Chris Barilla

Chris Barilla is an Editor with PEOPLE, who formerly served as Associate Music Editor at Distractify and a Contributing Writer at Entertainment Daily, The Blast, The Inquisitr and Popstar Publishing. He has profiled and interviewed a vast array of icons including Ringo Starr, Reba McEntire, Slash, Toby Keith, Peter Frampton, Anne Murray and John Oates, while remaining a fervent advocate of upcoming artists in Americana, country, folk, bluegrass and beyond. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Chris covers major red carpet events in Music City such as the CMA Awards, People’s Choice Country Awards and PBS's Americana Honors at the Ryman Auditorium.

Chris graduated from Ramapo College of New Jersey with a focus on journalism and music production, leveraging a deeply personal knowledge of the craft of music making to breathe life into internationally-syndicated articles, reaching millions of readers, that provide a perspective wholly informed by his experiences as a musician and advocate for musicians.