Andy Hill & Renee Safier & Hard Rain

Artist Information

Biography

ANDY HILL & RENEE SAFIER

Since a chance meeting at the University of Denver, Canadian Andy Hill and his singing partner Renee Safier have carved out a unique musical niche for themselves in the Los Angeles music scene (and beyond). Their performances – more than two-hundred a year – are as much social gathering as musical event. Part fan family reunion, part rock & roll tent revival, their incomparable live shows attract a large, enthusiastic, and fiercely loyal group of fans.
As a songwriter, Andy Hill is a student of the folk and rock classics – Van Morrison, The Band, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan – and it shows. Boundary-pushing use of the language, sweeping vocal harmonies, unforgettable melodic content, and tightly crafted arrangements are all hallmarks of his writing and producing style.
Andy & Renee, along with their band Hard Rain, have taken their unique sound and multi-instrumental skills (as well as being riveting vocalists, they both play guitars and keyboards) to venues large and small all over the world. Local Southern California highlights include House of Blues and the El Rey Theatre in Hollywood, and the Hermosa Beach Civic Center. They have also played at the Telluride Blues Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, Napa Valley Folk Festival, Sierra Songwriter’s Festival, Winery Music Awards and the Bob Dylan Festival in Alba, Italy. In May 2012, their PBS Concert Special, filmed at the ATLAS Black Box Theatre at the University of Colorado, Boulder will be aired on RMPBS.

Their eleven independent CD releases have won them countless awards, including: Los Angeles Music Awards Americana Group of the Year, Best Duo/Group at the 2005 International Acoustic Music Awards, Qweevak.com “Top-40 CDs of the year (for their CD: “A River is Gone”), runner-up for best folk act at the Crossroads Music Awards, and a two year run in the Musician Magazine “Best Unsigned Band” Semifinals.
In 2005, Renee Safier, showcasing her prodigious blues and jazz vocal chops, won the Telluride Blues Festival Acoustic Blues Competition, receiving a rousing response from the 12,000-plus festival crowd. She and Andy have returned again and again for successful performances during the 3-day festival. Andy & Renee have also performed New Zealand, Ireland, Italy Thailand, The Philippines and across North America to approving crowds.
In addition to all this, Andy Hill and Renee Safier just celebrated their 22nd year hosting their own Bob Dylan Festival. What started out as a small once-a-year backyard party where a loose conglomerate of close friends would take turns performing Dylan classics all day and well
into the night (or until the cops came), has evolved into a full-blown music festival attended by hundreds of fans and featuring many of L.A.’s top musicians.
Andy Hill and Renee Safier both live in the South Bay area of Los Angeles.

Instrumentation

Andy Hill: Writer, Vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Piano & Keyboards, Writer
Renee Safier: Vocalist, Acoustic Guitar, Piano & Keyboards, Percussion, Writer
Full band adds bass, drums, electric guitar and saxophone

