Andy Baker
Songs for the heart Played from the soul (Local)
Michigan singer/songwriter Andy Baker has spent a lifetime peering through microscopes. As a veterinarian, it’s a necessary skill…searching for small clues in order to grasp the bigger picture. Pretty handy tool for a songwriter too. In fact, Andy has spent a great deal of his life with his own lens turned inward…and outward…and it shows in his newest collection of award winning modern folk tunes.
Songs from his 2017 album “One Fine Day” nod to his influences such as John Mayer, Ryan Adams, and the Indigo Girls, but his subjects wander well off the beaten path with themes such as spiritual searching, heartache, addiction, and long drives home. Producer Michael Crittenden varied the studio dressing from the haunting minimalism of “Try” to the soaring rock ballad of “December 31”. Two songs from the album, “One Fine Day” and “Whistling Man” won him a coveted finalist spot at the Kerrville New Folk songwriting competition.
But it’s on the stage where Andy’s music really shines. He changes scenery often, using 4 different instruments during his shows…guitar, bouzuki, dobro, and bass, and his easy humor and energetic performance style keeps his listeners on the edges of their seats. His shimmering open tuned guitar work is a nod to his hero’s like Michael Hedges and David Wilcox, and his humorous songs like “Pink Cadillac” and “Labrador Blues” get em rolling in the isles.