Andy Leftwich - Aced

My guest on the podcast this week is fiddle player Andy Leftwich and we're chatting about his new album Aced.

Andy talks about his love for instrumental music, including how hearing Mark O'Connor's The New Nashville Cats as a child inspired him. He also talks about contest fiddling and his 15 year stint with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, alongside Cody Kilby, who features on Aced as well as its predecessor The American Fiddler.

After a decade and a half with Ricky, Andy chose to step away from Kentucky Thunder to focus on music in the ministry. We talk about the role that plays in his life and the records he made during that period, as well as the project that eventually turned into The American Fiddler and how that then led to Aced.

For more on Andy, including details of how to buy any of the albums we discuss, head to andyleftwich.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Music comes from the heart and um and and what you know what we put in our heart uh will eventually come out whether it be if you know music or or artistry or or or carpentry or whatever your job may be, you know, when you devote your life to it, it's gonna uh it's gonna produce what you put in it.

Matt 0:46

Hi, this is Matt, and you're listening to Bluegrass Jamalong the podcast for anyone and everyone who loves bluegrass. Hey everybody, welcome back to Bluegrass Jamalong. My guest on the podcast this week is Fiddler Andy Leftwich, um, and he's chatting about his new record, Aced, an instrumental album that I absolutely love. Um we also talk about American Fiddler, the record before it, which has a really kind of interesting timeline and genesis behind it. Um we chat about Andy's 15 years with Ricky Scouts and Kentucky Thunder, um, where he played alongside Cody Kilby, who plays on Ace as part of the band. We also talk about sort of Andy growing up and playing in fiddle contests and kind of what that brought to his style and how that sort of differs from what came later. We talk about his decision to leave Kentucky Thunder um to devote more time on music in the ministry, uh, what that means to him and kind of how that sort of came back full circle into making these couple of albums as well. Um, really fascinating conversation. I hadn't talked to Andy before, and I really enjoyed this one. I hope you do too. Uh all the usual stuff applies. If you want to know more about Bluegrass Jamalong, go to bluegrassjamalong.com where you'll find a full list of interviews all the guests I've had on in the 500 plus episodes. There's also a whole bunch of back-in tracks for fiddle tunes, chord sheets, all that kind of stuff, um links to my social media, all those things. Um if you've enjoyed this one, please do share it with a friend who you think might enjoy it too. Word of mouth is one of the most important things for podcast growth, and so if you've enjoyed it, please do share it. Um but that's it. Let's listen to my conversation with Andy Leftwich. Andy, welcome to Bluegrass Jamalong. It's great to have you here.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Well, Matt, thank you so much for having me.

Matt 2:38

I've been really enjoying the record, and it's I was really pleased to get this through because I when the first time I went to IBM A, I picked up a copy of The American Fiddler and just fell in love with it. And so I was delighted to hear there was another album of instrumental stuff on the way. Um, and I imagine over the course of the conversation we'll probably chat a bit about both. But um, the new record is called Aced. And it's kind of it's an interesting one, isn't it? Because the American Fiddler was a bit more of a grab bag of people, and this one feels much more like a band record.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Yes, that's correct. Yeah, American Fiddler was uh a collection of songs that I had sort of in the in the back pocket for, man, maybe 15 years, the last 15 years, and just you know, had some really incredible musicians planned for that project. Basically, each song had somebody different on it, and I had people in mind for certain things. But uh the way Ace came about was just you know, having sort of a collection of songs that had been written written recently that uh my friend Cody Kilby and uh Matt Menifee and Byron House, you know, we've been playing music a lot, and uh just showed it to them, and they all took to it, and and uh so we had about a period of three or four days that we were in the studio together. Um and I didn't necessarily plan to have all four guys on every song, but I'm so glad that we did that and and kept that uh consistency through the record. And so from top to bottom, it's got a great cohesive sound, and uh really, really proud of it.

