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Nels Andrews – UK Tour April 2013

“Scrimshaw is a delightfully balanced, mysteriously beautiful experience that begs repeated play and yields continuous satisfaction.” NetRhythms
 
“Scrimshaw is full of good music, deft singing and clever, original lyrics.” The Telegraph (4 Stars)

  NELS ANDREWS

APRIL 2013 UK TOUR

Accompanied by Brandon Seabrook on banjo and mandolin

25th April, Admiral Bar, 72 Waterloo St  Glasgow G2 7DA
 
http://www.nelsandrews.com
 
Scrimshaw, Nels Andrews’ latest album is out now …
 
“Scrimshaw” The art of carving or incising intricate designs on whalebone or whale ivory.
 
“In the 1800s, whaling voyages would last 3 years or longer; several weeks, sometimes months, could pass between Whale sightings. This gave the whalers a great deal more free time than other sailors of the day. Manuscripts were penned, and finely crafted stories were told in thin line on bone. I imagine it was the romantics, if forced to sea, who would take to whaling, finding somewhere to occasionally oust their courage between long bouts of contemplation, and rum. They probably also liked the rum.” Nels Andrews
 
This is the third studio album from singer/songwriter Nels Andrews, with songs largely set in and around New York City, (his most recent roost since Albuquerque) until he found himself living in coastal California in the summer of 2011. Scrimshaw is a masterful and organic progression from his 2008 album Off Track Betting. It is as if he took the muscular strength of the songs from his first album, Sunday Shoes, and blended this with the sonic range and artful instrumentation that made Off Track Betting rise from the ranks of most singer/songwriters. Nels has kept true to his folk roots, foremost he is here to tell you a story. As always, his voice is warm and captivates you, melodies hanging in your ears long after the songs end, but in Scrimshaw we can also hear the echoes of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and the influence of Ziggy Stardust era David Bowie in his writing.  In ‘Barroom Bards’ Nels suggests the textures of the San Jorocho music he’s been hearing on the Mexican radio airwaves floating up from Los Angeles. ‘Wisteria’ is a love story from the point of view of a flowering vine that has climbed up the front of a lower east side brownstone for a century. ‘Small Victories’ tells the story of a bohemian enclave being evicted from the apartments hidden above Carnegie Hall. ‘Three Hermits’ is a co-write with WB Yeats. ‘Tridents’, ‘Starboard’, ‘Lost Year’ and ‘Houdini’ are all tales of different sorts of love and ambition, intimate glimpses of characters orbiting a city that won’t rest.  
 
Nels Andrews · April-May 2013 UK Tour
Accompanied by Brandon Seabrook on banjo and mandolin
 
April
Tuesday 16                       London                           The Old Queen’s Head               Green Note presents Songwriter’s Circle with Allison Russell & Peter Mulvey
Wednesday 17                  Shrewsbury                     Henry Tudor House
Thursday 18                     Plymouth                        The B-Bar
Friday 19                          Launceston                     No. 8 Café
Saturday 20                       Swansea                          The Chattery
Sunday 21                         Basingstoke                    The Forge @ The Anvil
Wednesday 24                  Leicester                         The Musician
Thursday 25                     Glasgow                          The Admiral Bar
Friday 26                          Abington                        Abington Masonic Hall                with AJ Roach as support
Saturday 27                       Edinburgh                      Soundhouse House Concert       with AJ Roach as support
 
Sunday April 28 to Tuesday April 30               Scottish Highlands Mini Tour          see www.nelsandrews.com/gig for further info
 
May
Wednesday 1                    Formby, Merseyside             Grateful Fred’s, Formby British Legion

 Bio 

Nels Andrews has spent the last decade wandering, gathering songs, and singing them all over the globe, sharing them around campfires, coffee shops, clubs, festivals, and living room floors. Modern Folk.
 
Critically, he’s struck a nerve, earning songwriting awards from prestigious US festivals such as Kerrville, Telluride, and Mountain Stage. BBC 2’s legendary DJ Bob Harris (The Old Grey Whistle Test) recognized his work as an album of the year. He has been in the Top 5 of the year in the Americana UK charts, as well as KRO Dutch National Radio, Alt-Country NL, Ctrl Alt Country (Belgium), and the Euro Americana Chart. Nels’ premiere album Sunday Shoes continued to find itself in Top Ten albums of the year lists, almost always as the only independent release. His second album, Off Track Betting, received similar critical acclaim, leading to headlining shows at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, and national television broadcast from the legendary Bim Huis in Amsterdam.
 
Nels released Scrimshaw, his third studio album in 2012. Joining up once again with acclaimed producer Todd Sickafoose (Tiny Resistors, Anais Mitchell, Ani Difranco, Andrew Bird, Yoko Ono), Scrimshaw features his  touring band Jonathan Goldberger (Tiny Resistors) and Brandon Seabrook (Peter Evans, Marc Ribot, Trevor Dunn) and wildly talented friends from all over the country. The record was recorded overlooking the Naval Yards in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and tells stories culled from a time off the road, working as a chauffer in Manhattan and watching his infant son grow into a toddler in his Brooklyn apartment.
 
Nels has shared stages across the US and Europe with the likes of Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Dick Gaughan, Slaid Cleaves,  and The Tallest Man on Earth, and twice on the main stage at Holland’s TakeRoot Festival, The Big Big Country Festival in Glasgow, Scotland, and The Orange/Vodaphone Evolution Festival in Newcastle, England.

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