Chris Isaak meets the ÂJayhawks" This folk rock music, supported by skillful harmonies, is upbeat, refreshing and positive, appealing to every age group. The simplicity of structure gives the music a classic feel and belies the depth of feeling and t

10 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk Pop, ROCK: Acoustic



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Meet the MacVitties: Fred and Chris. Father and son. Although twenty-five years lie between them, nothing comes between their harmonies. Here, in the timeless truth of music, the experiences and influences of two lives meet and embrace.


Chris MacVittie has been the catalyst for the duo, though he would say it was his father's record collection that set this duo's career on its path. The Incredible String Band, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash and of course, the Beatles all enticed the young MacVittie, who took every opportunity to listen to the music that shaped one generation and has taken hold of another. Now it resurfaces in the rich texture of lyric and music that Chris discovered when he was living alone in a shack in Australia.

After a brief college career, Chris followed his inner need to spread his wings with the decision to learn not within the confines of a University, but from the wide-open spaces of a small farming town outside of Brisbane. There he worked as a volunteer for a land conservation organization and spent most of his working days alone mending fences and nights wrangling meals over a campfire. In Australia, where some aboriginal tribes follow the songlines of their nomadic lives across the desolate terrain, Chris followed his own songlines. One night a mentor appeared offering him an old guitar and lessons in how to cook over an open fire. He learned a few chords and the songs that had been waiting within poured out in a voice that grew stronger and clearer with each new day.

Chris continued to play when he returned to the States, taking the occasional lesson and finding any opportunity to perform. When asked to sing at an open mike competition, he had the sudden inspiration to ask his father, Fred, to join him.

A former Marine who did a tour in Vietnam, Fred MacVittie loved his music and harbored a secret desire to sing. However, he chose the path of family responsibility and built a career as an environmental and safety consultant, reserving his musical ambition for family sing-ins on long car rides.

Chris didn't think twice about asking his father to sing with him, it was simply the next logical move to make. In no time father and son reached deep into their shared love of music blending their rich voices and close harmonies within each of their original songs.

"We've come a long way from the days of singing along to "The Beatles A to Z" in the car," Chris says. Today when Fred and Chris MacVittie join voices, it is to their own music and something magical happens -- something at once profound and effortless. That something has had a powerful effect on audiences throughout New England for the past several years. The MacVitties have been on the road playing everywhere from the Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, Club Passim in Cambridge, and the Acoustic Café in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to the Baggot Inn in Manhattan and The Towne Crier in Pawling, New York.

The MacVitties first CD, "Not What You Think" received Boston Sound Check Magazine Reviews' highest rating of 4 Stars. Their latest recording, "Love Letters", is already garnering attention. Sue David, Chairperson of the Boxford Music Festival, writes, "there is no better way to describe this album than to use the words from the title track, Âno metaphor, no simile, no nouns or words of imagery can capture this ....'"

Chris and Fred MacVittie are setting a new standard for fathers and sons and for anyone who has every harbored the desire to follow their secret dreams. With deeply felt songs of love and loss, of hope and triumph, they mix their voices and hearts to mend fences and instill a deep sense that all is well. Their music reflects the MacVitties' deeply held belief that life is a gift -- pure and simple.