Matt 4:07

Yeah, and it's a great record. It's got this lovely, a lovely kind of variety to it as well. It's a really interesting mix of stuff on there. There's a little bit and the American fiddle was similar, you know, it says the American fiddler, but there's a really wide range of influences in there, you know, Celtic and on the new record, there's a bit of gypsy swing, and it's you know, I I'd love to know um because you sort of talk in the notes that I got through with the record about loving instrumental music particularly, and kind of what your kind of journey with that is, because a lot of people in Bluegrass play and sing, and a lot of people are songwriters, and but there is this lovely thread of instrumental string band music that runs through all of it. And I wonder if you have kind of like favorite instrumental records or a kind of what you consider the gold standard for that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

A absolutely, yeah. I think any musician would have that one project or one record that really meant a lot to them. When I was nine years old, I was actually playing baseball and in a little league there in White House, Tennessee, where I grew up. And my dad had purchased the new Nashville Cats by Mark O'Connor, and he drove up to the baseball field, and my team was at bat. And so I'm like in the dugout, you know, waiting for my turn to, you know, go to bat. And uh, and so my dad pulls me out of the dugout and says, Come here, son, I want you to hear this. And it was Mark O'Connor playing uh the Orange Blossom Special off that record. And I had just learned that song that week in my lessons, and so I was totally blown away at nine years old. And and when I go back and I listen to that record from top to bottom, I think at nine years old, I didn't really comprehend the depth of that CD in that project. So as I grew it, you know, in my teenage years and got a little bit more progressed in music, I would go back to that record and just realize the genius of that project and you know, the arrangements, the instrumental melodies that Mark had written for these incredible players to play on. It just it still inspires me to this day. And, you know, other musicians like Sam Bush would uh release these incredible instrumentals and I and I got a hold of that and just really was inspired by Sam and his songwriting and also Bay Lafleck. And so I always gravitated toward the um, you know, the musicians, the instrumentalist, uh more so than the band, bluegrass band albums. You know, I always liked uh the this the solo artist.

Matt 6:22

It's really interesting to use the word melodic because the sense that I get definitely of your tunes is they are like melody runs through this album. It's you know, it's not a record of here's a statement of a theme and then loads of sort of breaks, and it melody seems to be at the heart of all of it.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Thank you. Yeah, you know, I'm always um always challenging myself to write a melody that can be catchy enough to sing or home, you know, and but with the option of of some really great soloing. And you know, arranging a a song is is an art form and I love to dive into different ways of arranging tunes. You know, I've done a bit of producing, and so when there's a when an artist comes to me with a song, a vocal song, you know, I really, really pay attention a lot to the lyric and what's trying to be conveyed, and that inspires me to want to to use certain instruments or or treat it a certain way. I always try to, you know, obviously try to write a fun melody and and have the option of some great soloing as well.

Matt 7:16

Aaron Ross Powell And I was sort of curious because you obviously started pretty young and and went through the kind of fiddle contest route. And somebody like me who like hasn't grown up in the music and hasn't grown up in the States, sort of it it feels like the uh the approach to arranging something for contest fiddling is maybe slightly different than when you're arranging for a record like this. And I'd sort of love to know kind of the differences between those.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Yeah, it's a great question. You know, contest fiddling is uh is its own genre, in my opinion. I mean, there's there's so many great fiddle tunes that are played in that Texas swing style that was, you know, obviously inspired by Bob Wills and even Django Reinhardt and Stefan Capelli, you know, they uh their gypsy jazz really inspired that style of music as well. And so I always loved the feeling of playing with a really good swing guitar player. So those Texas fiddle tunes, you know, were were pivotal for me growing up and learning the fingerboard of the of the violin and and uh you know different ways to approach a tune with different phrasings and licks. It was it was awesome. You know, I always loved to try to arrange that for a fiddle contest. But when it comes to uh traditional bluegrass, there's it's a whole nother thing. I mean, it's a whole nother vocabulary of of licks and phrases and and tunes, you know. You go from playing a contest song for three minutes trying to play everything that you know, you know, trying to win a contest, to all of a sudden you're playing behind a vocalist and you're having to play as little as you can, you know, and uh and and less is is sometimes more when it comes to uh playing in a bluegrass band.

