As a ten year old boy living in Okinawa, Japan, Charles Allison lived for Friday nights. That was when his older brother would go out on the town, leaving his room and his extensive record collection unguarded.
“He had this killer stereo with all kinds of records,” says Allison. “I would go into his room and listen to every one of them. That’s when it started, I was a music freak.”
Today, Allison is most likely to be found in his studio in Chattanooga, with his dog Luna by his side and a guitar in his hands.
A passionate singer-songwriter and self-taught musician, Allison has developed a unique sound to fit his creative approach to producing new music. Releasing his first self-produced record in 1997, he has gone on to produce and record eight more since.
Influenced early on by British pop and new wave, Allison is the first to admit that it is hard to classify his music. He describes it as “all over the place” and says that he loves that his music contains contradictory themes. His past records have been described as running the gamut – from experimental to folk-pop with a country-western feel to reminiscent of edgier seventies sounds.
Most recently, Allison received a CreateHere art grant, which resulted in his creation of a blog based on producing a song each week for one year. His blog, straightforwardly titled “A Song a Week by Charles Allison,” follows very few rules.
“The rules are that it has to be something that was written and recorded during that week,” says Allison. “Beyond that, there are no rules.”
Allison says he hopes his blog will function as a catapult to sling him into the next level of musical creativity. There is certainly no question it is quickly solidifying his role as a prominent member of Chattanooga’s music scene.
“It’s a way to make me feel pressure to create something every week and to put it into the world,” Allison says about his blog. The process of writing and recording a song each week is a way for Allison to do what he loves most, record music.
“Playing music is great. It can be really intense, but it’s kind of fleeting, in that when you stop playing, it’s over, it’s gone,” Allison says.
“The most validating thing for me is recording music and having it done and static,” Allison says. “You have this objectivity when you are listening back to something you made that’s different than when you’re playing music.”
Allison cites being a part of a supportive community as a crucial element in the success of his career. “I knew very early on that it’s very important to surround myself with people who get what I do and will be with me through the hard times,” he says. “So, when I see people who are really dedicated, and they live to play music, those are the people I want in my support system and I want to be a part of theirs.”
Allison also notes the importance of his family’s encouragement. “My wife is crazy supportive and thinks that what I’m doing really matters,” he says. Allison says he is also impressed that his four year old daughter can already recognize his music.
“She can just hear a little bit of my music without my voice or anything and she’ll say, ‘That’s you!’ Sometimes I’m not even sure if my wife would recognize it or not,” Allison adds, jokingly.
Despite having his hands in several projects and constantly striving to better his musical creativity, Allison is not trying for stardom. What he really wants, he says, is stability and the freedom to just enjoy his music.
If his passion for music, strong work ethic, and devotion to the local music scene are any indications of future success, Charles Allison will be a bright beam of light in Chattanooga for quite some time.