On his cross-country travails, local musician Tim Andrews, 24, has learned something of the road and the loneliness it can inflict. Soon to release his first EP, appropriately titled Lonesome Road, Andrews embraces his experience and the music that has risen from it.
“Solitude and isolation can bring out the greatest depth in a man,” says the folk rock singer-songwriter. “If there's music in him, and there's music in everybody, there's music in all the world inner and outer, as long he knows what to listen for he can go within to channel from this depth.”
Described by others as “Bob Seger meets Bruce Springsteen meets James Dean,” Andrews combines Midwestern roots music with his own distinct sound. Using a full four octave vocal range, Tim Andrews has toured the nation, bringing his authentic voice to clubs and bars north, south, east, and west.
Now based in Nashville, Tennessee, Andrews is excited about his heavily personal, spiritually probing, narrative-driven debut record.
“The man on this record is not a fictional character by any means,” says Andrews. “Though sometimes I sing about myself as if I'm outside myself, these are my struggles.”
Explicitly dealing with a search for God and addressing heartache over a girl left behind, Lonesome Road is fixated on finding courage to press forward in the face of doubt and loss. Andrews is reminded of his own father, who once swam three miles to shore at night after his boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico.
“That's kind of how life is,” believes Andrews. “You have the choice to either drown or keep going.”
The very existence of Lonesome Road is testament to Andrews' willingness to blaze forward. Though the six song EP was originally recorded in less than a week in Orlando, Florida, many of the files were lost due to technical problems. Several songs had to be re-recorded in Niagara Falls, delaying an anticipated release.
“We were about to release the record and we had to re-do it,” recalls Andrews. “It was a big blow that took the wind out of my sail, so to speak. While in Philadelphia I meditated on the project, re-examining it, and things got a lot deeper.”
Such introspection led to an improved final product. “The second time around we came much closer to the sound we wanted,” Andrews says, “We spent a week or more just on the snare drums to make sure they really hit.”
“In Florida I did some of the most honest singing I've ever done. When I lost those files, I lost something that was very much in the spirit of the moment. And the truth is you can't reproduce a take. You can do it better or worse. I basically did it over and over until I did it better.”
Ideally ready for a full release by December, Lonesome Road's debut will be accompanied by a tour throughout the Buffalo-Niagara region. Featuring string arrangements by Andrews' brother, Vince Thomas, and production/engineering by John Helms, the record is expected to be an inspiring throwback to the sounds of Bob Dylan, John Denver, and Glen Campbell while retaining a freshness and originality all of its own.
“Although my songs are autobiographical, I look for a way to bring endurance to others just as my music brings endurance to myself,” says Andrews. “I'm willing to take the dirt and take the sun and do what I can to press forward and make people feel at home in this world, to make them feel that they're not alone in their solitude, to encourage them not to completely place stock in the world of the senses but to look within.”
Continuing his long trek into the unknown, up-and-comer Tim Andrews looks forward to introducing himself to the country at large, bringing the purity and intensity of his vision to “drifters and dreamers” across the lonesome roads of America.
