Andy Collins

Andy Collins

Person

Genres: country, blues, australia, country rock, blues rock

About Andy Collins

Blues singer and guitarist from the far north of Australia, where the rainforest meets the reef and where there are only two seasons (wet and dry). He was first drawn to the Irish-based traditional music of his homeland, but the Blues, when he found it, was stronger and darker, and ultimately held more fascination. He hit the road at 18 in the late 1970s at the peak of the Barbary Coast days, where the entertainment was either learn how to fight or play well enough to please fishermen, canecutters, miners, bikers and other desperados, when Cairns was a sugarcane town at the end of the road on the east coast of Australia. 'When I had thirty songs together I went and found myself a gig. I debuted solo at the roughest pub in town, the Oceanic Hotel.' Cairns had a thriving live music scene, and Collins put together the Lake Street Sheiks and other small groups, with harmonica player Steve Gilbert and Jules Williamson on 5-string banjo. We did lots of jug band stuff in the Sheiks and I used to play mandolin and kazoo. But it was the Barron River Drifters, a cowboy/jazz sextet, that appeared all over the far north, in constant demand from 1987 to 1992. 'Right from day one that band just took off...I went from doing a couple of gigs a week to up to six or seven a week for about five years. I did my apprenticeship in the music business with this band.' But wanderlust kicked in, and Collins went to Europe in 1992, where he performed solo under the name of Black Cat Tail. He also started working on his songwriting. Returning to Australia, with producer James Mann, Collins made his debut album of original material, Barron Delta Blue. The album spawned the catchy hit 'Pascoe River,' got two tracks on an EMI compilation as well as radio airplay, and was honored with a Song of the Year and two Queensland Album of the Year awards. A shift down south in 2000 saw Sugarcane appearing regularly on ABC Radio Brisbane, gigging in Fortitude Valley and teaming up with harmonica player Andy 'Cutlips' Vogel in a duo. Returning to Cairns and with Mann once again, Collins made his second album, Lake Street Serenade, in 2003. At the Queensland Recording Association’s Sunnie Awards, the songs received a record twelve nominations and won three Sunnies, and Collins was named Queensland Songwriter of the Year. In the summer of 2005 he made his first solo tour of the USA. He shared the stage with Coco Montoya and WC Clark at the Winthrop Rhythm & Blues Festival, jammed with Pinetop Perkins in Illinois, appeared on the King Biscuit Time Show with 'Sunshine' Sonny Payne on Radio KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, and sang in the streets of Clarksdale, Mississippi during the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival. The 2006 Sugarcane Collins Got a Story to Tell Tour includes several Blues festivals in the USA, and his new album was called Way Down The River. Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music: COLLINS, Sugarcane Andy Collins, Barron Delta Blue (self-produced, 1999) What better way to handle the post-Christmas blahs than to put on some blues! A disc by Andy Collins was first in the line-up -- and although better than many, there's nothing that really kicked me, although a few tracks stood out and said "I'm here" with this disc. I was reminded of a lounge act with the opening track, and that feeling carried on through the entire disc. This can be either a good or bad thing -- it all depends on your personal listening tastes. According to the liner notes, these songs are "reflections of a life in Far North Queensland." Andy learned the ropes in the famed bars of the Barbary Coast -- singing for very mixed audiences, comprised of blue-collar workers for the most part. A hard-to-please class of people when it comes to the creature comforts! All but one of these tracks are original compositions, and they prove Andy is quite capable as a songwriter. "Gulf Road" has a steady, driving beat to it, and there is a feeling of loneliness and danger caught in the music itself. The harmonica adds to the melancholy mood, as do the lyrics. "The blood red dingo knew it and the wide eyed Flinders Steer / The hunting Myall crossed it with a boomerang and spear / Still wedge tail eagles see it and the timid kangaroo / Stood by and watched in wonder as the bullock drays came through...." An era past, an area steeped in history -- it captures the imagination. This is one of two tracks on the disc which Andy didn't write; however, it is a notable piece. The title track is a funky piece of piano blues, with Joey May burning up the keys. This track has a lot of heart to it, and a blues sound that isn't so prevalent anymore -- at least here on the West Coast of Canada. Out of all the original pieces, this one stands out the most. The melody is consistent and the lyrics are something within which the listener can lose themselves. It tickles the senses and nudges the soul. Andy's lyrics are down to earth, matter of fact, believable, and strongly mirror reality. He's not looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, nor does he try to lead his listeners down that merry path of make-believe. "Long Lonesome Road" is a song of love remembered. "If you remember / Write to me some day / If you ever think of me babe / Write to me someday / Addressed as follows / Somewhere out on that old highway...." The aboriginal artwork in the accompanying booklet is something else, too! All in all a fine effort by Andy, and worth the listening. Blues fanciers will appreciate it, and enjoy the addition to their collections. It speaks of a different time and place, one I won't mind visiting now and again. Rambles - A Cultural Arts Magazine: Andy Collins - Barron Delta Blue

Taken from Last.fm

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