptance and hope that, greatly helped by Albert’s warm honey vocals, leaves you calm and ready to face whatever tomorrow brings....."

The album was co-produced by Chris and Christine and showcases Gage’s impressive instrumental gifts. In addition to her own songs, Christine interprets songs by Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon and Shake Russell & Dana Cooper, as well as “Dakota Lullaby” songwriter Tom Peterson, with guest appearances by Jerry Jeff Walker and Eliza Gilkyson.

Among her many career highlights is the bilingual folk/cabaret fusion of her “Texafrance” series of recordings, described by the Austin American-Statesman as "a waltz across Texas with Maurice Chevalier.” The enticing musical mash-up organically blends Christine’s European heritage and love of Edith Piaf with the folk/country sound that grew out of her years playing music in New Mexico and Texas.

Christine grew up in Rome, NY but came of age in the honky-tonks and biker bars of New Mexico, joining her first band in Santa Fe at the age of 19. She discovered the fertile Austin music scene when she played the Kerrville Folk Festival with fellow New Mexico singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson in 1981. She made the move from Santa Fe to Austin within a year.

Christine has appeared on the nationally-syndicated PBS series Austin City Limits. She was awarded “Female Vocalist of the Year” by the Kerrville Folk Festival Music Awards, “Superstar of Austin Music” for her community service work and was inducted into the “2018 Texas Music Hall of Fame” by The Austin Songwriters Group, an organization which Christine co-founded in 1986.

In her “spare time” Christine hosts “Mystery Monday,” a weekly show at the Tex-Mex landmark El Mercado restaurant in South Austin that she co-hosts with master of the Telecaster, Bill Kirchen. Originally co-created with the late Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, the popular residency features a rotating cast of guests. The gathering has become a must-do for the Austin roots music scene. Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Shake Russell, Michael Hearne, Bill Hearne, Redd Volkaert, Marcia Ball, Rosie Flores, Cindy Cashdollar, Guy Forsyth, Slaid Cleaves, Ruthie Foster, Earl Poole Ball…the list of stellar players who have taken the stage is a virtual who’s-who of Austin music. Jimmy LaFave was often in the audience and a frequent co-host and his loss in May 2017 was marked with an emotional, standing room only tribute featuring over a dozen performers, Mystery Monday style.

3rd Coast Music noted that Christine has “one of the best and purest female voices in Austin.” She is a life-long musician who is transforming her experience and passion into philanthropic work and initiatives that serve the larger community.

Source: albertandgage.com