Andy McKee
Andy McKee’s acoustic guitar can approximate the polyrhythmic interplay of a percussion ensemble, the harmonic sweep of a string section, the dazzling runs of a bluegrass doghouse bass-and-banjo duo, and virtually anything else his pastoral compositions and tasteful covers require. In 9 years and 5 records he’s written an oeuvre that globally inspires and intrigues music fans. His robust 200 dates-a-year tour itinerary—often spanning domestic rural to the exotically remote, from Arizona to Zimbabwe and everything in between—and his fans-first commitment, make him a worldwide ambassador for a new era in acoustic virtuosity.
Andy’s imaginative and masterful approach to the instrument and his Guitar Masters tour franchise—a tour package of edgy progressives—is helping to redefine our conception of acoustic guitar. Recently he’s toured with Dream Theater and Eric Johnson where he’s been able to share his unique artistry with a wide and diverse audience. Fans recently heard Andy on Josh Groban’s Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum Christmas album, Noël. In December 2008 Andy was awarded Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s esteemed worldwide silver medal award for his fingerstyle approach. But most fans first exposure to Andy’s guitartistry has been through his YouTube presence; the Topeka Kansas native’s 100 million cumulative YouTube views puts him in the top 3 most viewed subjects on the site’s storied 7-year history. YouTube and video culture in general, tends to have a shtick-based popularity where humorous and superficial images tend to attract the most attention. That a guy with just an acoustic guitar and no fancy camera work or special effects could resonate with that many people is inspiring in that it showed there is a powerful and widespread hunger for pure and progressive musicianship.
This year Andy will embark on 3 somewhat simultaneous tours. He will head back out with Dream Theater, hitting South Korea, Indonesia, and Japan. He will play arena shows with Prince in Australia as a special guest and directly accompany Prince through the catalog of many of his hits. His solo Pale Blue Tour will cover many parts of the planet. In all, Andy will be playing in America, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Mexico City, France, England, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Russia, and India. And Guitar Masters will reach the UK, France, Germany, and Switzerland.
His masterful expressionism on the guitar includes exotic tunings for rich resonance, drones for mystical ambience, complex polyrhythmic percussion, slap and pop funk bass dynamics, and a tasteful two-hand tap technique that’s unique in that it favors percussion and expansive harmonic capabilities verses show-off licks. His vision extends beyond standard instrumentation and Andy has been fortunate enough to have endorsements from a number of forward-thinking luthiers like Greenfield fanned fret guitars, Lance McCollum Baritone Guitar, and Ron Spillers Harp Guitars to build him instruments and him realize his exotic and complex musicality. His chops are compositionally-derived, his art necessitated his technique, and this approach has an emotional resonance and purity lacking in many guitar virtuosos where chops are for peacocking the audience.
His CD/DVD package, Joyland (Razor & Tie), has a cinematic feel though it also features his trademark pastoral compositional style. The DVD component has an instructional bend with Andy’s trademark candor and wit as he takes the viewer through his musical journey and generously reveals tunings and techniques, bringing the guitar fan close for intimate masterclass performances of the new standards on Joyland.
Andy’s imaginative and masterful approach to the instrument and his Guitar Masters tour franchise—a tour package of edgy progressives—is helping to redefine our conception of acoustic guitar. Recently he’s toured with Dream Theater and Eric Johnson where he’s been able to share his unique artistry with a wide and diverse audience. Fans recently heard Andy on Josh Groban’s Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum Christmas album, Noël. In December 2008 Andy was awarded Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s esteemed worldwide silver medal award for his fingerstyle approach. But most fans first exposure to Andy’s guitartistry has been through his YouTube presence; the Topeka Kansas native’s 100 million cumulative YouTube views puts him in the top 3 most viewed subjects on the site’s storied 7-year history. YouTube and video culture in general, tends to have a shtick-based popularity where humorous and superficial images tend to attract the most attention. That a guy with just an acoustic guitar and no fancy camera work or special effects could resonate with that many people is inspiring in that it showed there is a powerful and widespread hunger for pure and progressive musicianship.
This year Andy will embark on 3 somewhat simultaneous tours. He will head back out with Dream Theater, hitting South Korea, Indonesia, and Japan. He will play arena shows with Prince in Australia as a special guest and directly accompany Prince through the catalog of many of his hits. His solo Pale Blue Tour will cover many parts of the planet. In all, Andy will be playing in America, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Mexico City, France, England, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Russia, and India. And Guitar Masters will reach the UK, France, Germany, and Switzerland.
His masterful expressionism on the guitar includes exotic tunings for rich resonance, drones for mystical ambience, complex polyrhythmic percussion, slap and pop funk bass dynamics, and a tasteful two-hand tap technique that’s unique in that it favors percussion and expansive harmonic capabilities verses show-off licks. His vision extends beyond standard instrumentation and Andy has been fortunate enough to have endorsements from a number of forward-thinking luthiers like Greenfield fanned fret guitars, Lance McCollum Baritone Guitar, and Ron Spillers Harp Guitars to build him instruments and him realize his exotic and complex musicality. His chops are compositionally-derived, his art necessitated his technique, and this approach has an emotional resonance and purity lacking in many guitar virtuosos where chops are for peacocking the audience.
His CD/DVD package, Joyland (Razor & Tie), has a cinematic feel though it also features his trademark pastoral compositional style. The DVD component has an instructional bend with Andy’s trademark candor and wit as he takes the viewer through his musical journey and generously reveals tunings and techniques, bringing the guitar fan close for intimate masterclass performances of the new standards on Joyland.