Harmony's Children…Andy and Denise
by Richard Cuccaro
One of the joyful aspects of publishing this newsletter is getting a chance to trumpet the arrival of a prodigy.
The prodigious talent in this case belongs to two singer/songwriters named Andy Fox and Denise O'Brien.
They bill themselves simply as Andy and Denise.
They combine strong songwriting and singing of original works with heartfelt pop song covers to knock audiences' socks off.
Andy is a Berklee College-trained musician who is an excellent singer and a gifted guitarist. Watching him play has always
been a stirring experience for me. He frames his compositions with a crisp attack from various positions on the guitar neck
and in a variety of tunings. Watching him improvise lead back-up for other players on the spur-of-the-moment has always
provided for exciting moments. While he generally stays in open tunings for his work, citing Michael Hedges as a major influence,
his unerring sense of complementary passages in backing others reveals an extensive foundation and understanding of fundamentals.
Denise is an actress/singer/songwriter with a powerful voice and gift for harmony, an aural treat, with Andy or anyone else.
Not only does Denise sing, write and play the occasional guitar or percussion instrument, she has also taken on the immense
and daunting task of booking and management for the duo.
The Formative Years
Both described intense directional pulls toward their current performing status. Denise said: "I've been singing as long as I can remember.
My mother loved musicals and they were always playing in the house. We would have a 'family night' and watch them when they came on TV.
I did a number of plays in elementary school and then again in high school." Andy recalls: "Music was always in my house growing up.
My grandfather played the organ, my uncle was a DJ and had a frighteningly large vinyl collection, and my mom and brother both play
the piano. It was inevitable that music would be part of my life, though I bet none of them expected it would become my life."
Early Influences
In citing influences, Denise says, "I played the flute all through Jr. high and high school. I remember listening to a collection of records
by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. They were playing all of this modern music (Beatles, etc.) and I had wanted to become a
professional flautist and join the Boston Pops. Then we moved when I was in 11th grade and the music dept. wasn't any good at my
new school so I started doing shows at the local theaters in the area. Andy states: "My mom was always listening to early Motown
(Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, etc.) when I was young, so some of that rubbed off. When I started
playing guitar I was into a lot of the typical guitar gods: Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Johnson, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix.
I eventually wound up hearing Michael Hedges at college and basically never turned back. His compositional style was exactly what
I wanted to be doing."
The Turning Point
I asked them when the music business became a serious option. Denise said: "I guess about a year and a half ago when I realized that
we were actually moving forward and getting better and better shows and people were coming to them! I realized that my life had
come full circle and that I had always really wanted to be a singer. I just took the backwards route and did the acting because I had
done it for so many years. It's so funny the path life takes you on. This was never a dream of mine, I always thought I would be an
actress but I am so much happier as a singer/songwriter."
For Andy, things jelled a bit sooner. He said: "I think the day I got accepted into Berklee College of Music was the day that I figured
I was going to be involved in the music industry one way or another, whether it be performing, writing or recording. After I graduated
I figured I had one of two options: either become a studio rat who never saw the light of day and spent 80+ hours behind a console,
or try my hand at this whole singer/songwriter thing. So I upped and moved to NYC and started performing with my friend Rob Giles.
Now I'm trying to balance the playing and recording a bit since I enjoy doing them both. Denise and I have also started recording our
friends projects in our home studio so I still have my hands in that end of things."
Forming a Duo
This is a great little Manhattan vignette. Denise tells the story: "We met almost 31/2 years ago when Andy was playing in a folk/rock
group with Rob Giles. They had a show at the Triad (The Dark Star Lounge at the time) and I was working as a waitress in the dinner
theater upstairs. Andy and Rob were warming up in the foyer and were a little loud (and I was bored) so I came down the stairs to
'yell at them' for playing in the foyer. Andy was immediately smitten and asked me out on a date. About 7 months after we started dating,
Andy's partner Rob moved to Austin, TX. They had been playing almost all of Rob's songs so to give Andy a little support I suggested
that we work on his songs and I would sing back up at a few open mikes with him. Just until he got his footing. We ended up booking
a show from that first open mike and it's snowballed ever since."
Influences Today
Denise states: "Lately I feel like a sponge and I just want to hear and absorb so many people's music. I love Patty Larkin, who has been
a big influence in my songwriting, as well as Cheryl Wheeler. Also any group with great harmonies and layered vocals. I've always been into
harmonies. I am also very inspired to listen to my friends music. We have some incredibly talented friends who make songwriting real because
I know them and I see first hand how they work and develop a song." Andy reiterated: "Michael Hedges would be the top. I've learned so
much about playing and composing on the acoustic guitar from studying his techniques."
Melding Their Styles
Andy states: "It was hard at first because Denise had to learn a whole new style of singing and I was coming out of a pseudo-rock band.
