Andrew Wyeth, Luke The Drifter, William Steig, Jesse Fuller, Diego Velazquez, Dave Van Ronk, David Berman, Hank Williams III, Marcel Duchamp, Lucinda Williams, Andy Kaufman, Bruce Springsteen, Gus Powell, Paul Curreri, Roy Hobbs
He moonlights as a cartoonist for, most notably, The New Yorker, but the songs written by "hard scrabble singer-songwriter" (TIME OUT NEW YORK) and "erudite redneck" (BOSTON GLOBE) Andy Friedman aren't written for laughs. The songs on his first studio album, Taken Man, explore issues of art, wild dreams, and wanderlust. His rough around the edges "fractured folk " (LOS ANGELES TIMES) sound coupled with his artful, insightful lyrics have led music writers to call him "A Hillbilly Leonard Cohen" (ATHENS NEWS) and "The King Of Art Country" (Minneapolis City Pages). In addition to longtime crony, songwriter/guitarist, and label-mate Paul Curreri, who also produced, engineered, and plays on the record, other guest appearances include Jeffrey Foucault, Old Crow Medicine Show's Ketch Secor, Devon Sproule, Natalia Zukerman, Kris Delmhorst, Melissa Ferrick and others.
WHAT IS BEING SAID ABOUT ANDY FRIEDMAN AND "TAKEN MAN:"
NEW YORK POST: "Devastatingly honest. Brilliantly written. Every married man alive will relate."
THE NEW YORKER: "Andy Friedman belts out country songs about love, highways, booze, and painting with a growl that's unexpectedly tender. His first studio album, 'Taken Man,' proves that beauty doesn't have to be pretty." TIME OUT NEW YORK: "These are songs for those who wash down life's knuckle sandwiches with ice-cold despair." MINNEAPOLIS CITY PAGES: "'Taken Man' honors Waylon and Willie in ways other Whiskey River paddlers only dream about. Friedman plays it straight. . .his literate wit, lumberjack hollers, and flagrantly out-of-tune guitar strumming paint a striking picture of bums, bummers, and booze."
CLEVELAND FREE TIMES: "The singer's clever, quirky lyrics are backed by one of the most respected bands on the Brooklyn scene."
NASHVILLE SCENE: "Singer-songwriter Andy Friedman has a mastery of wordy self-loathing that many white dudes with guitars would kill for."
JEFFREY FOUCAULT, SONGWRITER: "Andy Friedman sings and plays with unmatched conviction."
DAVID GATES, NEWSWEEK EDITOR/AUTHOR: "It should be considered un-cool not to be into Andy Friedman & The Other Failures."
OXFORD TOWN: "'Taken Man' shows a great deal of promise and could propel Friedman. . . into the annals of American music."
CREATIVE LOAFING: "Old school country and folk so worn down the ruts have ruts."
BIRMINGHAM WEEKLY: "Song titles such as "I Don't Want to Die Like Andy Kaufman" and "Guys Like Me Don't Get Grants" should tell you all you need to know."
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