Andy Fairweather Low’s career is a smorgasbord of musical successes. He hit the big-time in 1968 with Amen Corner. Top 10 hits such as Bend Me, Shape Me, High In The Sky and the chart-topper (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice propelled the Cardiff-based pop-soul outfit to heady heights.
Following a stint as Fair Weather and scoring a Top 10 with Natural Sinner, Andy forged a solo path with his beautiful composition Wide Eyed and Legless.
However, for decades he was guitar-playing sideman to superstars including Eric Clapton and Roger Waters, toured with Chris Rea, Paul Carrack, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. He’s even recorded with Joe Satriani and jammed with Jimi Hendrix. And that’s the tip of a very large iceberg.
Andy’s new album, The Invisible Bluesman, could give any of his famous employers a run for their money.
The album’s title alludes to Andy’s status as perennial sideman. “But I’m not bitter,” he laughs, as he sits down to chat about some of the album’s tracks, his gear and his phenomenal backstory.
There’s an extremely cohesive feel to the album, considering the tracks were recorded at different times and places.
“It’s the band, the combination. Because Henry (Spinetti), the Low Riders’ drummer, was going off with Katie Melua, bass player Dave Bronze said, ‘Check Paul Beavis out.’ And within three minutes it felt right. So Paul’s on it. Dave’s on it. And the thing is, the Low Riders is a co-operative. We’re all in it together, so when it’s good, it’s really good.
“Chris Stainton (Eric Clapton, keyboards) helped us out, too – so gracious. I asked (Paul) ‘Wix’ Wickens, McCartney’s keyboard player, if he fancied doing some gigs and he said, ‘Yeah, it’d be great.’ We were going to Rhyl, so the van picks him up in London, and by the time we got to North Wales he was regretting it! But no, it was all so joyful.
“Playing in arenas is great. It’s about money, it’s about life, it’s about history, it’s about what went before, and it’s about what’s in people’s minds.
“But playing in small venues to 200 people, it’s about what’s happening right now: we control the dynamic of loud and we control the dynamic of quiet. So you get to ‘be’, as a player, in front of people right there and then. We do play Paradise, Wide Eyed, and Gin House (Blues), but I tell them, ‘Not until later or you’ll all bugger off!’”
Did you rehearse the studio cuts first and then lay them down?
“No, we’d already played them live. I’d finished my last album, Flang Dang, and decided I was not going to do any more. And then Malcolm Mills from The Last Record Company said those words, ‘the invisible bluesman’, and I went, ‘Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel through all the years of whoever I played with.’”
But you have your own niche, don’t you?
“And I’m very grateful for it. And a lot of it is not connected to Roger Waters or Eric Clapton; it’s connected to Amen Corner and my solo records. We get some fabulous, dedicated Eric fans that have continually turned up to support us. But it’s a handful, considering the maybe millions I’ve played in front of.”
My Baby Left Me has a lovely lazy feel.
“That’s from 2007, the first time we went out. I’ve stolen a few bits: Robert Johnson’s Kind Hearted Woman, Mississippi John Hurt (Since I’ve Laid My) Burden Down. But the feel is all Paul and Dave, there’s nothing else going on.”
Lightin’s Boogie is fantastic, too.
“I heard the Herald recordings from the ’50s with Lightin’ (Hopkins) on acoustic, then later on electric. And to play that stuff you have to know it. It’s like Irish music; it’s in the blood. And I knew it.
“I got the funny timings. I was doing a film soundtrack, One Of The Hollywood Ten with Glyn Johns. We recorded 19 tracks in one day. That was one of the songs, and that’s the recording from that moment.”
Albert King, BB King, Freddie King – they never had graphic equalisers. It was a lead into an amp, into a man, and into his soul
Your solo in the live Gin House Blues is phenomenal. And what a sound.
“Eric said, ‘Who’s playing that?’ I said, ‘It’s me.’ Well, I had my Fender Vibro-King, and no matter how many times I changed the valves, they got tired. So Dave Bronze brought Dennis Cornell along and he said, ‘Show me what you want.’ So I cranked up the Vibro-King and Dennis looked at Dave and said, ‘Is he serious?’
“But Dennis is all about efficiency and making a wonderful amp. I want a dirty amp. I want an inefficient amp. I want one control. Albert King, BB King, Freddie King – they never had graphic equalisers. It was a lead into an amp, into a man, and into his soul.
