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Chris Beard’s third CD, “Live Wire”, produced by Chris, was releasde in May 2005. A compilation of two “live” performances in Grand Rapids, MI and Chicago, IL which contains six new songs and bonus studio tracks. Here's a recent review of "Live Wire": You could say that Chris Beard likes to play guitar -- the nine minutes o fretboard pyrotechnics that make up the opening "Born to Play the Blues" make that all too apparent. This is a full-on electric blues (mostly) live disc, full of scintillating lead guitar (check out the inspired "Tribute to Luther Allison"), backed by a top-notch band, whose players also get a good workout, like keyboardist Alan Murphy on "It's About Time." But the inevitable focus is on Beard's massive skills. He's a good singer, if not outstanding, but he's a dynamic, inventive guitarist who seems to be at his happiest when dazzling an audience. Those cuts have an immediacy and energy that's missing on the three final studio t racks -- even the aching "Lock My Dreams," where he makes his guitar cry, lacks that energy. Having already established his reputation with his previous work, Beard cements his stature with this record, and sets himself up to take a place among the contemporary blues guitar greats. (Chris Nickson, All Music)

"I was five years old and I'd figured out Green Onions," Chris Beard says, recalling his first musical steps on a hot, hazy summer day in Rochester, New York. "My mom was, like, astounded. 'Joe, look at him! He's playing!' He wasn't even amazed. He was like, 'Mary, the kid's five years old. What do you expect?' It was like, "he should have been doing that when he was two." Not long after Green Onions , his father, bluesman Joe Beard, gave Chris his first guitar. "It was a Les Paul copy. We got instruments for Christmas. My brother Duane got drums. I got guitar." Today, four decades later, a Les Paul is still Chris' main guitar. And Chris sees not only humor in his dad's reaction , but also evidence of his expectations for his son even then. "It was like he already knew it was there...It wasn't surprising to him." With two CD's-one of which was nominated in 1998 for a W.C. Handy Award-a schedule that keeps him on the road most of the year, Chris Beard is fulfilling his father's expectations. Read complete article (PDF File)

At mid-afternoon, the Humidex was hitting its stickiest peak, 36 C, when Chris Beard entertained a sparse crowd of about 1,000. Their dedication was rewarded by Beard, son of bluesman joe Beard, during his slick 60-minute set. Fusing contemporary rock edges with traditional blues licks, the 48-year-old Rochester, N. Y. native made his guitar sing, wail, weep, scream and whisper. He also some apt ad-libbed lyrics into his final number: "I gave that woman everything she need but she made my heart bleed, That's why I'm here in London now, standin' in the hot sun and singin' the blues." (Noel Gallagher, The London Free Press, 2006)

Chris Beard dazzles the audience with his guitar playing Saturday afternoon at Marina Park. He was the day's third act in the Thunder Bay Blues Festival. (Chronicle Journal, 2006)

Chris Beard took the first step of his musical career at the age of five when he picked out the melody for Green Onions on the guitar. It was a prophetic beginning as the funky mix of blues and instrumental panache of the classic Booker T and the MG's soul instrumental continues to be a hallmark of his style today. Read complete article (PDF File) (Ken Wright, Chronicle Journal, 2006)

Chris didn't have to go very far to catch up with the blues; he heard them nearly every day, as his father is Joe Beard, who has, in a long, round about way, finally gathered the acclaim that should have been his much earlier. "I grew up in a household with blues-Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, and that kind of stuff-that's what was heard on records all the time. My father is a traditional player, and he's real picky about keeping it really simple. I inherited some of that, even though my blues are more in a modern style and at a higher energy level than his. The idea of keeping it simple still rings true. Dad is proud that I picked the blues to play, but he's probably be more content if I stayed more traditional. My father's really, really laid back, and I'm more outspoken with my playing, more aggressive. I grew up in the Mowtown era, and I can't help but be influenced by some of the music. When I was younger, I used to play real fast, real mannish, and he'd say, 'slow down some there, boy,' I guess that's still with me." Read complete article (PDF File)

