Andy Baker’s new release
Andy Baker
North Country Sky
By Rob Dickens
Michigan singer/songwriter Andy Baker has got a fair amount of experience under his belt and it shows.
Three decades of music have resulted in only four studio albums, but he has garnered awards for songwriting and a significant following along the journey.
For his latest – North Country Sky (released independently on July 10) – Baker teamed up with award-winning producer Ian Gorman and an excellent ensemble of Michigan musicians. The resulting twelve songs are loaded with mature and studied insights brought to life through well-crafted arrangements.
The patterned-reality of life is writ large here. “Sixteen” refers to the tragic death and courage of his younger sister, the dichotomy between knowing what to do and actually doing it is set out vividly in “I Know” (see clip below) while the playful romance of a long marriage between two joggers is sublimely captured in “Running After You”.
“Second Wind” shuns looking back, preferring to wait for a future wave, both physically and emotionally.
The rock of heartbreak is turned over in “Tsunami”, penned in honor of the catastrophic death toll in Japan in 2011. “Fixed Upper Blues” is like a joyful breeze and the closing title track is a fitting conclusion to a marvellous record.
Here’s “I Know”:
Track Listing:
1. Second Wind
2. Skywriter
3. Sixteen
4. Next Right Thing
5. I Know
6. Tsunami
7, Crossroads
8. Running After You
9. Fixer Upper Blues
10. Fall to Pieces
11. Love & Gravity
12. North Country Sky
via Broken Jukebox Media
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Andy Baker’s new release