Matt 8:50

So Yeah, well, it's interesting as it I guess with the contest thing, you've got to try and get everything you can show them into that space and that amount of time. And and with this record being the sort of the set bunch of musicians, did you find yourself kind of writing or arranging for their styles and sort of with them in mind, knowing that they were going to be playing it?

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Well, you know, I I didn't set out to write a song that would be something that another musician might want to record. I mean, there they're there are very personal melodies and songs that that I feel like, you know, just came from the very act of sitting down with your instrument, you know, turning off the phone, locking yourself in your door, you know, in your room, in your studio, and just, you know, kind of exploring and practicing and playing it and just kind of seeing what falls out. Obviously, I mean, all of my playing today is is inspired, you know, from many musicians, but the songs that I write are very personal to me. I mean, they they they're fun for me to play. Um, I wouldn't necessarily write it thinking of, you know, somebody else to play them. So I really try my best to keep my my phone close, you know. So if you if you if you have a good thought or a good idea, but you may not have the time to sit and and really develop it, then you know, I'll my voice memos on my cell phone is full of ideas and different phrases and things that could potentially be developed into a song later on. And so that's kind of how the songs on Ace uh were born was just sitting down with your instrument, you know, practicing and working on your craft and and uh and just seeing what comes out. And and the more you put into your heart with music, the more things are gonna come out. So I'd encourage anybody to um, you know, continue to listen to all different players and all different projects and and uh you know, and you never know what's gonna flow out of your playing uh by doing that.

Matt 10:42

Are you the kind of writer that kind of writes as a as a process, as a habit, sort of on a daily basis, or do you sort of sit down when you're inspired?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Oh man, I wish I could say I am, but I'm not. And inspiration totally hits when you least expect it. Um one of the cuts off Ace uh called Highland Rim, it's one of my favorite ones. Um, I wrote in less than five minutes right before I took the stage uh for uh at a church I was playing at in Texas, you know, back last year. And so it was it was just one of those moments where it's like, man, that's that's kind of you know, that could sort of be a a a tune, you know. And so I quickly recorded my idea, and then later that evening when I was in my hotel room, I developed the rest of the song. And so you just never know, you have to be ready. And uh there are some mornings that I sit down and I try to try to come up with something and and it's just a it's just not there. It's just you know, you don't want to force anything, and so I'll just move on, you know. I don't want to try to uh try to force something, but but you definitely have to be ready for any kind of inspiration when it hits.

Matt 12:53

Well, and you mentioned going on stage at church. Music um kind of in the ministry is a big part of your career, isn't it? It's and you talk about, you know, writing music and playing music that means something and speaks to your heart, and and I guess that's you know very much the case with that. It's something that is a huge part of who you are, and so playing it in a meaningful way is the only way you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Oh, absolutely, yeah. Well music comes from the heart and um and and what you know what we put in our heart uh will eventually come out. And uh whether it be if you know music or or artistry or or carpentry or whatever your job may be, you know, when you devote your life to it, it's gonna uh it's gonna produce what you put in it. And so um yeah, uh uh ministry has been a big part of my career. Uh I um any chance I get a you know to play or or visit a church and and be a uh a help to a meeting or or help to a preacher or uh you know to hear the gospel preached, um it's always a blessing, you know, and I'm um uh I've uh don't take that very I don't take it lightly at all.

Matt 13:57

And uh did is it is it right that you stepped away from Kentucky Thunder after I mean an incredibly long run, but was was that partly to be able to spend more time?

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, it was uh it was one of the toughest decisions I've ever made. And um, you know, I was the I think more than anything was just you know feeling the pull to um to to be uh in control of my own scheduling. You know, Ricky Skaggs is a wonderful boss, wonderful man. Uh can't say enough great things about him and and my stint there with Kentucky Thunder. Um but it just got to the point where, you know, I found myself, you know, feeling the pull to want to go do some other things in the ministry, but I could not commit to them because, you know, when Ricky got a date, and sometimes that could be a last-minute thing, you know, we would have to divert to his scheduling. And so it just was really more of a pull to be on your own and and to be on in control of your own schedule. And if I had my way, I would cherry pick my dates with Ricky and be able to still play with him because I love playing music with Ricky. He's one of the best in the world. And you know, but but he has a demanding schedule and needs somebody that can commit full time to his schedule. Um, but I will say that he was my biggest supporter, and um I I really uh uh uh he he told me, he said, you know, uh I'm behind you 110%. He said, uh I want you to to do what the Lord tells you to do. And um and so I I really appreciate Ricky being so uh uh supportive in that in that decision.