There were some great surprises to the summer like when Chris Beard came to Union Street Station in August while touring in support of his JSP records release Born To Play The Blues. The 250 in attendance were awestruck by Beard's hard driving guitar playing. In fact, Beard, in the middle of his show, walked out of the club while playing his guitar and stood in the middle of the street and played for two minutes attracting a crowd. Many followed Beard back into Union street Station where he proceeded to jam for two hours. Remember the name because you will be hearing from New York's Chris Beard regularly. (Richard A. Coates, Big City Blues Magazine)

The first player to kick thing off was WNY's own Chris Beard. The Handy nominee, looking cool in reflective shades and white pants, brought along his new, excellent 5-piece band, with sax and keyboards. His rendition of Drowning On Dry Land provoked cheers in the midst of the song, as well as his trip out into the crowd. He introduced some fine new ones that will soon be out on CD and mentioned that he'd learned that his native Rochester, NY had just been mauled by an ice storm. "I'm movin' down here-y'all make room for me!" (Sharon Schneider, Blues Beat Magazine)

Chris Beard plays the blues as if his pants were on fire. His fleet fretwork is deadly, often reducing his guitar to five, four, and sometimes three strings before the song is through. His blues have plenty of soul and sweat and show no signs of letting up. Beard is equally relentless. But this past summer Rochester's "Prince of the Blues" had to readdress his intensity. "I do everything as far as my career goes," Beard says. "I do most of my own booking and then talk about being on the road, driving, playing music. It's crazy. The stress got too much for me." On June 7, Beard had a mild stroke. "I woke up at 9 o'clock in the morning," he says. "About two hours later I started noticing I was feeling drunk. I hadn't had a drink in 14 years. I didn't know what was going on." Beard ignored it and set about his day. He ran errands, including a stop at Fed Ex to send out tour promo material. "I went to fill out my name and I couldn't," he says. "That scared the shit out of me." Beard spent three days in the hospital. The stroke affected his speech and the use of his right arm. So he took a month off. One month. He had just released Live Wire, his third release and first for NorthernBlues Music. It was a real lid-blower, with mostly live cuts recorded in Chicago and Grand Rapids. Beard and his band needed to tour and push it, live. Determined not to lose any of his hard-earned momentum, Beard hit the road with a second guitar player to fill in his gaps. "I was going to therapy and stuff," he says. "And my therapist tells me, 'Look Chris, guitar playing isn't normal. We can get you back to doing normal things. The only person that's going to get you back to playing guitar like you were is you.'" So Beard dropped the second guitar player. "Finally I said: Look, I gotta do this myself,'' he says. Today, the 48-year-old bluesman says he's recovered 90 percent of his ability while also rediscovering what's at the heart of his playing. "I've turned a negative into a positive." he says. "When I was growing up, I used to listen to Buddy Guy and the players that played fast. And I used to tell my father, [Rochester's King of the Blues Joe Beard] 'I want to play fast like so-and-so.' He said, 'Just keep playing and the speed will come in time.'" It came. And how. "But somewhere along the line of me speeding, trying to get fast, and listening to other players," he says, "I kind of forgot about the feel of the music and the thing about trying to get as much out of the note as I possibly can." "So me being in a place where my right hand wouldn't keep up with my left hand," he says, "I had to concentrate on getting as much out of that note. It's made me a better player." Beard continues to tour. His annual schedule is back to where it was, about 200 dates across the US. He refers to his stroke as a "wake-up call from God" and has taken steps to alleviate the stress. But he can't quit. "When you get to one level, you realize you can't stop there 'cause there's more and there's better," he says. And he'll prove it, too. He plans on releasing an all studio album of new material in the spring. "My speed is back," he says, "with that slow perspective." (Frank De Blase, City Newspaper)

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