"I write songs about the world in the spiderwebs, twisting around a rusted music box in the attic of your dreams."
Like a ghost.
That's how enigmatic singer-songwriter Jeff Andrew appears on the Canadian musical landscape. An incurable drifter with a pawnshop's worth of instruments and a chameleonic ability to switch between styles, he's a mystery even to himself. For years he was a frequent sight on the highways and dusty backroads of North America, hitchhiking to tree planting and fruit picking camps, dodging tear gas grenades at massive street protests and busking his way between Vancouver, Halifax, Dawson City and San Francisco.
In January, 2009, he released his first full-length album, Vagabonds & Wastrels (Shade Tree Records), a mix of edgy, political folk, cabaret-style fantasy, experimental spoken word and raucous juke-joint hollers. Recorded in Victoria with producer/engineer Corwin Fox, it's a patchwork of travel songs telling the story of a world filled with dreamers, freaks, poets and ghosts.
"There's something here for everybody. Whether you're a hardworking hobo struggling against the system, a heartsick pilgrim searching for freedom on the highway or a demon playing fiddle in the Devil's string band, there's a song or a story here for you."
Like the vinyl records Andrew grew up with, the album is split into two sides. Standouts from the first half include the epic, IWW-inspired work song Rebel Girl and Truck Stop Wall, a haunting ballad about the women who've disappeared from Northern BC's Highway of Tears. On Side 2 the album shifts into the realm of dark fantasy. Rumbling bass drones and driving percussion on tracks like Map of Secrets and Faerie Music set the stage for a nightmarish journey down the cobble-stoned paths of the underworld. Apocalyptic visions, strange tales and eerie soundscapes abound.
"It could be the long-lost soundtrack to a play written by William Burroughs and H.P. Lovecraft, with set design by Brian Froud."
Born and raised in Ottawa, Andrew spent his high school years playing guitar, bass and drums in a series of classic rock and metal bands. Sometime around the turn of the century he traded in his Epiphone SG for an old backpack and hit the road. In 2005, he co-wrote the song "Dark, Now" with Sarah Noni Metzner (named Best Solo Artist at the 2007 Canadian Folk Music Awards) and sang on her album "Daybreak Mourning". Since then he's toured Canada twice, appeared at numerous festivals in the West and shared stages with artists like CR Avery, Rae Spoon, Geoff Berner and former Shiftless Rounder Phill Saylor-Wisor (a.k.a. Stripmall Ballads). He now divides his time between touring as a solo act and playing fiddle with Vancouver's country-punk outfit the Joey Only Outlaw Band.
In the spring of 2008, Andrew hit the road again for a cross-Canada hitchhiking tour with spoken word artist shayne avec i grec, to promote their DIY compilation album "Road Warriors Unite!". As Ghosts of the Highway, the pair thumbed their way from Vancouver, BC to St. John's, NFLD, playing every bar, cafe, kitchen and street corner they could find. Along the way they captured a tumbleweed near Sintaluta, SK, played the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, QC, visited Jack Kerouac's grave in Lowell, MS and lost their entire audience in Sackville, NB to a Leonard Cohen show in nearby Moncton.
Live, Andrew is a dynamic, ferocious performer with a seemingly endless range of material. He frequently works straight from the floor, stomping his boots and belting like a born-again carnival barker. This summer he will be playing the Brandon Folk Festival, ArtsWells and the Calgary Stampede (with the Joey Only Outlaw Band, who are hard at work on a new album with producer Corwin Fox). Plans for a late-summer cross-country tour with gypsy-folk circus troupe The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra are also in the works.
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