Fall Line

Andy Gill pursues 'noble cause' through music
St. Michael's graduate to perform at Higher Ground with a new backing band??By Maura Bannon?Staff Writer
St. Michael’s alumnus Andrew Gill and his band, Fall Line, will be appearing at Higher Ground in South Burlington on Sept. 27 alongside Barefoot Truth.
Gill, who graduated last year, has loved to sing and experiment with different instrumental sounds since childhood, he said.
“I feel like the interest was always there, there was never really a question that I wanted to be involved with music,” he said.
Pete Miller, Gill’s close friend and classmate, met Andy through Will Benoit of Barefoot Truth.
“I actually met him playing music,” Miller said. “I can remember hearing Andy and Will playing in the Joyce stairwell on the 4th floor. I started playing my djembe (a West African drum) on the second floor. Then from there we played all the time.”
Gill plays the guitar and piano, and he is learning the drums, he said.
“I plan on playing music for a while and seeing where it goes,” he said. “It’s really too early to tell how successful that could be, but most people who come to our concerts have a great time.” ??
The trick to gaining fans is playing well and entertaining the crowd so people will keep attending shows, buying CDs and downloading songs, Gill said.
Gill is trying to make his dream of playing music for a living into a reality, he said. If his music career is a success, health insurance is the first thing he’d buy, he said.
Having the ability to create change in the world through music is more important than being famous, Gill said. If he became successful he would donate most of his earnings to charities, he said.
Gill has a wide variety of musical tastes and is open to all genres of music, he said.
“I listen to everything from country to hip-hop and reggae, I like pretty much everything,” he said.

?Gill and his new band, Fall Line, play mellow, jam-oriented rock, similar to the John Butler Trio, Jack Johnson and Dispatch. Gill is thrilled to have found some great musicians with whom he can collaborate, he said. Though Gill does not mind playing alone, performing with other people makes his sound more lively and exciting, he said.??Junior Teddy Oram is a fan of Gill’s music.??“Andy’s music is a mix of different genres of music which makes it so unique, mostly acoustic rock, with some reggae, bluegrass and a splash of country,” she said.
Gill’s CD, “A Noble Cause,” was released last February. The music can be classified as acoustic folk rock with an upbeat twist, he said.??“‘A Noble Cause’ definitely shows Andy’s passion for world issues,” Miller said. “His music is catchy and upbeat. His lyrics are awesome.”
- The Defender, Saint Michaels College

Singer/Songwriter contest at Higher Ground

Published: Thursday, November 8, 2007
By Brent Hallenbeck

SOUTH BURLINGTON -- DeAnna Moore was on stage as I walked into the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge on Tuesday night for the finals of the Advance Music Singer-Songwriter Search. That's the room where I first heard Anais Mitchell perform live, and I thought I was hearing her again -- Moore's high, breathy vocals floated above her acoustic guitar as she sang quiet songs with a little bit of folk, a dash of pop and a pinch of country.

A few yards away in Higher Ground's Ballroom, a show miles away in tone was about to start. "How many people were concerned when they saw Gwar was going to be here tonight?" host Zeb Norris asked the crowd seated neatly in the Showcase Lounge after Moore concluded her set. Gwar is a gory, shock-rock group of metal heads; Norris, program director for the radio station The Point, promised there would be no blood and guts at the singer-songwriter show.

No literal blood and guts, anyway, just proverbial blood, sweat and tears. The half-dozen singer-songwriter finalists whittled down from hopefuls who tried out last month at Halvorson's and Club Metronome might have been a lot quieter than Gwar, but they were no less intense as they sang songs of hopeful love and personal pain.

The night's winner would take home an acoustic Taylor guitar, six hours of studio recording time and, most important, local fame. The Burlington music store that lends its name to the event has conducted its singer-songwriter search for nine years, and recent winners such as Lowell Thompson and John Holland have already become prominent parts of the city's singer-songwriter scene. Tuesday's victor would add a nice little line to his or her resume when schlepping around town for gigs.

Sometimes you think there's only so much a person can do with six strings and one voice. Tuesday's contestants demonstrated the possibilities are nearly endless. Here's a rundown of the five performers who followed Moore, a Texan now living in Winooski, as they tried to, um, advance their musical careers:



A veteran Montpelier singer who goes by the streamlined name of D. Davis took the stage with his acoustic guitar and a harmonica strapped around his neck. He waited for a roadie wearing a T-shirt that read "Lord of the Strings" to adjust the microphone, then played the lighthearted, bouncy tune "Bubbles in My Brain." His second number began on a much more serious note.

"This next song is a requiem for a good friend," Davis said softly, slowly. "She was in the World Trade Center back on Sept. 11. So I dedicate this song to the memory of Melissa Harrington." He sang the opening line, "Ooh, California, I won't be coming home," and the song took on a sad, Neil Young-ish feel when Davis kicked in with a wistful harmonica. He ended with a political tune, "Protest," indicating that he wanted to show the judges his songwriting range, from glib to heavy to topical.



Shelburne singer Andrew Gill stood out from the start by bucking the natural-wood-guitar trend with his red acoustic. His sound that veered far from folk set him apart, too.

"I'm kind of like a musical mutt," he told the crowd. "I'm all over the board." His first song, "Father Time," echoed '90s bands like Blind Melon or Live as he strummed his guitar vigorously and delivered soulful, rapid-fire vocals.

Gill described his next song, "Falling in Step," as "my best attempt at rocking as much as humanly possible with an acoustic guitar" before plunging into Zeppelin-esque chunky blues chords and lyrics ("I got the radio blasting with the windows down") that screamed rock rambunctiousness rather than folkified reflection.



Sam Hobson approached the mike with his dark shaggy hair and a few days' growth of beard, looking more like a wild rocker than a pensive singer-songwriter. He sang soulfully, eyes wide open and fiery, then squeezed shut with intensity, often merging elements of soul and folk-rock with hip-hop cadences. The standout among his four songs was "Chew Before You Swallow," a busy beehive of a tune filled with lusty images of food and cellulite best summed up by the lyric "I got a heavy-set fetish."

Considering his appearance, his material and his geography (he's from Kentucky), I decided he was the odd underdog of the night, and therefore I found myself rooting for him.



Peter Day, who plays with the local trio The Grift, was among the more experienced performers; that and the loud cheering section he had in the crowd relaxed him from the get-go.

"After this I think I'm going to go sit in with Gwar, on acoustic," he said. His first couple of songs, "Emily" and "Warmer Days With You," evoked that sunny-with-a-hint-of-melancholy sound Gin Blossoms perfected. He really made an impression with his third and final tune, a Grift song titled "Check One," which included percussion on the guitar and an extemporaneous rappis - Burlington Free Press