Biography

It begins with a dramatic a cappella vocal, followed by a crisp and concise interlude of flatpicked guitar. Then the warm and supple tenor voice settles in to work, delivering literate and cinematic vignettes of rural Americans and their struggles in memorable melodies and compelling twists of phrase. The between song banter is as much of the show as the music, with humorous anecdotes and a theatrical flair for storytelling weaving the music and words into a memorable performance. Such is a typical ANDREW McKNIGHT concert experience.

Since permanently leaving his corporate environmental engineering career in 1996, the award-winning folk and Americana singer/songwriter and Falling Mountain recording artist has traced a musical journey of nearly half a million miles of blue highways and small towns nationwide, and earned him a wealth of critical acclaim and enthusiastic fan response for his five CDs and captivating performances.

That impressive discography includes Beyond Borders, one of five 2005 Americana Album of the Year Finalists in the Independent Music Awards. Borders includes his song "Good Things Matter", Winner of the 2005 Great American Song Contest (Acoustic/Folk).

Recorded with the help of longtime friend and original Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member Les Thompson, McKnight's latest CD Something Worth Standing For is a coherent and compelling musical portrait of contemporary America while drawing inspiration from legendary musicians like The Carter Family and Woody Guthrie. Spanning haunting blues, feisty anthems, rustic folk, and a bit of swing, the 16 cuts showcase McKnight painting many colors with his powerful voice ranging from a near whisper to full voice a cappella singing, his tasteful slide and flatpicked acoustic guitar, and the occasional rocking Americana electric guitar.

Wherever McKnight takes the stage, audiences are at once spellbound and relaxed by his entertaining stories delivered with just the right touches of down home humor, causing one concertgoer to label him "equal parts Robert Frost, William Least Heat-Moon and Jeff Foxworthy!". His seemingly boundless energy moves around, one moment in dancing fingers, the next the impassioned delivery of a poignant lyric, followed by a playful rhythmic foot stomp to keep time; here is a man who clearly loves his work.

He has shared those attributes in a wide variety of performance settings, including the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the Kennedy Center, Mountain Stage NewSong Festival, Chattanooga Riverbend Festival, Baltimore's Artscape Festival, and the nationally syndicated public and satellite radio shows "River City Folk" and "The Midnight Special".

While he is the first to say that his life's work and calling as a performing songwriter are full of blessings, McKnight is deeply committed to giving something back every day, both individually and collectively with his record labelmates at Falling Mountain Music.

Spending most of his adult life living at the foot of the Blue Ridge, he has watched massive developments near his home swallow all of Loudoun County's remaining dairy farms. He has become a passionate advocate for the preservation of rural heritage as well as its landscapes, and uses his words and music to tell those stories with heartfelt reverence.

It is a passion McKnight feels directly, living in the heart of land once patrolled by the legendary Confederate guerrilla, John Mosby. Several of McKnight's songs are rooted in Appalachian history and culture, including the haunting Civil War ballad "The Road to Appomattox" and "Company Town", which leads off the acclaimed CD Moving Mountains: Voices of Appalachia Rise Up Against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining.

In addition to performing, recording and teaching workshops and guitar students, McKnight also is an occasional contributing writer for Americana Rhythm magazine. He enjoys an artist endorsement with Elixir Strings.

In the hallowed marble halls of the John F. Kennedy Center, on a festival stage under a fair summer sky, or in the intimacy of a house concert, an evening with Andrew McKnight's songs and stories is an experience waiting to be savored like a fine wine by a crackling fire.