Andrew Anderson
Austin, Texas, United States
Music
Press
"This review was supposed to be written by someone else. I needed to step in and was unsure if I’d be able to complete it. I already knew I would enjoy the album, but I am not a big country music person and was not confident I would be able to deliver a well-rounded review of Andrew Anderson’s music. I popped in the CD, and it suddenly became easy. And why? Anderson’s music is ubiquitously easy to like, love even.
Though his voice has a twang, half his songs have an Iron and Wine, emotional pop feel to them and cannot be pigeon-holed as alt-country. The other half feature banjo riffs, harmonica-driven tunes, and a “git-er-done” beat. Still, the second set is universally likable.
Anderson is backed by his loyal band, formerly known as The Horseshoe Bends, Luke Meade (who also recorded the album), Jeremy Harris (who helped produce), and Ki Johnsen (who also created the album’s artwork). Each band member is a hard-working cog, contributing to the greater good of an impeccable CD.
As Long as This Thing’s Flyin’ represents maturation in both his sound and his career objectives. This album takes his music to another, tighter level instrumentally and philosophically. Having been recorded, mixed, and mastered in three different states by three different engineers, the diverse perspectives on Anderson’s songs make the album feel complete and rounded.
Chock full of storytelling, Flyin’ takes you through the years of traveling across the country Anderson has done, addressing love found and lost, religion, and more. Flying between high points like “Filling in the Gaps” and “The One I Left Behind” to weaker (but still thoroughly enjoyable) tunes like “Send the Bastard Running,” a romp about whose gun is bigger,the album creates a sonic landscape for those outside of Idaho imagining our grand state.
As I tried to scan through the songs one last time before finishing this piece, I just couldn’t do it; I had to listen to the entire album. There’s no skipping past these songs; You want to hear and experience every morsel.
Anderson is, for now, screen printing cases by hand, making each album a unique work of art. Each one is numbered, and will be for sale at the CD Release Party Tuesday, November 10th at Terrapin Station. When you get your copy, pop open a bottle of Wild Turkey, close your blinds, and savor the traipse through the wandering mind of a true Idaho cowboy."
-Stephanie May - TheBoiseBeat.com - Stephanie May
"Andrew Anderson is amazing. He’s a lonesome traveler that writes songs and lives them. He’s unknown for now, but hopefully not forever."
-Mike Herrera of MxPx/Tumbledown (in an interview with thealbumproject.net)
- thealbumproject.net
A bearded singer in a cowboy hat hailing from Boise collected drummer Luke Meade and guitarist J.R. Harris to form the "country/post punk/Western swing" band of no-nonsense country blues that would bare his name: Andrew Anderson.
The group's philosophy could be described in the track, "Damn It Man": "I smoke too much / I drink too much / I swear too much and my life is riddled with sin." But Anderson himself might, in a nutshell, best be described as an original homestyle voice paired with altruistic acoustic accoutrements.
It's this blending of Dylan-style vocals with structured rock chords and bittersweet subject matter that creates a wholesome album, As Long As This Thing's Flyin', their fourth full-length endeavor. The fast-paced number "The Hawk," in particular, makes this reviewer want to dance with a pretty lady.
The band has a variety of influences. On their MySpace profile, they quote Ernest Hemingway, Jack London and J.K. Rowling, and those inspirations are expressed via guitars, banjos, mandolins, drums, pianos and harps.
In the track "Necessary Casualties," Harris plays a delicate mandolin intro as Anderson croons a political message about war and its futility, questioning "this other guy / who sits at a desk and writes checks / that constantly send our nation further into debt."
Anderson and company celebrate the release of the CD with a shindig at Terrapin Station on Tuesday, Nov. 10. They'll share the party, which starts at 9 p.m., with friends SGFY and Jeremiah James. Best yet, the show is free.
As Long As This Thing's Flyin' harkens back to the days before synthesizers when fingers were callused, throats were sore and makin' your own sweet music hurt so good.
-Andrew Crisp - The Boise Weekly
"The irreverent country tunes of Andrew Anderson benefit greatly from tremendous lead guitar, banjo, mandolin, and backing vocals from gifted sideman J.R. Harris. Anderson's no slouch himself, with his rapid-fire delivery and funny, original lyrics. "Damn It Man" has a thoughtful arrangement with lots of left turns and a nifty instrumental section where a deft lead guitar in one channel duels with a woozy one in the other. "Necessary Casualties" is an impassioned antiwar song with every lyric chosen for maximum effect. "Once Met a Girl" plays an obvious-seeming premise into a memorable personable twist, as Anderson muses that his wild past means he "don't have the right" to woo his one true love."
-Mark Donohue - Big western Flavor (Oct 24, 2009)
bigwesternflavor.blogspot.com - Big Western Flavor
The Berklee College of Music is well-known as the place to go for the ultimate education in composition and recording. The school has taught several hit-makers such as John Mayer, Melissa Etheridge and Steve Vai. Boise-native Andrew Anderson pools his Berklee education with life experience to create tunes packed with adversity, pain, and a keen sense of songwriting.
As a Centennial High student in West Boise, Anderson joined goals with fellow student Stephanie Johnson to record a CD entitled Something We Both Share (available on itunes). The two went on to become classmates at Berklee as well.
"I have since gone back to being mostly a solo or singer/songwriter musician but always trying to have myself backed by great musicians and friends who I can connect with on a personal and musical level. Music and art is all about relationships," says Anderson.
Those great musicians are best friend and drummer, Luke Meade, and roommate/keyboardist Brian Leavell, who he continues to include occasionally in his live line-up.
Anderson's intimate take on alcoholism and mental illness in "Whatever It Takes" brings out a common human understanding of being hurt inadvertently by a loved one. His fragile, subdued vocals drive home the damage evoked in this song through the twangy lap steel and rhythmic, hypnotizing measures.
Pick up this track on Anderson's limited-edition EP Love In Reverse (Love Makes War, and Other Unfinished Work) at the first-ever BoiseBeat night at Terrapin Station this Thursday, where Anderson and his band will play. Each CD will have its own unique artwork and will be sold for only three dollars.
If you're into: Iron & Wine, Elliott Smith, Rocky Votolato
Straight from the band:
"'Whatever It Takes' is a song [that] relates to drug and alcohol abuse as well as mental illness. These are unfortunately subjects that my family has witnessed firsthand." - theboisebeat.com
Discography
The Sweatbox Sessions - Solo acoustic EP, recorded at Sweatbox Studio in Austin, TX. Engineered by Mike Vasquez.
As Long As This Thing's Flyin' - released Nov. 10th 2009- mixed by Mike Herrera (MxPx, Tumbledown) Mastered by Stephen Egerton (Lagwagon, Less Than Jake)
Love in Reverse (love makes war and other unfinished work) - 2008 Recorded and Mixed by Andrew Anderson. Mastered by T.W. Walsh (former co-producer and drummer for the band Pedro the Lion)
Something We Both Share - 2005 with Stephanie Johnson. Mixed by Scott Pergande of the Mix House in Boise, ID. Mastered by Grammy award winning engineer Richard Dodd.
When Most Of October Feels Like December - 2003 (out of print)
Photos
Bio
Andrew Anderson is a 23 year old Idaho-native who is new to the Austin music scene. On his new album, As Long As This Thing’s Flyin’, he captures the rebellious independent - an American in the unspoiled west who wrestles with nature, with God, and with his own unfortunate plight; someone perpetually foiled in love and righteousness, and trapped in a corrupt world.
In “Necessary Casualties� Andrew tells of loss and poverty, the effects of family away at war, and a country torn for self-serving motives. He rebukes the country’s leaders, “I don’t see your sons heading off to war. All I see are the sons of the laid off, the jobless, the poor,� and mentions his own parents and brother. He sings with such vulnerability that no one could mistake his cowboy attitude as an act.
Andrew would cite the melancholy of Townes Van Zandt and Chris Thile’s artful blend of folk and rock as inspirations. But his music also recalls David Bazan’s raw composition and Adam Duritz’s soulful, if imperfect, vocals. One thing is certain, he dominates on the mandolin.
Andrew began playing mandolin at age 15, inspired by Thile's music, and entirely self taught. His record for writing and playing his own music goes back much farther thanks to a musical family and access to his mother's piano and his father's guitar. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA for mandolin performance. His guitar playing is good, but his fingers are so fast on the mandolin, it makes your eyes water.
The nomadic life of a songwriter has traced his road from Idaho to Seattle to Boston and back again. Boston didn’t poison his imagery with ivy halls, or city lights. His songs paint lonesome highways that stretch into nowhere, a neighbor with a gun, and a dame he can’t win. The world through Andrew’s eyes is one where all lessons are learned from mistakes, the ghosts of which still haunt him. In “Fists up, Chin Down� he sings, “I left her. I’m not saying I regret it, but I’ve paid dearly for it. Now what am I to do?�
Andrew would like to be the next Hank Williams, but, he says, “I don’t want to die in the back of a car.� Sure enough, he sings about hiding his demons from his mother in “The Hawk�. “Momma, I just don’t want you to worry. Momma, I just don’t want you to cry. So, Momma, it’s just best if you don’t see me when I die.�
Andrew’s music ranges from full band, pulsing blues-rock, to the lightest country croon. Every song is made with wooden instruments and sounds as though it could have been recorded 50 years ago. That’s Andrew’s real charm, the feeling that he might have traveled from a simpler time when life really was just broken hearts and an old dusty trail.
Andrew has shared the Stage with:
Lucero
Elliott Brood
Two Cow Garage
Mike Herrera's Tumbledown
Reckless Kelly
The Legendary Shack Shakers
Scott H. Biram
Annie and the Beekeepers
Wooden Sky
SGFY
Charliehorse
Lakes
Jeremiah James
Kat Jones
Pinto Bennett
Links
