According to my mother (and she would know) I was born on the hottest day of the year 1955 in Southern California. I became consumed with music when my dad first played me a Kingston Trio album at about 9 years old. My folks enjoyed folk music and had a copy of their first album which I listened to over and over and over. From then on I collected each and every album they ever released. And I took up guitar lessons more seriously so that I could learn to play all of their songs.
In 1968 my new guitar teacher, Scott Hillman, gave me two new songs to learn by a singer/songwriter named Gordon Lightfoot – “Did She Mention My Name” and “Wherefor and Why.” It was like a bolt of lightning for me and my drive, motivation, and aspiration changed overnight – I knew what I wanted to do.
A couple of my oldest and closest friends (and very first bandmates I might add), Skip and J.D. Weiss, talked me into joining them for the summer of 1971 at Camp Thunderbird in Bemidji, Minnesota. That turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. I spent the next 7 or so summers as a camp counselor (nickname of "Willard") taking kids on camping and canoe trips, and entertaining camp with music. I shared my music with camp during all of the summers I attended; and to this day people still tell me how much the songs and music meant to them. It's so rewarding to know that something I did had a positive impact on someone else -- and they remember. Still, many of my very closest friends in life are those I met during the 1970's at Thunderbird.
Upon graduating from High School in 1973 I attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, one of the most incredible places I've ever had the good fortune to live. But just a mere 30 miles southeast of Boulder I discovered a burgeoning folk music scene happening in Denver at that time and that's where I needed to be…writing songs all day and performing them at night at every “open mic” night I could find.
So, it was “open mic” nights at the Global Village on Tuesday nights, the Denver Folklore Center on Thursdays and the infamous Oxford Hotel on Sundays. This is where I met my very good friends (to this day) Bill Roser, Scott Bennett, and Rick Stockton (who all play a special part in the recording of my first CD of original music in 2007). We all aspired for the same thing…to play our original songs and have someone – anyone – listen to them. During this time, one of my best friends from my camp counseloring days, Marty Diner, played me a song by an artist I had never heard of called, “Cosmic Cowboy” by Michael Murphey. It was truly an epiphany for me right there! My music changed, I changed…I had seen the light!
For the next two years or so I focused on songwriting and performing and formed a band with a couple of Marty's buddies, Jim Dickson on bass and Jim “Woody” Woodward on lead electric guitar. The band was called, “Cold Feet.” But by 1975 I decided to continue my education at the University of Arizona, Tucson majoring in music with a strong emphasis (more like an “obsession” really) in computer science. It was a great time to be learning Fortran and Cobol – I was having a ball. The computer industry was about to explode in a couple more years with the introduction of the PC and you could just sense that big things were coming.
When I returned to Southern California for the summer of 1977 I got a job at the Great American Food & Beverage Co. in Westwood. Everyone who worked there was a musician and had to audition to get hired. I met one of my closest friends, Celia Taite (Matthau at the time) there and we formed a vocal trio with Ellen Anderson called “Celia, Ellen & Andy.” I opted to stay in California and focus on the music where we played many clubs in the LA area and opened every Friday night show at Bud Friedman's Improv on Melrose. And by December, 1977, we landed on the Dinah Shore Show.
Unfortunately, however, that group broke up shortly after the Dinah appearance and I decided to organize a country-rock band. Along with my friend, Don Beck (former Flying Burrito Brothers member) we formed a 5 piece band and worked many clubs and bars throughout southern California in 1978. We called the band ”Live Steam.” Later, Don and I worked as a duo (“Byron & Beck”) and played the ski resorts of Vail and Aspen that winter.
Shortly following my association with Don I had an opportunity to work as a solo act for Far West Services who handled entertainment for numerous steakhouse chains in southern California. I traveled from Woodland Hills to Upland to San Diego to Huntington Beach to Garden Grove to wherever. I was working 5-7 nights per week for several years and I sharpened up my skills in the process. But much more than that…I met Nancy one night in July, 1980 at the Summerhouse in Woodland Hills and my life changed forever.
1981 was a very important year for me musically because I took a backup band out on the road for the very first time to do 40+ college shows focusing on my original songs and humorous material. It was a ball and the shows were extremely well received everywhere…except Butte, MT (they booked us as a dance band and we really weren't a dance band!).
In 1984 my beautiful and supportive new wife, Nancy, and I decided to give music one real “last chance” and move to Nashville to see if music was to be my future. After a year there (and loving it) I decided I needed to find a more secure career that could support my goal of a comfortable middle class lifestyle someday and so we moved back to Southern California where I went into the commercial real estate business.
For several years I worked in this business and, ultimately, began developing residential real estate properties on my own. And in 1994, after having suffered through the collapse of the Southern California real estate market of the early 1990's, Nancy and I moved to Boise, Idaho to try development there. That decision changed our lives! We were able to move our family (we had 3 young daughters by that time) out of southern California and closer again to the Rocky Mountains where my heart had always stayed.
While I was in the process of developing a large acreage project with several partners I met in Idaho, I was convinced to come in to the financial services industry at age 39. It was a crazy idea but I still desired a more consistent stream of income since real estate development, although very lucrative at times, was always feast or famine. I have been in the financial planning and advisory business now since 1995 and have found the perfect match for my educational background, my lifestyle goals, and my desire to work with and help people to achieve their goals and dreams. The rewards, both personal and financial, have been so great that I can't ever imagine giving it up. And…it's afforded me the opportunity to raise 3 great kids, send them to college, live in a comfortable home, and, this past year, reinvigorate a hidden musical dream from 25+ years ago.
In September, 2006 my old friend Bill Roser called me to suggest getting together and making music at our old friend Rick Stockton's recording studio in Paonia, Colorado. That weekend in November proved to be another turning point in my life. What started out as a long weekend to demo a couple of each other's songs has since turned into a complete CD recording of my original music dating back as far as 1975 with one song written as recently as February of this year. Now I've had the opportunity to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams as well. The CD, entitled, “Somewhere or Nowhere,” was released in August, 2007 and a CD Release Party took place at the Big Easy Concert House in Boise, Idaho on September 10, 2007 as well. Over 350 people turned out for that event where I was able to assemble a nine piece back-up band to help me perform all of the songs on the CD live. That night was one of the highlights of my life and I was lucky enough to get to share it with many good friends and family.
Yes, it's been quite a ride to this point. We learn and grow so much through every stage of our lives. I'm thrilled to think that music isn't a thing of the past for me and, after all this time, there might be some value in sharing some of that music with others. But in all honesty, I recorded the CD for me. It's meant renewed friendships, reminiscing about the past, looking to the future and…just making music. I hope you enjoy it!
Andy Byron
Fall, 2007