ANDY WHITE – NEW ALBUM ‘SONGWRITER’
& ON TOUR IN ONTARIO WITH HIS BAND
DORA KEOGH’S, TORONTO 21 July 2010 @ 9pm
BLACK SHEEP, WAKEFIELD 22 July 2010 @ 8pm
HILLSIDE FESTIVAL, GUELPH 23-25 July 2010
DAKOTA, TORONTO 26 July 2010 @ 8.30pm
Irish singer-songwriterAndy Whitecarries a 12-string guitar under his arm and wears his particular brand of Irish magic and charm on his sleeve. He has the political edge of the young Bob Dylan, the romance of David Gray and the Celtic influences and lyricism of the Waterboys.
Andy has ten critically-acclaimed studio albums to his name. He has won Ireland’s top rock and songwriting awards, toured the world working with the likes of Mary Black and Van Morrison, and written with Peter Gabriel and Neil and Tim Finn (Crowded House).
He first came to Canada with rocking folk supertrio ALT (Andy, Tim and Liam O Maonlai from Hothouse Flowers) in 1995. After playing solo shows at Calgary and Winnipeg Folk Festivals, he started to come back to Canada on a regular basis.
Since hooking up with Canadian songsmith Stephen Fearing, Andy has
co-written songs on the last three Blackie and the Rodeo Kings albums including ‘If I Catch You Crying’, ‘October Lies’ and ‘How Long’. Andy opened for Stephen on an extensive tour of Alberta earlier this year.
New Album
Andy’s new album Songwriter was recorded live in the studio in Vancouver, and marks a new, rootsier direction for Andy.
The band features long-time accompanist Radoslav Lorkovic (Jimmy La Fave) on piano, Paul Rigby (Neko Case) on guitar and pedal steel, Allison Russell (Po' Girl) vocals, and John Raham (Be Good Tanyas) on drums.
The cuts on Songwriter reflect writing collaborations Andy has been working on for the past few years. There are songs co-written with Stephen and Allison Russell, Australian writer Sean Sennett and Scots producer/writer Stuart Crichton. The Irish Times commented:
How to hang on to the wide-eyed wonder of youth without getting stuck in the groove? Andy White seems to have perfected this art · Songwriter oozes messy storylines and insistent guitar chords that drill a hole into your subconscious · It's classic White terrain, a place where singalong-ability is to be celebrated rather than sneered at; and where guest vocals from Allison Russell chafe beautifully against Andy's Belfast-by-way-of-Melbourne curlicued diphthongs. A recession- beating slice of (wary) optimism.
Siobhan Long, IRISH TIMES
History
It’s been twenty years since Andy burst onto the UK music scene with his first single ‘Religious Persuasion’ —a slap in the face for bible-bashers everywhere — and debut album Rave On.
“Yer Man’s Brilliant!” proclaimed Melody Maker, and the singer the UK press called ‘Belfast’s Bob Dylan’ or ‘Ireland’s Billy Bragg’ was born.
Since then, Andy has become very much his own man, and his lyric-driven acoustic rock has become more engaging — and his social commentary more relevant — each year. Witness the real-life ‘War on Terror’ Andy grew up in, and the often sinister role of the Church in Irish society.
Since his first release in 1986, Andy has released a series of acclaimed albums featuring songs now firmly engrained in classic Irish playlists —‘Religious Persuasion’, ‘James Joyce’s Grave’, ‘Street Scenes From My Heart’. He is a singer-songwriter of and for our times, documenting the world and its current chaos and beauty with remarkable insight.
Andy relocated to Melbourne, Australia in 2002 after collaborating with the Finn Brothers and writing Aboriginal icon and 400 metre Olympic champion Cathy Freeman’s theme song ‘Coz I’m Free’ for the Sydney Olympics.
Lead track on Peter Gabriel’s last album Big Blue Ball was a co-write with Andy entitled ‘Whole Thing’.
Ontario Tour
Andy is touring Ontario in July 2010 to promote Canadian release of Songwriter by Judy Collins' Wildflower Records.
Andy will be playing shows with a trio featuring the wonderful Colleen Hodgson (Solo Artist, Zeppelinesque) on bass and Cleave Anderson (Blue Rodeo) on drums.
For further information please contact Rose
official website: http://www.andywhite.com
myspace: http://www.myspace.com/andywhitemyspace
facebook fan site: http://www.facebook.com/andywhiteireland
twitter: http://twitter.com/andywhitetweet
sonicbids EPK: http://www.sonicbids.com/whiteandy
Record company:
Wildflower Records
P.O. Box 1296
New York, NY 10025
212-749-7221
Contact: Katherine de Paul
Andy’s Canadian cell:
July 14-28: +1 604 417 9000
Songwriter cover: