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Andrea Carlson

Singer, guitarist, composer, bandleader -- American Jazz and Classical Roots

About Me

Andrea Carlson, vocalist, guitarist, bandleader, and composer, was born in Tennessee and lived throughout the USA before the family settled in Chicago, where she attended high school and college. She earned her BM in Classical Guitar at the American Conservatory of Music. Moonlighting throughout her studies, she performed music from the 20s, 30s, and 40s with several different bands, as a vocalist. For 10 years, Andrea appeared in many top venues and festivals -- a highlight was opening for the one and only James Brown, in Fort Worth, TX!

After moving to the Philadelphia area, she began to perform solo, using her classical guitar skills to create finger-style jazz accompaniment for Great American Songbook standards. She soon found herself writing extra lyrics to the songs, and sought new ways to arrange them. Through this interest and experience she began composing songs of her own.

In 2009, shortly after she began songwriting, Andrea entered a song writing contest. She was a winner that year with the Philadelphia Songwriter's Project! Again in 2012, she won a contest for the Montgomery/Bucks Music Awards with her composition, “Mysterious Moon”. European tours in 2013 and 2014 included stops at the Green Note in London and the Samois Django Festival in Paris, a radio interview for the Songwriter’s Circle in Amsterdam, and featured performances at clubs in Paris, Barcelona, Oslo, London, Bratislava, Prague, and Berlin, and two weeks at the Edinburgh fringe festival! In between, Andrea traveled the US, with shows in Baltimore, New York, Providence, Columbus, Cincinnati, Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, and Indianapolis. Radio credits: The Folk Show with Gene Shay (NPR), Up Close And Acoustic – Charlie Silvestri (WCHU), Wednesdays with Walt – Walter Haake (WDVR)