biography
Sometimes a departure from the familiar is the only way an artist can truly move forward. Chris “Abby” Abbondanza certainly believes that to be true, which is why the former Povertyneck Hillbillies singer is focused on only one thing these days - his new solo career.
Once the Hillbillies called it quits, Abbondanza wasted little time worrying about the prospect of “starting over.” Instead, he chose to embrace the opportunity to finally write and record the material he’d been saving for himself. With a new album recently completed and due out in November, Abbondanza confesses the approach has been a refreshing change.
“For six months after the band broke up, I spent most of my time focusing on my songwriting,” he reveals. The result is an album that he feels confident old and new fans will certainly appreciate.
“The thing is, I’m still a fan at heart,” Abbondanza says. “I know what it takes to make the audience connect with a performer. I’m still excited when one of my favorite singers comes out with something new, so I hope my fans are the same way.”
The Hillbillies had already amassed a dedicated fan base along the East Coast, however, thanks largely in part to their energetic live performances. Based on that reputation, and little more than word-of-mouth buzz and local radio, the band sold over 50,000 copies of their two independently released albums. It probably didn’t hurt that they were named the Official Band of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2006, either.
These days, when Abbondanza isn’t writing, recording or performing, he can probably still be found in the studio – the television studio. The singer hosts the popular “Bullseye Outdoor Adventures” show, a hunting and fishing program that can be seen on the Sportsman’s Channel and the Man Channel. Aside from the exposure of being broadcast in more than 30 million homes, it also provides a truly unique opportunity to mix business with pleasure.
“I’ve always cared more about being a good songwriter than anything else,” says Abbondanza, who wrote or co-wrote nine of the album’s eleven tracks. “Working now as a solo artist has really allowed me to explore some different directions that I wasn’t necessarily comfortable with before, so this whole process has been kind of liberating for me,” he adds.
Abbondanza, known to friends simply as “Abby,” didn’t begin writing music or even playing guitar until his late twenties. Growing up in a small town 50 miles outside of Pittsburgh, where a career in music was about as likely as finding a Cleveland Browns fan, Abbondanza spent much of his time hunting, fishing and playing baseball and football. In fact, at one point the brawny singer accepted a baseball scholarship and played two seasons at Penn State.
One chance night in a karaoke bar would change his career path forever, though.
“I won a karaoke contest singing ‘Friends in Low Places,’” he remembers. “I had never even sung in front of anybody before. The next thing I knew I was in a band and we were selling records like crazy.”
Ok, it wasn’t quite that easy. The band Abbondanza joined in 2002 was the PovertyNeck Hillbillies, regional stars in western Pennsylvania that were just starting to enjoy national acclaim when the group eventually folded in early 2008.
Now, with the upcoming release of his first solo project, Promised Land, Abbondanza admits his career has entered into uncharted territory once again. With a renewed sense of independence and his first solo album on the way, the “Promised Land” is starting to look like familiar territory once again for Abby.
