“When (Buddy Guy) invited me up on stage to pick his guitar I think that might have been the moment that I figured out I was going to be a musician.” – Andy Sydow
It’s called Blues on Whyte for a reason, but in recent years management at the popular music venue in the Commercial Hotel has been experimenting with a few bookings that don’t always fit into blues territory in the most obvious sense.
Welcome Andy Sydow, a rising star in the fertile music scene that encompasses Denver and Boulder, Colorado. This week marks the third summer in a row that this multi-instrumentalist/singer and his band have driven north to play a week at Blues on Whyte, through Sunday.
Just 27, Sydow plays keys and guitar and already has four recordings behind him, with a sound that’s beyond category even as it incorporates aspects of rock, blues, Americana, country and more.
“I went through a bunch of heavy phases where I obsessed over different artists, listening to them and playing their music and wanting to be like them,” Sydow recalls. “I like to think that it happened with enough different artists that now I’ve become something weird on my own.”
Earnest and eclectic but sophisticated for his age, he creates his share of moving material.
Growing up near Denver, Sydow’s parents were both amateur musicians who got him into piano lessons early on, subjecting him to a range of roots music recordings at home. Then there were the shows he saw with his dad, live-audience radio taping sessions called “eTown” at the Boulder Theatre, sessions that still happen for National Public Radio stations in the United States.
“I was about 10 years old and we were sitting in the front row when Buddy Guy played one of the eTown shows, and when he invited me up on stage to pick his guitar I think that might have been the moment that I figured out I was going to be a musician.”
Colorado’s Andy Sydow and his band play Blues on Whyte from July 10-14. Supplied
Sydow was around 14 when he really started focusing on guitar and writing his own songs. He began performing at open mic sessions by high school, and later enrolled in music at the University of Colorado in Denver, earning a degree in jazz piano performance.
Today he sees jazz as an important influence on his playing, but it’s more of a side issue. He even obsessed over New Orleans pianists like Allen Toussaint, Dr. John and Henry Butler, and he still considers himself strongest at the piano, but improvisation was the vehicle to an end, to writing and arranging his own material, which happens on guitar as often as not.
Check Sydow’s 2018 release Reasons For Departure, produced by one of Denver’s best-known roots music mentors, Chris Daniels. The songs range form uptempo numbers with hints of boogie piano and rock guitar to more introspective work in a folk vein.
He feels his songs are less confessional than they used to be, but admits most of them still draw from personal experience, “from breakups,” which explains the title, Reasons For Departure.
The songwriter talked about a couple of notable exceptions to that theme.
“Rather than being a story song, Directions To The Moon came from a feeling I had one morning, a feeling about how big life is and how little I am in the stream of things. Secret Rodeo is more about being a musician, more of a joke, about what happens when you play around 150 shows a year, and some are less well-attended than others. But I enjoy playing a show if it’s crowded or not.”
He has been touring around the United States since 2013, gradually expanding his base into Alberta and Saskatchewan over the past few years.
Sydow says his band will be “all over the map” this week at Blues on Whyte with original songs, covers, and some brand new material he’s road-testing for his next recording. His touring group features backing guitarist Andrew Rogers, bassist Jake Greenberg and drummer Zack Ritchie. The bandleader alternates between electric guitars and stacked keyboards set to piano and organ sounds.
Colorado’s Andy Sydow and his band play Blues on Whyte from July 10-14. Supplied
Andy Sydow and his group play Blues on Whyte Wednesday through Sunday from 9 p.m. nightly, with a $6 cover Friday and Saturday.
Blues on Whyte returns to more rocking blues when Edmonton singer-guitarist Elliot Niven & The Alibi open for Sydow on Sunday night, then take over the place Monday and Tuesday. Then Cuban-born, Chicago-raised Eddie Turner takes the stage July 17-20, and New Orleans transplant Troy Turner (no relation) from July 21-23. Kansas City blues belter Amanda Fish and her band deliver July 24-28.
Blues Festival six weeks away
Both weekend passes and single-day passes are still available for the 21st annual Edmonton Blues Festival, happening at the Heritage Amphitheatre in Hawrelak Park Aug. 23–25. This year’s lineup includes Mark Hummel, Lindsay Beaver, Curtis Salgado, Mississippi Heat, Sonny Landreth and Charlie Musselwhite, among many others. See the festival’s website for details.
Blues legends coming to Festival Place
Two of Canada’s legendary blues bands play Sherwood Park’s Festival Place this fall.
Tom Lavin brings the latest incarnation of the Powder Blues Band — currently marking 38 years of music making — to the venue Sept. 14. Meanwhile, Downchild Blues Band marks their 50th anniversary with a show at the same venue Nov. 1. Tickets for both shows are available in advance from festivalplace.ab.ca.