Christine Albert Bio
Photo by Todd Wolfson
When Christine Albert gives someone her business card these days, she has a choice to make. After five decades making her living as a singer/songwriter, the Austin, Texas-based musician has evolved into an artist whose philanthropic work is at the core of who she is.
In 2005 Christine founded Swan Songs, an Austin area non-profit that fulfills musical last wishes by organizing private concerts for individuals with a terminal illness. Christine guides the organization as founder & CEO. Individuals nearing the end of life can request any style of music that is meaningful to them, and Swan Songs arranges a private concert with professional musicians who are compensated for their time and talent. Requests have grown to more than 500 a year, and Christine and the board of directors have created a model for other communities to establish their own Swan Songs, with the first affiliate – Swan Songs Portland OR – up and running. Swan Songs is a primary area of focus for Christine now and one that complements and aligns with her musical endeavors.
From 2007-2025, Christine served on the national Board of Trustees of the Recording Academy® (the 30,000-member organization that puts on the GRAMMY Awards®). She rose to the top elected leadership position – Chairman of the Board – the first independent artist and only the second woman to do so. Christine also served on the board of adjacent organizations, the Latin Recording Academy® and Musicares®.
She served on the board of directors of the Austin Rape Crisis Center and its successor, SAFE, produced three fundraising concerts for the organization, and speaks publicly about her experience as a rape survivor. In 2018, she was the featured speaker at the SAFE annual luncheon, using music, photos, and narrative to tell her story.
That is Christine’s philanthropic side; then there’s the matter of the artist.
Christine grew up in Rome, NY but came of age in the honky-tonks and biker bars of New Mexico, joining her first band in Santa Fe at the age of 19. She discovered the fertile Austin music scene when she played the Kerrville Folk Festival with fellow New Mexico singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson in 1981. She made the move from Santa Fe to Austin within a year.
In addition to two early cassette only country/folk releases, and two Americana CDs released in the early 90's, one of Christine's career highlights is the bilingual folk/cabaret fusion of her “Texafrance” series of recordings, described by the Austin American-Statesman as "a waltz across Texas with Maurice Chevalier.” The enticing musical mash-up organically blends Christine’s European heritage and love of Edith Piaf with the folk/country sound that grew out of her years playing music in New Mexico and Texas.
In 1995 Christine hired musician extraordinaire Chris Gage for a few gigs, after seeing him perform with Jimmie Dale Gilmore. By January 1997 they had merged their careers (and personal lives) and created the powerful folk/Americana duo – Albert and Gage – a pairing that felt destined from their first encounter. Together for 29 years, until Chris's passing in 2025, they brought their energetic mix of originals, covers by Texas songwriter friends and show-stopping Edith Piaf chansons (yes, in French!) to audiences across Texas, the US and overseas.
As Albert and Gage, Chris and Christine released six CDs. They established and operated MoonHouse Records and MoonHouse Studio in South Austin, producing solo records for each other and several other artists. The duo garnered praise from key music publications. Of their “Dakota Lullaby” album, Maverick magazine said, “a palpable joy permeates Chris and Christine’s vocals on every one of the twelve musically diverse songs.” The Austin Chronicle’s Margaret Moser wrote, “Half Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme (the non-sappy part) and half Richard and Linda Thompson (before the split), Christine Albert and Chris Gage are as entertaining in performance as their music. The couple's sense of whimsy is strong but never dilutes the lovely and sometimes plaintive songwriting.”
Sadly, Chris Gage died in August 2025 after the shocking convergence of a diagnosis of Stage IVB prostate cancer and a massive heart attack within a three-day period. After Chris barely survived the heart attack, for the next 10 months the couple made constant trips to MD Anderson and spent as much time as possible with family and friends, as they adjusted to the inevitability of Chris's passing.
The entire Austin music community and beyond has mourned with Christine, as Chris was a respected and sought after producer and multi-instrumentalist, including being Jerry Jeff Walker's band leader and lead guitarist for the last 12 years of Jerry Jeff’s life, touring with Jimmie Dale Gilmore, eight years playing piano with Roy Clark, was a member of the Austin City Limits All Star Band on the ACL Hall of Fame shows, was the Academy of Texas Music’s “Musician of the Year 2011” and was inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2026.
Ironically, processing the loss of over a dozen close friends and family members a decade ago, Christine was inspired to create her 6th solo CD in 2014 - “Everything’s Beautiful Now” - a collection of songs that explore the transformation and growth that can come from grief and loss. The album was co-produced by Chris and Christine and showcases Gage’s impressive instrumental gifts. Christine says, "I find myself listening to that album from a different place now; it is a lifeline to hope with my own voice reassuring me that I will get through this loss and Chris's sweet voice and music dancing alongside mine."
Mike Davies with Folk Radio UK said, "Given the number of funerals that went into the creation of this album, you might have expected to come away feeling torn and desolate, but instead there’s a sense of peace, acceptance and hope that, greatly helped by Albert’s warm honey vocals, leaves you calm and ready to face whatever tomorrow brings."
For 30 years, Chris Gage sat at the piano at Donn's Depot every Monday night, welcoming spontaneous and surprise guests and accompanying them with equal parts tenderness and power. In April 2026, the torch was passed to Christine, and the community dedicated The Chris Gage Stage, where Christine and her band are carrying on the weekly residency.
In fact, from 2012-2020, Christine held her own Monday night residency at El Mercado in South Austin. She started it with her good friend Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, who passed away in December 2013 – one of the deep losses that inspired the creation of "Everything's Beautiful Now." For several of those years, her co-host was "Titan of the Telecaster" Bill Kirchen, with regular guests like Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Shake Russell, Michael Hearne, Bill Hearne, Redd Volkaert, Marcia Ball, Jimmy LaFave, Rosie Flores…the list of stellar players who took the stage is a virtual who’s-who of Austin music.
Christine has appeared on the nationally syndicated PBS series, Austin City Limits. She was awarded “Female Vocalist of the Year” and "Duo of the Year" (with Jimmy LaFave) by the 1996 Kerrville Folk Festival Music Awards; “Superstar of Austin Music” for her community service work; and was inducted into the “Texas Music Hall of Fame” by The Austin Songwriters Group, an organization which Christine co-founded in 1986.
As Christine reimagines life without Chris, forever imprinted with the music, energy, and love they created together, new songs are emerging as well as plans for her first recording in over a decade.
3rd Coast Music noted that Christine has “one of the best and purest female voices in Austin” and Jimmy LaFave once described Christine as a “wondrous singer with a beautiful focus and unrestrained grace. She is a life-long musician who is transforming her experience and passion into philanthropic work and initiatives that serve the larger community.