Andrew Hoover

If you have the means, do yourself a favor before reading this: go to YouTube, type "Andrew Hoover" into the search engine and play the first video that pops up, for his song "Come On." If you don't have access, let me tell you that you are missing something. Twenty-year-old Fairfield native Hoover performs like a man possessed.

I was suspicious at first. Some of the qualities Hoover exhibits in his music and outlook were a little too close to those of the dreaded (in my world) jam band. I'm never listening to music just because the artist is "talented." Having talent and knowing how to use it are two different things. I need the song (at least) and the record (hopefully) to become larger than the sum of the gifted performer. That's where most jam bands fail. I hear some good pieces and yet the whole doesn't bring me anywhere. .

Hoover started out learning the Dave Matthews catalogue. Ouch. On second thought— probably not a bad place at all to start, as long as one can move on. "My real start came when I was 14 or 15," Hoover says. "I was head over heels with culinary arts and wanted nothing to do with anything other than the professional kitchen. My sister suggested I start learning the guitar; she thought it would be a great way to make new friends. I was a huge Dave Matthews fan. Since then, that craving has subsided."

Well, what Matthews inspired is good for Fairfield County. Next on the listening list came Otis Redding, Martin Sexton, Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder ("Every song Stevie writes is a hit") and Raul Midon ("Much of my R&B meets flamenco guitar style is modeled after Raul's"). "From the beginning of my musical education to the current day, my influences have no resemblance. Similarly, the music I create today has zero resemblance of what I created four years ago."

It's all helped Hoover develop his own style, though it is surprising he doesn't mention what, to me, is the most obvious influence: Howlin' Wolf. I don't say this lightly. Hoover sings like he is a 70-year-old black man who has been smoking since smacking down on the delivery table. Still, he says, "I hate listening to recordings of myself. I think the semi-gruffness of my voice comes from vocal abuse, as I sing an unhealthy amount a day."

Hoover self-categorizes his music into the Nu-Blues genre, a move I give him some grief about. He sticks to his guns. "I try to make my sound have layers and Nu-Blues is simply a word that puts all my musical influences under one roof, a roof that is less cumbersome than having to name all compatible genres." Pushed, his retort is firm and funny. "I don't believe I am painting myself into a corner. I've always wanted to be a painter though."

His Lonesome Soulhouette album starts impressively, with "Soul Sucker." From the beginning, his masterly guitar playing hypnotizes. His fingers are all over the fretboard and harmonics pop in and out in a way that showcase Hoover's ear for melody. This may be his surprise strength. There are plenty of dudes in flip-flops who have played acoustic guitar for some time and can pull off a passing Tim Reynolds impression for the drunks at the barbeque. Hoover surpasses that via his innate ability to make a song compelling.

He does so by working within certain parameters, foregoing keyboards, hip-hop or dance beats, obscure lyrics, distortion, or a backing band, which could and maybe should make him dull. It doesn't. Lonesome Soulhouette was one of my favorite records of last year.

"The song tends to come when the song wants to come. Sometimes I feel I'm just the receiver," he says when questioned about his writing process. He seems utterly genuine. When complimented, he appears sincerely shocked. He sounds and looks like the sort of artist who would be doing what he's doing even if no one at all were watching. Let's keep an eye on him anyway.

- Fairfield County Weekly---by Jill LaBrack