Biography

Kurt Anderson

For more information, contact:
Andy Cohen
twangoleum@outlook.com
901.232.6694 - phone and text

Bio written by Nano Riley, with some help from Luke Baldwin and Andy Cohen

In a long phone interview from his home outside Nashville, Kurt and I reminisced about his long life in music. We have known each other since the late sixties.
Luke Baldwin, (1950-1998) a fine musician, singer, song writer, educator and social activist, in the upstate New York weekly Kite, wrote this about Kurt: “Perhaps it is Kurt’s unassuming qualities that make him as effective as a singer. Seeing Kurt perform as a single act, you get a little better idea of what Kurt is like as a person. He’s a hillbilly who plays chess and loves and plays all types of music. His voice has the directness and clarity of (Merle) Haggard or (Charlie) Pride, combined with the mournful, sandy texture of Hank Williams. If you ever heard him sing Jimmie Rodgers, you know that is not an exaggeration. It doesn’t matter how high or low you can sing, or how fast you can pick, if you don’t believe in what you’re doing. Anderson has a superb voice, but it is more than a physical device. Hare-lipped and hoarse, Kurt’s singing would still have heart.”

If you ask about Kurt’s favorite singers he’ll respond, “Merle Haggard…but there are so many…Waylon, the Carter Family…” And that’s just the country singers. Anderson, who’s been playing music since he was fourteen, has an incredibly diverse repertoire that includes Bluegrass, Old Time songs, Gospel, Blues and some more nearly contemporary material.

During nearly six decades in the music business, he has performed and shared stages with some of the best. Though he’s played and sang backup roles on several others projects, this is his first solo album. His many friends and fans across the country will be excited for this long-awaited release.

“No one in my family played an instrument,” he said, “but I always loved to sing. My mom and I sang along with the radio.” Kurt’s family moved to the tiny town of Goldenrod, a few miles outside of Orlando, a drastic change from the urban Rhode Island of his early childhood. Nearly a decade before the Disney invasion, Orlando was still a small Southern city nestled in the orange groves of central Florida.

In the early ‘60s Kurt got his first instrument: “I saved my money and got my first guitar from the Spiegel catalog,” he chuckled. “It cost less than fifty bucks…I don’t remember the brand.” But he was happy with it, and he began to learn tunes.

It was the folk revival of the sixties, when the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary ruled the Pop-folk airwaves. He soon let the Pop-folkies go by and began searching out material that came from closer to the ground. He also got some instruction at the Orlando School of Music.

“They gave me a loaner and I took a few lessons,” he said. When he found a Martin D28 for $200 (the holy grail, even back them), his mother bought it for him, and he began learning new songs. “There was nothing to do in Goldenrod, so I used to hitchhike to Orlando and hang out in the pool halls.” He remembers: “I think music saved my life because I’d probably have gotten in trouble…those were some tough characters.”

He soon began to find others who shared his interests. “I discovered the Carrera Room, the only coffeehouse in the area, and started performing. I met Paul and Gamble” he said, referring to two of Florida’s most Iconic musicians: bluegrass banjo player Paul Champion, and storyteller Gamble Rogers. When he graduated high school, he wanted adventure.

“I'd been reading Kerouac’s On the Road, so I took off for California. I took the bus and hitchhiked to (where else?) San Francisco. I landed in Berkeley during the Free Speech movement.” Kurt didn’t stay long…but he performed at The Jabberwock, one of the legendary local coffeehouses there.

Back in Florida, he met guitar whiz Alan Stowell at the unemployment office. Alan was then playing fiddle tunes on the guitar, a la Doc Watson. He and Alan played together as a unit for many years, seconding Alan as he grew into a spectacular fiddler. Fiddle tunes with Kurt’s solid backup; beautiful old Country songs with elegant fiddle licks behind them. Kurt, Alan and Alan’s girlfriend Nano traveled up north, settling in Boston for a time.

In 1969, while Kurt was busking and playing gigs in Europe, Alan and Nano moved to upstate New York a bit north of Saratoga Springs. Saratoga was a mecca for musicians who came to play at Caffé Lena. Lena Spencer offered a welcome venue for many performers, and many of the most popular musicians of the day came to play there. Lena’s was renowned (and still is!) for its hospitality and great audiences.

During the winter of 1970 the three of them took rooms at a rundown old mansion in Saratoga called Franklin Square. All the folks who lived there were musicians. At the time, a number of heavy hitters lived in Saratoga, including (but not limited to) Utah Phillips, Rosalie Sorrels, Kate McGarrigle, Roma Baran, Loudon Wainwright, Frank Wakefield, Andy Cohen, along with old pals Alan and Nano. A steady stream of others came to play, and locals often sat in. Lena could book the likes of Patrick Sky, David Bromberg, Dave Van Ronk, Arlo Guthrie and Don McLean.

There were international groups as well: Swedish fiddlers, the Boys of the Lough, Alan and Finbar Furey and the like. John Herald and the Greenbriar Boys brought bluegrass. Kurt got to know his early favorites, working with them later. Alan played on John Herald’s last LP. It was a great time, and Kurt was exposed to a wide variety of musical styles.

Utah Phillips, well-known for his love of unions, organized some of the Saratoga musicians into a cooperative called “Wildflowers.” “It was great,” Kurt recalls, “we booked gigs together, established pay standards and got to play lots of festivals.” Kurt spent fifteen years in Saratoga. During that time, he learned a lot, honing his musical abilities and playing gigs from Boston to Michigan. He formed a group called the Spa City Whippersnappers, that played at the Saratoga Racetrack for several years.

“I did workshops at the Philly Folk Festivals with Wildflowers, and The Fox Hollow festival, too,” he said. He worked with John Herald playing their beloved bluegrass, and with Pat Sky, with Loudon, and with Loudon’s then wife, Kate McGarrigle too.

In the late ‘80s he decided to move to Nashville. “I thought I’d be a good producer because I know what good music is” he said, “but there was so much competition and the lines for the open mic nights were around the block.” Then things fell apart…

“In 2003 I was diagnosed with throat cancer,” he said, “I had to have radiation…. I thought I’d never sing again.” But he kept playing his instruments: guitar, mandolin and fiddle, and over time regained his voice. “I’m a 20-year survivor, and I’ve got my voice mostly back, even most of my Yodel.”

He’s excited to make this album and his friends and fans across the country will be glad, too…It’s long overdue.