Discography

"Many Miles To Go" 2011: "Long beloved for their great annual tributes to the songs and spirit of Bob Dylan, Andy & Renee remind us that to connect with a genius as intimately as they have with Bob requires a lot of emotional depth, which glows in all these tracks. If you’ve enjoyed their shows over the years but haven’t had the chance to absorb their own songs, here’s your chance. This is a beautiful collection of songs by musicians who knows a lot about what makes songs great." – Reviewed by Paul Zollo, www.bluerailroad.com
"19th Annual Dylanfest DVD": 1 1/2 hour Concert documentary of our annual Bob Dylanfest
"Blackbird Ballads"- 2009.
Andy and Renee team, once again, with poet, Brian Tracy, in this acclaimed CD's weaving of music and poetry.
"Midnight Tea" - 2007. Experience the time-honored tradition of storytelling through spoken word and music. Midnight Tea features Brian Tracy reading his poetry interwoven thematically with songs performed by Andy and Renee. Nominated for JPF "Best Traditional Folk Album", 2009
"Hurricane of the Heart"- 2006. This new CD is a compelling collection of songs illustrating the array of musical and emotional landscapes Andy, Renee and Hard Rain are known for.
“A River Is Gone” - 2004. This CD features Andy, Renee and Hard Rain showing the rock-n-roll side of the band.
“Everything Disappears” - 2003. This release features some beautiful ballads, old and new, and is wonderful for sitting back and listening. Performed by members of Hard Rain along with the great Marty Rifkin on pedal steel and Dobro.
“It Takes A Lot To Laugh” – 2001. This all acoustic Bob Dylan tribute album has received 4 out of 4 Stars from many Dylan websites and magazines. “…a fine intuitive sense of arrangement, with their voices weaving and blending in just the right ways in all the right spots.” (Cosmik Debris magazine) A cut from this CD was included in the BMG release “May Your Song Always Be Sung, The Songs of Bob Dylan, Vol. 3”.
“Something Unbroken” - 1999. 12 songs that feature both Andy and Renee in a CD that has a bit of Country flavor.
“They All Laughed” - 1998. Renee teams up with pianist Bob Malone for a compilation of torchy Jazz standards.
”… Safier has a vocal gift from heaven, with her sensual smooth (yet delightfully rough at times) tone and artistic line direction in her performances.” (Earbuzz.com)
“The Fourteenth of February” – 1996. A 10-song collection featuring the vocals of Renee Safier. 7 Andy Hill originals.
“Now That The Future’s Behind Us” – 1995. An 11-song collection of Andy Hill originals, ranging from piano ballads to rock-n-roll, and featuring a great band.
“Blood From a Rock” – 1992. A compelling music video shot in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico on various Native American reservations.
“I Don’t Remember” - 1990. A ten-song recording performed acoustically by Andy with the backing of Renee and their band.

Awards:
2012 Dallas Songwriters Assoc. 2nd Place, "Kids These Days"
2012 ISC "Unsigned Only" Semifinalist, "Kids These Days"
2012 Song Universe "Best Song" Finalist
2011 ISC Semifinalist, "Kids These Days".
2011 Singer Universe "Best Vocalist" Finalist - Renee Safier
2011 First & Third place, Dallas Songwriter's Assn.
2010 International Acoustic Music Awards Finalist for "When You Remember Me"
Our CD, "Midnight Tea" was nominated for "Best Traditional Folk" album, 2009 JPF Music Awards! www.jpfolks.com
2009 International Acoustic Music Awards Finalists
2009 Unisong International Songwriting Contest 3rd place WINNER
2008 LA Music Awards "Americana Group of the Year" Finalist
2007 LA Music Awards "Americana Group of the Year"
2007 IAMA Best Duo or Group Runner-Up
2006 IAMA Finalist Best Duo or Group
2005 First Place WINNER, Acoustic Blues Competition, Telluride Blues Festival
2005 IAMA First Place WINNER, Best Duo or Group
1999 Crossroads Music Awards Finalist – Folk
1999 Napa Valley Music Festival Finalist
1999 Sierra Songwriters Festival Finalist
1997 Musician Magazine: Best Unsigned Band Semifinalist
1996 Musician Ma

Official Website

http://www.andyandrenee.com

Links

• Facebook
• Andy & Renee Homepage
• MySpace

Audio

• Stay Another Day
  Listen  
• Waiting On A Train
  Listen  
• Somebody To Leave
  Listen  
• A Wish Into A Dream
  Listen  
• New Orleans (I'll Be Coming Home)
  Listen  
• If Morning Ever Comes
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• Mary
  Listen  
• Away
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• Hurricane Of The Heart
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• The Christmas Song That No One Knows
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• Freebird
  Listen  

Lyrics

• One Foot On Your Doorstep
• Kids These Days
• Salvation In Your Arms
• Everything Disappears
• Fly (I Know How You Feel)
• When You Remember Me
• Homeless Night
• Another Man's War
• Way Back Home
• Mary
• Stay Another Day
• Small Things
• The Christmas Song That No One Knows
• Freebird

Video

Blowin in the Wind: 2009 Dylanfest

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Photo Gallery

Press

• Many Miles To Go [+ Show ]
  

