Since falling in love with the sounds of traditional country music as a teen and cutting his teeth as a street busker for ten years, Toronto native Chris Coole has found a distinct place in the North American roots music scene. There are very few players who have been able to cross back and forth between the bluegrass and old-time camps as seamlessly, having performed and recorded critically acclaimed albums in both arenas. In the old-time music world, Chris is known as one of the top clawhammer banjoists in the genre. From his early releases with Arnie Naiman, he has established himself as a highly musical stylist and composer of new music that manages to sit comfortably with the old tunes and songs. He then played and recorded two albums with fiddler Erynn Marshall. The duo recorded “Meet Me in the Music”, a collection of music from Kentucky and the Virginias that was warmly received by the old-time community. Chris has taught banjo and guitar at workshops across North America (Augusta Heritage Centre, Midwest Banjo Camp, Dusty Strings). Back home, students have included a who's who of Canadian roots music including Justin Rutledge, Ruth Moody (The Wailing Jennys), Brenley MacEachern (Madison Violet), Erik Arnesen (Great Lake Swimmers), and Old Man Luedecke. On the bluegrass side of things, Chris is known as the guitarist, singer and songwriter for The Foggy Hogtown Boys. The FHB has become one of the most successful bluegrass units this country has ever produced having recorded four critically acclaimed albums and touring North America, Ireland and Israel. Chris is also a founding member of the Toronto Bluegrass Collective “Crazy Strings” whose legendary Wednesday night residency at Toronto's Silver Dollar Room is in its tenth year. Chris has recorded 9 collaborative albums (Arnie Naiman, The FHB, Erynn Marshall, The Banjo Special) and has been a side man on over 75 recordings (Jim Cuddy, Jenny Whiteley, Ron Hynes, Sylvia Tyson ect.). Old Dog is Chris' first solo project. Five new original songs mix with three covers (The Band, John Hartford and Dave Dudley), and a few traditional tunes to create a unique and atmospheric roots music album. “Of course I wanted Old Dog to reflect my musical journey - discovering this amazing and weird world of old songs and tunes that seemed so far away from my own reality, yet so familiar...getting completely lost in it really...spending the last 18 years of my life playing this rural music in an urban setting and trying to find some personal context in that. I enjoyed working with the great musicians on this album and getting a chance to record some music in sparser settings than I have in the past. I hope that some of the musical instincts I've developed from playing bluegrass and old-time come through even though the music on this album gets away from the boundaries of those styles”