Ben Andrews (5)

American singer and guitarist, born in 1960. Ben was born in 1960 and started studying classical guitar at the age of 8. By 14, he was performing folk music and blues in the D.C. area and starting to write his first originals. During college, he played with electric bands in Florida, most notably with Blind Robert Hunter, B.B. King’s sax player. He spent 1980 in Chicago, jamming with blues masters like Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, Junior Wells, Muddy Waters, John Embry and Walter Horton. He moved back to D.C. and soon made his reputation playing Delta blues. By 1984, he was touring steadily throughout the Central Atlantic region from North Carolina to Pennsylvania and Delaware, appearing at clubs and blues/folk festivals. In 1986, Ben recorded a solo record, Night Ride, on Railway Records. From the mid-eighties on, Ben’s home base has always been the weekly D.C. solo and jam session he leads, first at D.C.’s Grog and Tankard for a dozen years, then at Madam’s Organ since then. His sessions are inevitably jam-packed and, from that base, he’s built a large and loyal following throughout the Central Atlantic. At the same time, he’s been steadily touring blues festivals and concerts up and down the East Coast. Starting in 2000, he began touring England, Holland and Belgium with striking success. He’s toured England every year since then, usually twice a year. He’s quickly built a surprisingly large fan base there, playing both clubs and major blues, rock, and folk festivals like Bishopstock, Glastonbury, Chichester, Reading, Danbury, Winchester and others. In addition to the 1992 and 2000 landmark Blue Rider Trio albums, in 2001 he brought to Mapleshade one of his British admirers, the great English acoustic rock guitarist Al Lee; together, they recorded Ain’t Playing The Game (Wildchild! #08752), a critically-acclaimed guitar duo CD of Al Lee’s blues and rock originals. Ben has also recorded three other CDs, Stones In My Path [1999], Journey [2002], and Gallows Pole [2004].