Matt 15:29

And you were you were in that band for I guess like 15 years, and pretty much the entire time as I understand it, um Cody Kilby was there with you as well, who is obviously the guitar player on this record.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Yes, yeah, Cody, you know, I got I got the best seat in the house for 15 years watching Cody play and Ricky play, and and it just, you know, I don't consider myself a guitar player, you know. I mean, there's so many great players out there, but everything that I play on guitar has just been simply watching Cody for 15 years, and he's an amazing talent, has an amazing ability, and so I I was really grateful for Cody to be up for playing on this record, and he he just the his his soloing, the ideas that he plays with, uh there's nobody on the planet like him, and he's definitely one of a kind.

Matt 16:16

And I guess after playing together that long, you must have a chemistry and an understanding and an ability to communicate without really needing to speak to each other.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

That's exactly right. And and that goes with anybody that you're familiar with. They're familiar with your playing, you're familiar with their playing, and it just builds your confidence. And Cody is that kind of player for me as it just builds my confidence when I'm playing with him.

Matt 16:35

Aaron Powell And well I guess it's a good time then to talk about who else you've got on the record, sort of chat a little bit about the personnel because it's a great band.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Yeah, thank you. Um so Cody and I had been playing music for we actually grew up together in that contest scene, and uh, we would compete together. And then when we joined Ricky's band, I had met shortly after joining Ricky's band, I met Byron House, who was playing bass with Sam Bush at the time. And earlier, uh I think the summer before I met Byron, he was with uh Nickel Creek and I was at the Ryman Auditorium, and I'd see I went to go see them play, and I remember vividly remember hearing Byron take a solo on the bass, and I just was like, man, I've never heard a upright bass sound that beautiful before. I mean, and you could totally hear the heart in which he played with. And so I think, you know, a year later I got I get to meet him and we just hit it off. He's been a great friend ever since, uh, very, very friendly. And uh he was kind enough to play on a couple of shows that I had around that time and um and just have always loved Byron. He's got such a pure heart for music, and he's not just a great bass player, he's a great musician. And um, a lot of people don't know this about Byron, but he plays banjo and guitar and you know, writes songs. I mean, he's just an amazing, amazing musician. Um and so I'm honored that he's on this record. And uh and then Matt Minifee, uh, the banjo player on Aced is he is an absolute ace. And uh I love Matt. He I don't I think when it comes to the the art of improvisation, I don't know that I've ever played with anybody that's bad that that has it that's that good. I mean, he the ideas that he comes up with is just it blows me away. And uh and sometimes I think, man, I wonder what he would be like if he was a fiddle player, you know, like what kind of ideas would he give me on fiddle? But uh but his banjo playing, I mean, obviously, you know, Baylor was a huge influence on him, and but his m melodic style of playing and the improvisational skills that he has is second to none. He's just an absolutely phenomenal player, and it was a joy to to hear him solo on this record.

Matt 18:38

And you're talking about um talking about sort of Mark O'Connor and talking about the contest scene, and Tom and Jerry is on this record, a wonderful version of Tom. It's you know, that reminds me of Mark O'Connor, that tune, and that's I I presume that was something that you played as a kid in the contests.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, we um I wanted to to sort of pay homage to my upbringing, and so I wanted to record that. I I'd always had it in my back pocket to record. Uh it almost made the project American Fiddler, but I decided to wait on it. Um so we used it for Ace, and it sort of breaks up the record just a little bit from the monotony of uh these big elaborate instrumentals, and then uh you sort of get a breather with this fun, lighthearted Texas swing fiddle tune that you know is so much fun to play and and fun to listen to. We had a great time with uh the music video of Tom and Jerry. We got about 50 or 60 of our friends and barbecued and threw a bunch of food together and and uh and treated it like a true Texas jam. And so it was a fun video to make.

