"Andrew's writing reminds me of impressionistic painting - an image here and there, a splash of color, light and shadow. His songs defy analysis; the impact of word and sound alone is enough to move me deeply. Andrew's music bypasses the mind and goes straight to the soul." -Lui Collins, Molly Gamblin recording artist
"...Listening to Andrew's latest release, "Shadow of a Wing," is like taking a brisk walk through an exhibit with artifacts of raw, poetic emotion on display. These 18 vignettes get in, say what they have to say, and get out - often leaving the listener to wonder just what hit him/her.
Like a great painting or poem, Andrew has honed the craft of using just the right amount of color, story and spatial relations to tell an enormous tale while taking up very little physical room. ... His attention to the details of language and poetic device has never been better. This impressionistic approach to songwriting is something Andrew had been perfecting for some 30 years. His ability to artfully present a full range of emotions and imagery - from the ridiculous to the grittily sublime - is never more evident than in his back-to-back programming of "Daughter of a Drunk" and "A Hoosier in Paris." -Matt Watroba, Sing Out!
November, 2003: I typed up every song I'd written since age 13 that I thought had any merit, and I saw a pattern in them, of reaching out to people who are in trouble, which can turn out to be dangerous - the perils of engaging with beautiful crazy people. So I made a project of typing up a lot of song lyrics for my website. There were songs in the file I'd forgotten I'd written, and some of them were worth reviving - "Witches", "Two Roads", "Meditation Song" and "Sammy" were some. "Folklore" was written in 1981 but comprised a close portrayal of my then current state, I find it quite funny but that's me. I wrote "Daughter of a Drunk" and "Farewell Butterfly" quickly thereafter. With lyrics like "April showers leave May hanging/Out on the line with 'fuck you, too', and "i'm counted with the minions shoved up the ass of God", neither has received much airplay. "The Promise" was written for my first love, Laurie, mother of my children, at age 19. I don't feel I've lived up to the song but someone will. "Hualapai Mountain" is in Northwest Arizona, a sacred place, some of my best poetry and a good end to this song trip, which is a beautiful one after all. "Smokin' and Drinkin'" was written for Roy Arbuckle, who used to tour through Chicago as part of Fiddler's Elbow, and now lives in Derry, Ireland, where he works for peace. As for "Shadow of a Wing", the song, it didn't fit at the end when it was all put together, and will be on a future recording if I can sing it right. There are a lot of birds flitting through the songs here, which are, like the woman in "Broken Feeder", sacred to me as well.
I love the players on here, Elizabeth Nicholson on harp, Bob Soper on fiddle and mandola, Donny Wright on bass, Joe Root, accordion. Rob Stroup recorded, Mark Frethem mixed and mastered, and Thorin Nielson designed a tour de force CD cover. "A Hoosier in Paris" got played on Dr. Demento!
Travel till you reach the desert
Full and empty, wide as ever
Cactus with his withered wife
Snakes and lizards cling to life
In love forever"
-from "Hualapai Mountain"
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