Chris Dodds has been singing and playing guitar in front of audiences for nearly ten years. Like most musicians, Dodds cut his teeth in small coffee houses, all the while longing to entertain larger audiences. His first venture into the arena of bars and nightclubs was with his first collaborative band, ¡Go Dog Go! in 1999. The band enjoyed five years of success culminating in local awards for best cover band in 2002 and best original band in 2003. While maintaining a hectic schedule with ¡Go Dog Go!, Dodds began what is now his mainstay… solo acoustic performances.

His tenure at a local bar, Black Dog Pub, is now at six years and counting. Impressive, because this has been every Thursday night for six years! Dodds was the house performer at the now-defunct La Hacienda restaurant for almost three years, and is now deep into his second year performing with local musician Mike Conley every Friday evening at Columbia Street West for Happy Hour.

Dodds feels his biggest advantage is the sheer volume of selection that he pulls from his repertoire. He has amassed hundreds of songs in an effort to entertain as wide an audience as possible. "A little bit of everything" has been his approach to enlarging his audience over the years.

Since 2004, Dodds has been a member of local band The Legendary Trainhoppers, which consists of members from three different local bands. They were the recipients of a WhatzUp award for best local country band in 2005. While that collaboration has been a smashing success, and an "incredible amount of fun," Dodds has never lost sight of his first passion, which is acoustic performance. Since 2002, Dodds has teamed up with local vocalist Tim Gordon of Fort Wayne to specifically utilize Gordon's talents with harmony. More often than not, these two can be found re-creating many classics from the Everly Brothers, Eagles, and of course Simon & Garfunkel, as well as many "off-the-beaten path" selections that have been forgotten by many other musicians.

Future goals for Dodds include a collaborative children's album with longtime writing partner and bandmate Matt Kelley, along with his own solo album of original songs. You can catch Dodds with his various cohorts on Thursdays at Black Dog Pub from 8:30 to 11:30 pm., and at Happy Hour at Columbia Street West on Fridays from 5 to 7 pm. Also, the last Wednesday of every month is an acoustic show in the front part of Columbia Street West from 9 pm to midnight.