Hi Everybody, my new CD Joyland is coming out on Razor and Tie Records on Feb 23, 2010 and I want to celebrate this with a kick off gig aka "CD release party" at New York City's Highline Ballroom. My good friend and stellar musician Johnny Dickinson will be opening the show. This will be a great night of music. Also, I will be posting more US dates shortly but wanted to let y'all know the news as soon as everything's confirmed. Can't wait to see you soon! Cheers, Andy

Tons O' stuff happening – Concert dates, video shoots, Album updates & more - So let’s get to it!



Hey guys! So I've just finished up recording my new album, Joyland, and it should be going off to mastering this week. I also just wrapped up shooting some video that we plan to include with the CD. It'll have some notes about the songs and recording process as well as some general interview bits. On this album I've branched out a bit and included some instrumentation on a couple of songs. There's also a new harpguitar tune and a couple of covers including another one of my favorite 80's tunes. It should be be available in February!



Concert dates – Hello 2010 touring calendar! Posting dates today as a matter of fact!



I will support Joyland with a ton of touring! I am starting in the US, going to the UK, then to Europe and back to the US. It is my plan to play as many different cities and countries in the world as I can in the next 2 years (wow, did I just say that??? EXCELLENT!) So, if you don’t see your country listed (or your city for that matter) please be patient and keep watching for dates. I am expecting to go to Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, and South America. I'll keep you posted!



I can’t wait to see you all and share my new music with you.



Cheers and Saludos!


Andy

Hi Everybody, Thanks for watching the videos... just found out that For My Father just crossed 4M and Drifting just crossed 25M. I am humbled and thrilled by your support. Cheers! Andy

Hi everybody!

Just got back from the International Guitar Festival in Uppsala, Sweden. I had a crazy good time there at the clinic and the show! National TV and press were awesome but the fans were absolutely unbelievable, thanks for such a warm welcome and for hanging out after the show. Nice to meet y'all!

I really enjoyed the group Inti-Illimani Historico, an phenomenal band from Chile. They played with the noted classical guitarist John Williams. They KICKED OUT THE F'ING JAMS! Their lead song writer, Horatio Salinas is the real meal freaking deal. Check 'em out as soon as you can because they are really good. http://www.intiillimani.org/

Got some love last week from CNN - Headlines news with Robin Meade .. thanks to all who wrote and twittered about this..its just awesome!! Check on this link...

http://media.vmsnews.com/MR.pl?id=101409-3542831-Q002111039

The Andy McKee Youtube channel has been great and frustrating simultaneously. A lot of international fans can see a bunch of the new stuff, while many others can't. These markets are being checked into as we speak. This has been a multi-week process and your patience is greatly appreciated. I've been using facebook for status checks so thanks to everyone around the world for helping me figure out what countries area able to see it and which ones aren't. Your support means everything to me and I remain committed to making sure that everyone who wants to the new vids can see them. Next year when I start touring again, I want to start posting a bunch of new stuff that is not necessarily just my music videos. It may be your takes on my songs or just video highlights of the everyday world as I encounter it.

Portugal is on the horizon! I just confirmed the venue in Fafe, PT for Nov 12 so if you can make it please look to see if this city is the right place for you. The venue looks great from what I have seen online. For those folks wanting to catch a live show, these will be my last dates until I start my tour next year to support the new record. On that front, I am still hoping for a February release date for the new record... of course, I will send updates on that as it gets closer.

Time to get back to the olde geetar and write some tunes. See you all very soon.

Andy

Alrighty... we should be International right now! make that, that's what I am talking about !!! Please let me know if anything doesn't work or any if country that you live in can't see this. Let me know right away. You should all be able to see at least 10 new videos with more stuff coming up on-line shortly. Thanks for hanging in there - Andy

Just had the videos reposted in HD and trying to solve a mystery of why anyone outside the USA can't see these. Love the technology but the snafu's are lame. Thanks for keeping with me as this gets figured out. Andy

Drifting - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNas_ur14wo

Africa - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYAfxmf-5FA

Rylynn - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmJTEEKOSEI

New Andy McKee Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/andymckee come check it out! All brand new videos with excellent sound quality... if you want to go direct you can use these links (I'd love to know what you think of this different video capture style - please let me know)...

