Chris and Thomas

Though they were born on different continents, Chris Anderson and Thomas Hein found musical kinship at university in Liverpool, where both were studying. After school, they spent the last few years of the 20th century driving around England in a van as part of a traveling cooking show/restaurant they had developed, but eventually they decided that music was really the path they wanted to pursue. Moving to Los Angeles in 2003, Chris & Thomas, as they decided to call themselves, played their first show together in November of that year. With their unique but still recognizable style — both were capable of singing and playing guitar, banjo, Dobro, and piano — they began to gain a following, and, unbeknownst to the duo, L.A. radio station KCRW picked up their song "Take These Thoughts." Eventually their EP, Vista Street Sessions, made its way into the hands of influential DJ Nic Harcourt, who began putting their music, which was heavily influenced by both American and British folk, in his rotation. In the summer of 2006 Chris & Thomas' debut full-length, Land of Sea, was released in the U.K., and thanks to the overwhelming response it got, plus the duo's contribution to the soundtrack of the Garry Marshall movie Georgia Rule, the album was also slated for a U.S. re-release in August of 2007.