Kristina Olsen, born in San Francisco, California, and now living in Burnaby, BC, Canada, is one of the most entertaining and compelling performers on the international acoustic circuit. A superb multi-instrumentalist, playing acoustic guitar, steel-body slide guitar, saxophone, concertina, banjo, mandolin, and piano, as well as an award-winning songwriter with a big bluesy voice, Olsen has audiences around the world coming back for more.

Her mix of powerful songs, ranging from sassy bottleneck blues to lilting ballads, swing jazz, and raunch and roll, along with her hilarious storytelling, creates a diverse and deeply satisfying musical experience, on stage, on disc, and in print. Because apparently being brilliant at one thing wasn’t enough for some people.

Roots & Reel wrote:

“To begin with the songs, they are those wonderful gems of songwriting which don’t rely on any particular genre for their beginnings. Olsen builds melodies, not styles. She can wind them into unpredictable combinations which then become lovely melodies, or she can deliver them in straight lines which become jazz or blues-oriented pieces.

Her guitar stylings are wide-ranging, from delicate, complicated runs to aggressive direct blues lines. She’s a sharp guitarist, able to provide herself with both the rhythm and lead pieces she needs to give her songs solid solo support.

As a storyteller, Olsen is similarly wonderful, mixing earthy observations about herself and those around her with the occasional comment about society’s various shortcomings. Most of all, though, Olsen is funny, noting those things which innocently point out where she, and all of us, provide material for comic relief.

She’s talented, funny, and observant, and consequently becomes the witty friend who shares her life with you, never preaching or insisting on praise to maintain the friendship.”