Album Notes

Andersen has made a name for herself as a sought-after fiddler and session player in the Northeast for the last ten years, and has played in bluegrass, country, rock, jazz & Celtic groups. During stints with The McKrells, the John Lincoln Wright Band, Marshall Crenshaw, New England Bluegrass Band, Child's Play Fiddle Orchestra, and John Herald among others, her fiery fiddling has run the gamut from Nashville country, alt rock, swing, bluegrass, celtic, folk, to various traditional fiddle styles and her work has brought her from bars in the Bronx to the stage of Carnegie Hall, tours of California to coffee houses of her native New England, Japan to Sweden, National Public Radio to the Conan O'Brien show.

The last 3 years she has teamed up with songwriter and acoustic guitar legend Harvey Reid to record a highly-acclaimed duo CD "The Great Sad River", and to do a lot of concert touring. She is no longer a side-gal, but a powerful solo artist with a growing repertoire of remarkable original material, and striking interpretations of traditional and contemporary songs. Her solo recordings "The Girl I Left Behind" and "Right Where I Should Be" shine the spotlight on her as a songwriter, fiddler and singer of surprising versatility, depth and poignancy.

"Youth and strength flow through her voice. She's got power and conviction. She's writing new songs and retelling old stories, and there's still something mysterious in her music that sounds like it comes from an ancient and pure source." Minnesota Public Radio

"That neo-traditional current is starting to be felt among the ranks of New England songwriters ...among the hottest ...New Hampshire fiddler-singer Joyce Andersen." The Boston Globe
"A thread of the virtues of individual emancipation runs throughout, not so much a feminist statement but a realization that an individual must move out and move on in life." The Portsmouth Herald