SIGNONSANDIEGO.COM
UNDER THE RADAR
3/20/06

"Art Country" artist Andy Friedman brings his honky-tonk hybrid to Joe 'n' Andy's in La Mesa. Matt Curreri and the Ex-friends open.

By AnnaMaria Stephens
SIGNONSANDIEGO STAFF WRITER

Andy Friedman is a "slideshow poet." That seems to be an accurate enough description for the Brooklyn-based visual artist and musician. Or perhaps it's the only way Friedman could figure to explain his act to various promoters. A gruff-voiced young guy singing country and blues songs mixed with amusing meditations on life, love and travel and projections of drawings, photographs and paintings is a little unusual, after all.

Friedman, who grew up in Long Island, attended the Rhode Island School of Design and got his first job in the mailroom of the New Yorker, where he eventually became a regular illustrator and occasional cartoonist. He began experimenting with his art on the side, writing and playing songs to accompany the visuals (or vice versa). In 2002, he ditched his day job and decided to hit the road and pursue full-time the honky-tonk hybrid he calls "Art Country."

But don't go thinking Friedman's avant-garde, some black-beret country beatnik sucking the soul out of country with his withering wit. His storytelling is smart, funny and engaging. For example, to accompany the tune "Cheat With the Highway," Friedman projects images of desolate mailboxes, a cheap motel and a postcard that says "Sorry! Too damn busy to write!"

Andy Friedman & The Other Failures are currently touring behind the recording "Live at the Bowery Poetry Club." In addition to making music, Friedman runs City Salvage Records, which released locally based musician Matt Curreri's debut album "How To Play The Songs of Matt Curreri." Curreri will be opening this show.
Published March 20, 2006