Andrew Perry

I started in music as a drummer, so you could say I started playing in bands before I became a musician…I wouldn’t, of course. 

I played drums in R&B, soul, and heavy bands - Blues Etc., Miston Tuac, Nemesis. But  saw Tom Rush, in ’67 or ’68 and discovered the virtues of one voice and an acoustic guitar. .

Through Mr Rush I discovered James Taylor, and Joni Mitchell and  traded my kit for an acoustic guitar. Soon I was playing folk clubs in a trio called A Boy And His Dog, doing Tim Buckley, Love and Soft Machine numbers. I met emerging talents such as Stefan Grossman, Ralph McTell, Al Stewart and John Martyn.

I leapt out of the audience when Jo-Ann Kelly asked some-one to play a 12 bar riff for her, and jammed with Alexis Korner. I shared a London flat with a crazy Polish guitarist who introduced me to West-Coast acoustic music and bluegrass. During the late seventies in Hertfordshire, I played bluegrass guitar, mandolin and dobro in The Ashridge Ramblers, Stars'n' Bars and in Country Rock band - Rusty Dowd & The Wild Bunch.

In Sussex in the early Eighties I played "newgrass" with Custer's Last Band. I loved the music, still do, but felt a little silly singing about popular Appalachian pastimes like brewing moonshine, burying kinfolk and stabbing girlfriends. Then a rare illness affected my joints and prevented any playing for some time, and I became involved in photography.

Suddenly, ten years had gone by and I hadn't performed any music, so I got the old Martin out of the attic, and started playing, but this time it was songs which seemed to have relevence to today. I sang solo in the folk clubs of the South East, then formed a duo called Professor Schnurrbart and the Hokum Orchestra, with bass player Dave Jordan. When Pat Francis added dobro and mandolin skills, we evolved into Panhandle Conspiracy in early 1995.

After building up a considerable following, the trio dissolved in 1997 but subsequent solo gigs gave me a new sense of freedom and a wider repertoire. I'm writing more of my own songs, more "hokum" (happy blues) and added songs from an ever widening source of influences.

Through Emmy Lou Harris, I learnt about Guy Clark my single most significant influence. He led me to the West Texas songwriters like TVZ, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle, and Joe Ely.

I hit the big 50 in 1998, my guitar style has probably reached its apex, but seems to be reasonably original, at least in the U.K., My voice is a more "lived-in" and relaxed, but with these limited gifts and maybe my ironic sense of humour, I seek, simply, to entertain.

Andrew Perry (updated December 2000)