Matt 19:41

And when you play those like tunes now that you know arranged for contests as a kid, do you still find bits of those arrangements coming out when you play them? Or do you you know do you try and leave all that behind there?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

No, yeah. In fact, I wish I could remember all the um the arrangements that I had on some of the other tunes. Uh, I think somewhere in my closet, you know, in the back corner is a is a shoebox of cassette tapes of my my arrangements that I I grew up playing with. So I need to dig those back out. But Tom and Jerry was just one that always seemed to stick, you know, I always stay pretty close to that arrangement. A lot of times in contest fiddling, you don't really want to, you know, leave leave a lot of room for spontaneity, you know, because you want to have an arrangement down and you want to execute it and perform it as as best you can, you know. Um it's a little bit different than you know, a typical bluegrass jam where you know you're you're just spontaneously soloing and which is fun too. But with those Texas fiddle tunes, I I sort of kept pretty close to an arrangement.

Matt 20:45

I'm really interested because you spent obviously a long time with Ricky and then kind of stepped away to work more on kind of music and the ministry. And I'm curious as to what sort of brought you back or whether it even feels like that to you. You may you may feel like you sort of never went away from bluegrass, but what kind of drew you back to wanting to make these kind of records?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Yeah, thank you for asking. I mean, yeah, I never felt like I I left bluegrass music, you know. I just wanted to concentrate on on being can in control of my own schedule and to be available for for the ministry. And you know, I I don't feel a call to preach or or to uh you know uh pastor a church or anything like that, but but I certainly wanted to, you know, use music and what I feel like the Lord gave me to to pierce the the darkness with the gospel of Jesus Christ, you know, that's always been my heart. Um but you know, I think with uh with bluegrass and gospel music and and all that, I mean I never really felt like I was leaving bluegrass. Um, but I uh just at that point wanted to concentrate more on the ministry. And um and I felt you know, I released a song called, or I'm sorry, I released a project called Instrumental Hymns, and my wife Rachel and I released a project called In Christ Alone. And and I just felt like it was time for me to sort of uh dig back off the shelf uh the project American Fiddler that I had been working on for the last 15 years of my life, and I just thought it was time to pursue that. And John Weisberger uh at Mountain Home Records reached out to me and and uh had heard about the project that I was working on, and and uh we just started talking and ended up signing with Mountain Home Records, and it's been a great relationship ever since. And so we released American Fiddler in 2022, and then um uh and then Ace will be released uh uh this week. So it's been a been a great run.

Matt 22:37

That's quite um quite a journey you went on with the American Fiddler then. I hadn't realized it was so long in the kind of gestation period. Was that was it in terms of writing, or do you start recording some of it that far back?

SPEAKER_01 22:47

I actually did. I you know, uh there was a couple of tracks on the American Fiddler project that was recorded, I think, in 2011 at uh Ricky Skaggs' studio. Um and uh, you know, uh I remember uh Jerry Douglas told me one time um uh my my first project had released on Skags Family Records in 2003, and and and Jerry had told me he said you the hardest record you'll ever make is your second record. And he was correct because you you have your whole life to make your first project, and then only you know, a short while, short window of time before you need to make another project. And you know, I I started getting busy doing sessions and playing on other records, and I really enjoyed that, and it just sort of you know got put on the shelf, and and so I felt like after um my wife and I I had released uh our gospel project in In Christ Alone. I just felt it was time to you know breach buck on the shelf and grab it and uh and pursue that and and it's been uh it's been a great run.