We were both inexperienced at cowriting and it took us a while to understand and appreciate one another and what we each brought
to the table in terms of songwriting. I had a very structured and trained approach to songwriting coming from Berklee, while Denise's
approach was much more emotional and free spirited. It's been a great learning experience for both of us to take something from each
others style of writing and combine them. We've always enjoyed performing together and seem to mesh well on stage. In the past year
we have really gotten this cowriting thing down and having a great time writing together. We still sometimes clash when we are both
passionate about the direction a song should take but we are learning to compromise and work for the benefit of the song rather than our egos.
Advice/philosophy
While advice from persons so young might seem a conceit, I'm always curious to know performers' overall viewpoints:
Denise: "Love what you do! If you love to sing and would do it no matter what, then go for it. If you are going into music to fill up
something inside of you, to pad your ego or self-esteem, I feel that is not a good reason. This business is too hard and you have to be
strong in yourself and not look for outside things to validate you"
Andy: " …Improving as a player and developing your own style is as much listening as it is practicing. Like Denise said earlier, absorb
as much as you can from artists that you like. Build up a vocabulary of techniques that you can use. Push yourself and what you think
you can do as a musician. Also, don't let music over-consume your life: go on a walk or to a museum or on a date or learn to paint or
cook or drive stick shift....something that reminds you a world outside of music exists."
Andy is a crackerjack graphic artist as well as a musician, well versed in both printed and web work. Take a look at their web site!
It states that it's designed by AFCO, the AF standing for Andy Fox.
Andy and Denise have two CDs available-- Sunlight in Goodbye and Live from Eddie's Attic,
available for their web site: www.AndyandDenise.com
Upcoming shows include:
• Tues, June 12, 9:00 pm Van Gogh's Ear Cafe 1017 Stuyvesant Ave., 908-810-1844, Union, NJ
• Sat, June 23, 9-11 pm, 3 Bean Coffeehouse, 140 North Haddon Ave 856-354-2220, Haddonfield, NJ
• Thurs, June 28, 8 & 10 pm Grandma's Gourmet Cheesecake Co., 168 Diamond Bridge Road, 201-444-7981, Hawthorne, NJ
Contact Information:
P.O. Box 1693
Radio City Station
New York, NY 10101-1693
www.AndyandDenise.com
e-mail: hello@AndyandDenise.com
Tel: (212) 539-3555
Riversong: Betty and the Baby Boomers
by Barbara Horowitz
The Clearwater organization is known for its dedication to cleaning the Hudson River, as well as to other environmental causes.
The organization, which was started as a result of efforts by Pete Seeger, tends to attract people with musical backgrounds, and so
it is also responsible for the four members of Betty and the Baby Boomers meeting up. Steve Stanne had been an Education Director
for Clearwater. He, Paul Rubeo, and Betty Boomer sang with the Hudson River Sloop Singers, which is affiliated with Clearwater.
In 1986 they met Jean Valla McAvoy and decided to form a group.
For the last 15 years, then, the four have been making music together. Steve describes them as "unscrupulous harmonizers."
Each of the four has very different vocal qualities and range which produce, when combined, "a complex, interesting set of sounds."
Steve says that they perhaps could be compared to The Weavers, also a 4-member group with very distinct voices and a social consciousness
to their music.
When I asked Steve about their musical backgrounds, he said that most of them had been in church choirs and taken piano lessons growing up,
with music courses here and there. Steve and Jean in particular came from families that enjoyed singing together as a group activity.
The four all reside in the mid-Hudson valley, although they represent several different counties in upstate New York. They make the time to
practice and to "tour and play enough to keep in shape" between work and family responsibilities. Interestingly, all four are educators.
Steve works as an educator for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Betty is a naturalist and instructor, Paul is a teacher
of teachers, and Jean is the educational director of a wetlands preserve.
Steve explains that their music, "while polished, is relaxed and informal." They definitely have an easy sound, and Steve feels that they
probably come across best in small, intimate spaces. Paul plays guitar, bhodran, and kazoo, Steve does guitar and dobro, and Betty lends
some percussion to the group. At performances they enjoy casually talking about whatever they feel like, thus, says Steve, engaging the
audience in a family feeling.
They sing an eclectic mix of folk music and have played at blues and rock 'n roll clubs, as well as at folk venues. They're "a soft touch
for benefits." Phil Ochs Night, when it is held anywhere in the Northeast, is a favorite. Clearwater, of course, commands a lot of their attention.
And they are somewhat partial to traditional folk.
Jean is the composer in the group, and they usually include three or four of her songs in a given night's performance.
Betty and the Baby Boomers have two CDs out and plan to start recording a third in the fall.
To order either "I'll Always Sing" or
"Tumbling Through the Stream of Days," log on to their website, www.bettyandthebabyboomers.com.
Or go see them July 19, 7:00 P.M., at the Newburgh Free Library in Newburgh, NY. You can also catch Steve Stanne along with a
group of Clearwater singers at the Clearwater Revival in Croton, NY, on June 16 at 11:00 A.M.