Today, sees the release of Australian singer/songwriter Christina Castle’s new single “American Hustle,” the track is off her forthcoming release Chapter 1, out today. The EP includes other singles “Penny Lane” and “Hey Dad.”

Christine Castle on Chapter 1:

“I had never been completely honest in my songwriting before by writing about what was actually going on around me,” she says. “Chapter 1 is that. There was no sitting around wondering what the concept should be. It was me and my piano looking back so I could move forward.”

22 year old, Christina Parie was born in in Castle Hill, Australia, the singer/songwriter, started her career on Australian national TV at age 14, she was subsequently signed to Warner, dropped of out high school, and began her music career. Only a few years later, however, she had the rug pulled out from under her when the label let her go. “Everybody that was in my world since I was 14 was no longer answering my calls,” she says. “I felt alone and like my entire world had been completely flipped in a week.” Castle was at an all-time low.

Donning a blonde wig to avoid being recognized, Castle called herself Penny Lane—a nod to the film Almost Famous as well as the Beatles—and played the songs she was writing at home on her piano for unsuspecting crowds at dive bars around Sydney. It was a long way from the sold- out shows she’d been playing just a few years earlier, but offered something early fame never did: the chance to share her authentic self. “Sometimes I would play to one person, sometimes to 10,” she says, “but I found the music was connecting. People would always come up and say it made them feel something, and eventually I started feeling like I was playing in a stadium even when it was to nobody.”

What she figured out was no small feat. Shortly after turning 19, Castle bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles, where early luck came quickly. “In the first six months of me being in L.A.,” Castle says, “I found myself in a whirlwind.” Before long, she was collaborating with some of the world’s most recognizable artists, including Travis Barker and legendary songwriter Linda Perry, who became a co-writer.

Fast forward, Castle had accepted a gig to tour the world as backup singer and keyboardist for Mikey Mike. It was that experience—spending weeks on the road with Mikey Mike, supporting rapper Yelawolf, and sharing the stage with Run the Jewels — that allowed Castle to discover what she wanted her own music to sound like.

Christina Castle
Chapter 1
Tracklisting

01. Penny Lane
02. American Hustle
03. Hey Dad

TOUR DATES

03/01 Santa Cruz, CA Catalyst
03/02 San Francisco, CA Slims
03/04 Seattle, WA Chop Suey
03/05 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
03/06 Boise, ID Neurolux
03/07 Salt Lake City, UT The State Room
03/09 Denver, CO Marquis Theater
03/11 Kansas City, MO The Riot Room
03/12 St. Louis, MO Off Broadway Nightclub
03/14 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
03/15 Chicago, IL Subterranean
03/16 Milwaukee, WI The Back Room @ Colectivo
03/18 Ann Arbor, MI Blind Pig
03/19 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop

All dates with
with Max Frost & Mikey Mike