Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ANDERSEN, Joyce

Joyce Andersen has been a sought-after fiddler and session player in the Northeast USA since the mid-1990s, and has played in bluegrass, country, rock, jazz, and celtic groups. Her fiery fiddling has been heard playing and/or recording with The McKrells, John Lincoln Wright and the Sour Mash Boys, Marshall Crenshaw, The New England Bluegrass Band, The Childsplay Fiddle Orchestra, John Herald, Eric Andersen (no relation), and Sassygrass among others; her travels have taken her from Carnegie Hall to the Conan O'Brien show, from New England coffeehouses to her local pubs, from national folk fests to house concerts, from Sweden to Japan. Now Andersen, a returned native of the Maine/New Hampshire seacoast, is getting attention for her songwriting, and has teamed up with husband Harvey Reid on recordings and for concert touring.

Reid has been a wizard of the guitar for 30 years (see his entry). He co-produced her first solo CD The Girl I Left Behind in 2000, which sparked the interest in her as a songwriter and singer, followed by Right Where I Should Be. Her other albums (with Reid) are The Great Sad River 2001, Kindling The Fire 2004 and Christmas Morning 2006.

New in 2008 is a 4-CD set with with an illustrated 80-page book called The Song Train, intended to replace all those uninspiring instruction books with a huge collection of classic songs, each with only two chords. Reid and Andersen take turns singing and playing, and should be able to get the enthusiastic beginner going -- or one could just listen for pleasure. 

Find out more at www.joyscream.com and www.woodpecker.com.