SONGSILLINOIS.COM
October 5, 2006

Andy Friedman is alt-country. But not just because Nashville won't have him or because his music has too much integrity to be just more anthemic slop featured on commercial country stations. No, he's alt-country because he's really saying something with each and every song and that's something that even the best alt-country simply doesn't do. He's using the medium of pedal steel, guitar and tears in a beer to express either deeply personal, poetic stuff ("Self-Portrait..") or unpopular political ideas.

Andy Friedman's new record, his debut studio release, is called Taken Man and it's out in October on his very own label - City Salvage (Paul Currei, Devon Sproule). With song titles like "I Don't Want To Die Like Andy Kaufman" and "Guys Like Me Don't Get Grants" it's a pretty amusing and entertaining and thought-provoking ride.