Drifting - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQvyiMJJloU

Africa - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iG23bwQUM8

Rylynn - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4cK5hsVP70

Since I have had a chance to record bunch of new takes on old faves (and a lot more videos posting shortly) where I tried some different recording and mic techniques - you might notice this comes from the same series of shoots that I did for the new EP Common Ground videos (the stuff with commentaries on a couple of tunes from over the videos - available through iTunes here if you haven't yet checked it out:
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=DjFxxY4s5cM&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&=RAZORANDTIECOM&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewArtist%253Fid%253D190267921%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30

Acoustic Guitar magazine - November 2009 has a lesson by me. Some of you guys who subscribe will know this already as this just came in - but I have a lesson on Africa where I deconstruct technique on my arrangement of this Killer tune by the band Toto and generally talk about the song and acoustic guitar in a nice smaller article. If you don't have this you should definitely check it out when it hits your newsstands.

On other fronts: Work on the new record has me burning the midnight oil.. I hope to get this wrapped up soon. I have dates in Portugal and Sweden coming up in Mid - October and Mid-November - and maybe some sneak peek dates into 2010 that I will start to post soon. Please check my concert calendar listings on one of the related sites facebook, myspace, andymckee.com. I am really looking forward to playing a bunch of the new tunes for you all.

Cheers!

Andy

Fingerstyle guitar magazine - featuring, yours truly, on the cover - will be on newsstands shortly (they were on the printing presses this week.) The photo was taken by my friend and all around kick-ass photographer Larry Perez. Larry, as some of you know has helped me with my myspace page and we had a lot of fun doing this shoot earlier this year. The photos that came from the shoot at http://www.myspace.com/andymckee2 are all over my page.

Also, wanted to give you all the link to iTunes for the new EP, Common Ground. I am listed in the singer/songwriter category (NOT new age nor instrumental) now that iTunes has consolidated music genres... i.e., changed the way they listed music in retail channels. Write me back and tell me what you think of the new stuff. Also, I really appreciate the kind feedback and great response that the new style of videos has gotten. Thanks, everybody!

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=DjFxxY4s5cM&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&=RAZORANDTIECOM&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewArtist%253Fid%253D190267921%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30

If you are planning on coming to the Sweden gig on October 15 which is a Thursday please note that the show promoter has arranged for Wednesday Oct 14 to be a workshop seminar with me too. More info here (please check the festival program for specifics on attending):
http://www.uppsalagitarrfestival.se/festival2009/eng/

Catch up with y'all soon.

Cheers!
&-e

Hey Everybody,

I thought you all might like to see what the new EP's artwork will look like! I had about 5 final designs that I went through, all were photographs that had a nature kind of vibe and I thought the hyper colors and textures on this one were pretty cool. Plus, since the EP is named Common Ground there is a symmetry to that whole thing as well. My EP will be available for purchase next Tuesday, August 25 on iTunes and most of the other digital music places.



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Its really nice to be home and working on the next record. I am having a lot of fun writing and tweaking tunes with a bunch of studio gear that I had put off purchasing for a long time. Got to admit I am having a blast working on parts of songs; choruses, bridges, outros, melodies... in general, just hammering these all out.

Spending a lot of time with my family too, which can't be beat. Plus, I am going to a Dream Theater show next week and I am super geeked up for that! I really hope you are enjoying the summer as well!

Thanks as always for your support. Please enjoy the EP and I will see y'all soon.

Andy

Hey everybody, lotsa news so lets get rockin'!

I have a new EP that will be coming out next month, August 25th to be exact. It’s a digital only release with 3 brand new recordings that I did in NYC back in June. I have re-cut two of my songs from the Dreamcatcher record (Common Ground & When She Cries) and have recorded a cover of the tune Hana (Flower is the English translation) that my good friend Japanese guitarist Masaaki Kishibe penned a few years back. I think the songs sound great and I hope you do too.

Another feature of the Common Ground EP that I think is cool is a commentary track over videos of me playing songs that many of you have seen me play live. That's one of the main reasons Common Ground and When She Cries were selected for the re-cut. So the iTunes digital EP release version, for example, will have 3 audio tracks, 2 video tracks with music audio and the same 2 video tracks with a reduced music audio level and my commentary running the length of the song. The EP will go out to nearly every major digital retailer but the versions may differ a little bit… so check that you are getting the exact one you want at time of purchase. I will post an image of the new Common Ground cover closer to the release date.


On the touring front, just finished some UK dates that kicked the freaking jamz out. Much love as always. Just a handful dates across the calendar now so I can focus on writing and trying to nail the drum parts on "Panic Attack" for Rock Band 2! Mike Portnoy is a legend...

Truly, thanks for all the love and support this year and I will see you guys soon.