Andy McKee, 1/7/12

One of our Christmas gifts to Eric was a ticket to the Eric Johnson concert last Saturday night at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville. I also got a ticket, and we've both been looking forward to the show, as we're both fans of Eric Johnson's music and his guitar playing. We knew the show was at 8pm, and that was really the only detail we knew.

On Saturday afternoon, I did a little web research, and discovered that there was an opening act - Andy McKee. The name rang a bell, and I thought it was a guy I had heard on WMMR's morning show a few years back. If it was the guy I was thinking of, he did some amazing things with an acoustic guitar in the studio that morning - not only strumming it, but drumming it at the same time and making some amazing sounds. A quick visit to YouTube confirmed that it was the same guy.

He came out to start the show around 8:20, played until shortly after 9:00, and knocked the socks off of Eric, me, and the rest of the house. He calls what he does "percussive guitar", and that describes it pretty well - but it still has to be seen and heard to be believed. He not only finger-picks and strums with his right hand, he taps and slaps the strings with either hand, fingers the fretboard with either hand, and also drums on the body of the guitar with either hand. I've never seen or heard anything like it.

He said he uses alternate tunings to get some of his sounds - and indeed he changed the tuning between almost every song (which is just one more thing that was boggling to me, as he did it effortlessly, and while chatting with the audience.)

His stage manner was warm and funny, and he would look out into the audience and raise an eyebrow as he was playing, as if to say "I can't believe how cool this is too!" He received a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of his set.

Another interesting note was the guitar he played. The frets were *not* parallel to each other. I've never seen a guitar laid out that way, and I don't understand. Is there a reason for it (it seems like there *must* be, even if I can't imagine it), or is he just trying to intentionally make it as difficult as possible? You can see the frets in the pic at right.

Rather than trying to describe any further what he does, I'll give some YouTube links. I would buy a ticket to see Andy McKee again any time, and I can't recommend him highly enough. "Unique" is probably an overused word, but he is truly unique. And while it is kind of like watching a magic act ("how in the world does he *do* that?!?"), the attraction isn't just that he's unique or that he's doing amazing things - it's also great music.

Check him out.

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