Chris August

2017 Kern County Fair
Budweiser Pavilion

FREE with paid Admission into the fair
Seating is first-come, first-serve

Chris August has struck a balance in a beautiful tension. The soulful singer-songwriter who cites influences from Stevie Wonder to Boyz II Men accepts the call to speak the truth and pour every ounce of his being into his music, without taking himself too seriously. This equilibrium is evident on the award-winning artist’s new record, The Upside of Down.

At 3 p.m. on April 25, 2012, August woke up in a hospital bed with no idea where he was or how he had gotten there. A plastic band hugged his wrist, and an IV poked out from the skin on his arm. Utterly confused, August looked up to meet the eyes of a friend who told him he’d been in a serious skateboarding accident the day before.

“It’s the weirdest feeling I’ve ever had in my entire life,” says the easygoing musician, occasionally laughing in disbelief as he tries to describe what it’s like to forget an entire day of your life – and a frightfully eventful one at that.

August remembers looking at potential covers for his new album with friends on April 24th. What he doesn’t remember is hopping on his electric skateboard on a street he’d boarded hundreds of times, hitting a patch of gravel in an unmarked construction site, flying from his board, being knocked unconscious and later being rushed to the hospital for a bruised, bleeding and swelling brain injury.

After a CT scan, doctors told the 30-year-old that there was a 50 percent chance the swelling would continue, requiring a very serious surgery that sometimes leaves its patients relearning basic functions—like how to walk. Thankfully, though, the swelling went down, and August was able to return home a week later and recover.

Even in the wake of that trauma, August is good-natured and able to make light of certain moments along the way, especially the conversations he had in the hospital, which he now forgets – like trying to convince a friend to escape with him in the middle of the night.

August’s new record, The Upside of Down, is due out on August 21, less than four months after his accident. The record explores the beauty of God’s omnipresence and abiding love, and the lead single, “Center Of It,” points to God’s promise to be with His people in the midst of the highs and lows of our lives.

Joking that he should have prophesied something more optimistic, August describes “The Upside of Down,” written with his co-producer Ian Eskelin (Francesca Battistelli, Jason Castro), as revealing the truth that God is with us both in the beauty and the brokenness.