Matt 23:45

And it's a great record. I really I really love it. And there's there's a real mix of stuff on there, and you're playing playing a bit of mandolin on there as well as as fiddle. And a lovely kind of mix of people on there as well. There's a a few guest well, I guess they're all guest appearances in a way, because there's no band.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Yeah. Um, you know, uh I think you know, Cody, Kilby, and Byron House are are probably the most consistent musicians on that project. But yeah, we had Ricky Stags, Sierra Hole. Um my friend who plays guitar in uh Keith and Kristen Getty's uh band, uh his name is Fanon Debarra. He's from uh Philadelphia. Um he's actually from Northern Ireland, but he lives in Philadelphia, and he's an uh Irish guitarist and um a very percussive player, an amazing player. So he guest appeared on a few songs. And um uh yeah, so I mean, uh there was several different other players, you know, Mark Schatz, the legendary bassist. Mark Schatz was on a few on that project, and Scott Vestel on banjo, and and also Matt Menipe played some banjo on that project as well. So a collaboration of um uh of some great pickers that um some of my favorite musicians on the planet, and so I was thankful to have him.

Matt 24:59

Well, and it's really cool hearing some accordion on there as well. I love an accordion, and it's you know, it's you don't always get it with a string band.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Yeah, yeah. Jeff Taylor is hands down one of the most incredible musicians I've ever met. He uh he he's just an amazing man. He's actually on Aced as well. Um and you know, I I I kind of made a vow to myself that I'll never make a project without utilizing Jeff Taylor in some way. He's such a musical person. And uh sure love him and his heart. His playing is just amazing. He's a great piano player, you know, accordion, penny whistle, just a just an incredible musician.

Matt 25:37

And you got got to work with Bill Vaughn Dick on that record, and he's sort of there in the credits, you thank him for that. And he, I mean, he's a person whose history runs rich through instrumental string band music.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Oh yes, yeah. He he's recorded all of my favorite players, Stuart Duncan, Mark O'Connor, Sam Bush, Baylor Fleck, Jerry Douglas, you know, just a legend in our music, and I was honored to get to work with him periodically through my career. And uh it was sad to see him go a few years ago, but he was uh he he had definitely left a a great mark on our music for sure.

Matt 26:15

Yeah, when you think of kind of instrumental string band music, the names that come up really are Bill Wolfe, Bob Shoemaker, Bill Vaughn Dick, and Gary Paxosa. And though you know their names just crop up on everything, don't they?

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Uh absolutely. And uh the I mean, in my opinion, they they are a musician and a picker, and they they they may not be playing in the band, but I mean they're what they apply to the music is just as important as anything.

Matt 26:43

And with this record, obviously being much more band focused, will you get the opportunity to take it out on the road?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Well, I I have actually done a few shows and it's been awesome. We've had a great, great time. You know, it it's it's not an easy thing to do an hour and a half long show with nothing but instrumental music, but you know, with these players and and um the certain arrangements that we have, you know, it's it's been a lot of fun to uh to to meet that challenge. And we've had some really incredible sh shows and uh it's a lot of fun. The the biggest challenge obviously is just everybody's scheduling. You know, Matt is he's on the road with Mumford and Sons, and also he's got his other bluegrass band called uh uh the Wood Box Heroes, and uh Cody Kilby plays full time with uh the traveling McCurries, and then Byron House is, you know, Byron's a little bit more flexible, but it it's it's always a little it's always the biggest challenge is just getting our schedules to line up. But when they do, it is so much fun, and uh the crowd seems to really enjoy it. So I'm tickled for that.

Matt 27:45

And if you got anything planned for the launch.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Well, I've been so busy, honestly. I I don't have anything planned, uh, you know, and that's my fault. But you know, we we are gonna do some stuff in the fall. Actually, I'm gonna do a mini camp, uh music camp at uh Table Rock State Park in South Carolina uh next spring. So I'm excited about that, and uh, I'm gonna utilize Matt and Cody for that as well. And um it's a it's a wonderful uh state park, very beautiful. The staff there is top-notch, and so we're gonna we're gonna see if we can do like a little three-day music camp with some workshops and some classes and lessons and obviously some jamming and uh we'll we'll hold some concerts each night and uh so looking forward to that.

Matt 28:29

Yeah, sounds like a lot of fun. Well, I'm excited for people to hear this record, uh, largely because I was excited to hear it, and it's brilliant. I've been very much enjoying it, and I hope it does really well for you. And I just thank you for coming on and talking to me about it.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Well, Matt, thank you so very much. That means the world to me, brother, and uh sure appreciate the kind words and and uh and having me on.