SEE HEAR WITH MATT PEIKEN
Classically trained, violinist Christian Howes found his calling to jazz behind bars
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To hear him tell it, Christian Howes once had the world by the strings. He excelled at the violin from the time he was 5 and in high school, he attracted scholarship offers from several prestigious conservatories. But Christian seemingly flushed his future away when he was busted for selling drugs, spending four years in a medium-security prison in Ohio. But he says the connections and music he made in prison steered him into jazz, and the decades since saw him carving a distinctive career path.
In this episode of the See Hear podcast, I talk with Christian about his life and career before, during and after prison, how his time behind bars still affects how he views his life in and out of music and why, after 11 years since moving to Asheville, he’s only now looking to rekindle his performing career. We also talk about the new documentary he commissioned in collaboration with a poet and ex-convict, called Redemption Time.