Go Triad (Greensboro, NC)
January 22, 2007

Feature Article
By Sue Edelberg

NO ACTS ON THIS MUSICIAN'S STAGE

A cartoonist since kindergarten and an early listener of records and his father's live music, Andy Friedman is all about honesty, whether he's composing cartoons or guitar tunes.

Though he has an image as a "redneck from New York" and a bashful, yet witty man who likes to drink, Friedman believes in music as a meaningful and genuine experience as well as an outlet and a place to learn about life. He learned this concept at a young age and applies it to his own albums.

After publishing cartoons in The New Yorker and Spin magazine, two art and poetry books, and releasing an album of live recordings, Friedman released "Taken Man" last year. He's on tour with his ever-changing backing band The Other Failures to spread his heartfelt honky-tonk acoustic ballads, inspired by the likes of Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nelson.

"The country blues musicians, primarily of the 1920s and 1930s, gave me the confidence to pick up an instrument and sing my poetry the way it comes out," Friedman said. "Their music never gave me the feeling that it's necessary to put on any act."

Although Friedman has toured all over the United States and been featured in large publications such as Rolling Stone magazine, he isn't looking for an ego trip by putting music out and performing.

Almost constantly on tour, Friedman says he can't help but feel the natural pull to "travel all over like a maniac." He puts his heart and soul into having a connection with his audience, no matter how packed or empty the venue may be.

"I like knowing that maybe my songs are helping someone get through or connect with a time that they might otherwise have found to be a more difficult or fragmented moment of living," he said. "I like those moments onstage when it's obvious that we're all doing it together, me and the audience."

Friedman's performance at The Garage in Winston-Salem on Jan. 25 will mark his fourth performance in Winston in five years. He said he's excited to be playing again in the South.

"I've always felt that the further South I go the more people appreciate where I'm coming from," he said. "I think it goes back to the country-blues way of thinking about art."

So, how did Friedman become a redneck from New York?

"Someone wrote it," he said. "I didn't coin that phrase for myself, but I don't mind the moniker. I'm not sure what a redneck really is, anyway. Is it a bashful, honest, sometimes drunk person?"

Andy Friedman & the Other Failures
When: 9 p.m. Jan. 25
Where: The Garage, 110 W. Seventh St., Winston-Salem
Tickets: $5
Information: 777-11 27; www.the-garage.ws