´óÏó´«Ã½

Part two of our inteview with Christopher Rees on the release of his new album, Devil's Bridge.

Your critical reception has always been good, and you've got some high-profile admirers. Do you have any ambitions to convert that support into sales?

Of course I have ambitions to sell more records and get the songs heard by as many people as possible. That's why I try to work as hard as I can to promote the albums through live gigs, touring as much as I can around the country and overseas. I don't think any so called 'cult' artist sets out to be a 'cult' artist and I certainly don't aim to be commercially under-rated or overlooked for the rest of my career.

I feel very fortunate to have played with and had the support of some of my early heroes from John Cale to Kristin Hersh and Victoria Williams amongst others. Opening for Billy Joe Shaver last year was a pretty big deal for me too. Apart from the fact that he is an incredible song writer and character it was that, 'six degrees of separation', thing. His songs have been sung by everyone from Elvis to Johnny Cash.

He told me stories about Townes Van Zandt and Willie Nelson and I guess I just felt just a little closer to greatness by association hoping that some of it might rub off on me. So to get endorsements like that means quite a lot to me because I have so much reverence for those people.

But the greatest thing I've learned from those experiences is that your heroes are real people too and they've had to work as hard as hell to get where they are today. Apart from their brilliant talents it's that authentic commitment to what they do that has inspired me in the most real sense and made the whole journey feel attainable.

Who do have ambitions to work with in the future?

Well, it's strange to think about that now because when I first started playing music I did have specific names that I dreamed of opening for or working with. John Cale, Kristin Hersh and Victoria Williams were on that list and it's amazing to have actually achieved those ambitions now.

So as far as any new fantasy collaboration list goes, well, I do have a soul album in the pipeline and if there is one soul singer that I would love to sing with its Mavis Staples. A friend of mine in LA played some keyboards on one of her albums a few years ago and said that she was "The nicest person he has ever worked with", so that would be pretty special.

I'd love to hear Tom Jones sing one of my soul songs one day too. The list could go on and on but I would like to keep it relatively attainable!