Director of Creative Partnerships

chris.cunningham@mcnallysmith.edu

Chris’ lead guitar gig with James Chance (James White) and The Contortions (Blacks) began a twenty-five year period of musical global wandering, involving a multitude of subsequent groupings, pairings, and breakups. He has collaborated on stages and in studios with the likes of Marianne Faithfull, The Lounge Lizards, Gavin Friday, Boukman Eksperyans, Omar Farouk Tekbilek, Katell Keineg, The Golden Paliminos, Marshall Crenshaw, Richie Havens, and The Saqqara Dogs. In the early 1990’s, he began a continuing collaboration with cellist/composer Michelle Kinney, which has produced CD’s, concerts, and tours.

Relocating to the Twin Cities in 2002, he has continued to branch out further into composing for film and dance, producing, mixing and re-mixing albums, and creating sound design for film, video, and multimedia. His 1998 solo CD — “Stories to Play” — earned much international critical praise, as did his 2007 release “Neverwas.”

His current ensemble, Mississippi Peace, is currently hard at work on his next album, with an early 2010 target release date.