  Many Miles To Go “I came to you like a parachute/And landed all around your world,” sings Renee Saf...Many Miles To Go
  “I came to you like a parachute/And landed all around your world,” sings Renee Safier on the lovely “Kids These Days,” written by Andy Hill. Produced by Hill & Safier with the great Marty Rifkin, this is an album of tremendous power and passion. Both Andy & Renee are strong songwriters, but with styles vastly different, so marrying their songs brings a great range to their music. Even when he writes one, he sometimes has Renee sing it, as on the wonderful “Kids,” a sad and beautiful reflection of life’s brisk passage. Multi-instrumentalist Rifkin brings the great pedal-steel he’s played with Springsteen to these tracks, as well as beautiful layers of lap steel, slide, dobro and bass. But Andy Hill is no slouch in the instrumental world, playing inspired piano, organ, and acoustic and electric guitars. The album comprises all their originals, except one exceptional exception, Robbie Robertson’s glorious “It Makes No Difference,” which they deliver together with much purity and passion, and fidelity to the Band’s great earthy vocal sound and even Garth Hudson’s big church organ (played by Hill) and celebratory sax (by Nelson Rangell). John Hoke delivers crisp drums on most songs, though Tim Fillman is on “It Makes No Difference.” “The Fallen Man” is a remarkable contemplation of suicide and mortality set to a great Peter Gabriel-like groove layered lovingly by Hill’s heartfelt keyboard work. Long beloved for their great annual tributes to the songs and spirit of Bob Dylan, Andy & Renee remind us that to connect with a genius as intimately as they have with Bob requires a lot of emotional depth, which glows in all these tracks. If you’ve enjoyed their shows over the years but haven’t had the chance to absorb their own songs, here’s your chance. This is a beautiful collection of songs by musicians who knows a lot about what makes songs great. – Paul Zollo bluerailroad.com

• Here, There and Everywhere E-Zine [+ Show ]
  

  Jan 10, 2004 Michael Sullivan“A River Is Gone” “…It's an excellently written album as Andy Hill is...Jan 10, 2004
  Michael Sullivan“A River Is Gone”
  “…It's an excellently written album as Andy Hill is rapidly becoming a songwriter to watch… Another wonderful effort... Renee has never sounded better vocally. Highly recommended!”
  

• It Takes A Lot To Laugh [+ Show ]
  

  "...Safier's voice oft drips with an aching sensitivity filtered through delicate beauty and a fragi..."...Safier's voice oft drips with an aching sensitivity filtered through delicate beauty and a fragility that would break and disappear in less capable hands...Hill's cuts drenched in prairie sod, the workingman's lament, and a salt-of-the-earth sprechestimme..So what about Marty Rifkin? Jesus, but this guy knows the depths of his art and instruments dead cold, nailing colorative and side-lead aspects in witheringly arresting lines, fills, and incidentals. His dobro playing is heavenly and that pedal steel's highly reminiscent of Red Rhodes."
  

• Cosmik.Com [+ Show ]
  

  It Takes A Lot To Laugh “…Their selection of material is impeccable and impressive, frequently d...It Takes A Lot To Laugh
  
  “…Their selection of material is impeccable and impressive, frequently departing from the obvious in order to include the excellent. Their ten years as a performing duo, and five previous albums largely devoted to Hill's songwriting, contribute to a fine intuitive sense of arrangement, with their voices weaving and blending in just the right ways in all the right spots.”

• Fourteenth Of February
  

  Fourteenth Of February "…absolutely stunning vocal work." http://www.musicaldiscoveries.com

• They All Laughed [+ Show ]
  

  They All Laughed "…Safier has a vocal gift from heaven, with her sensual smooth (yet delightfully r...They All Laughed
  "…Safier has a vocal gift from heaven, with her sensual smooth (yet delightfully rough at times) tone and artistic line direction in her performances… her own sultry.. sexy.. voice - the type of voice that could not only melt a heart, but perhaps the entire polar ice cap… the ample instrumental talents of Bob Malone, who's comping and touch on the pearlies is a compliment to Renee's interpretations…"
  Reviewer: Earbuzz.com

• Midnight Tea [+ Show ]
  

  "Midnight Tea is a unique piece of modern Americana with few equals, nor is it likely any will arise..."Midnight Tea is a unique piece of modern Americana with few equals, nor is it likely any will arise soon."

Setlist

At Concerts and Festivals we perform songs from our 11 award-winning CDs, tailoring of sets to the type of festival we're playing: folk, rock, blues. We also have a songlist of over 400 cover songs.

Basic Requirements

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