“And I’ve stuck with that. I only ever had a pedal for a tour I did with Chris Rea, for one sound. And I used one pedal with Paul Carrack, and with Roger Waters it was a rack delay that they had. But I never got in-ears, and I never got a wireless system.
“It needs to be me, the amp and the guitar. But Dennis did make me an amp so Gin House Blues is the Cornell with a 4×10.
“The guitar was the white Clapton Strat with one humbucker. When I joined Eric, I only had one guitar, and with Eric you have to have two of everything. So they ordered this white Strat with Lace Sensors and I didn’t like them, so I ripped everything out and put the humbucker in. You only need one good pickup for what I do.”
Your unique, high-toned voice is perfect for blues.
“Stevie Wonder’s a singer. Ray Charles is a singer. Aretha Franklin is a singer. I’m just a guy who sings. I mean, I love Ry Cooder, I love Mick Jagger, but you wouldn’t say they’re singers, except they sing.”
I ended up being a guitar player that doesn’t play. The rhythm player. Eric’s always been taking solos. That’s what he does
You don’t do the ‘pentatonic licks’ thing – you play melodies over bluesy changes.
“No, I don’t have that vocabulary of licks where I open the door and it’s there. Before Amen Corner we were doing stuff like Otis Redding’s Don’t Mess With Cupid, Booker T’s Hip Hug-Her, so it’s all Steve Cropper licks.
“Then I had those years with Amen Corner and with my solo stuff I was writing. So I ended up being a guitar player that doesn’t play. The rhythm player. Eric’s always been taking solos. That’s what he does.”
But these artists trust you. Getting it right is important.
“But I can’t step out of the zone the moment I want to be somebody else, which, after 13 years without it, I did.
“Occasionally, I’d sneak a couple of my Jimmy Vaughan, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson licks in and he’d go, ‘No, Andy!’ And that was it. I’m back in my box.”
The Unplugged film for MTV in 1992 must have been special to work on.
“It was. But none of those guitars were mine. The Martin is Eric’s, the Super 300 Alan (Rogan, legendary guitar tech) lent me. The D’Angelico mandolin, someone lent it. But to be able to just play and not have ‘a bit more bass there, a bit less something there, you’re a little too loud’ – no, you just play. That was glorious.
“I didn’t play mandolin. I could do When I’m Dead And Gone and Malt And Barley Blues by McGuinness Flint, but that was it. And then we get to the rehearsals and Eric says, ‘You play mandolin, don’t you?’ ‘Er, not really.’
“So they get this mandolin and he presents me with My Father’s Eyes. So on Unplugged you can see a bit of paper on the floor with triads written out of how to play My Father’s Eyes.”
Were there lots of rehearsals?
“I spent a week at Eric’s house. ‘Come on, we’ll sit around and work some stuff out.’ So we’d play through Nobody Knows (You When You’re Down And Out), Running On Faith, Old Love and so on. He wanted to do Malted Milk by Robert Johnson, which has a diminished chord, and that’s the only one I had to do a bit of work on.
“But, man, it was a joy. We did the same for the Concert For George (in 2002); I spent a week with him, routining things.”
You toured with Harrison, too, didn’t you?
“Eric had said, ‘Look, I’ll put my band together and we’ll back you.’ We were having a meal in Japan and George gets up and says, ‘Andy was not the first choice. There were seven guitarists and he was the seventh choice.’ Because Gary Moore was one, Alvin Lee was another, and eventually it came to me. But George said, ‘He wasn’t the first choice, but he was the right choice.’
“George and I had met at Ry Cooder shows backstage, so he’d assumed I played slide. Anyway, the first song we played when I went over was Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth). I knew it inside out because I loved (Living) In The Material World. But I said, ‘George, I’m the rhythm player, you play the slide. It doesn’t make any sense.’ Well, I learned the solo, but, believe me, there’s so many nights I didn’t sleep!”
And then there’s Roger Waters.
I did a live album with Joe Satriani. Me! Think about it! I can’t even think as quickly as he can play
“I’d done the ARMS tour for multiple sclerosis. Then we toured America with Eric, Jeff (Beck), Jimmy (Page) and a full cast. And the person who was doing press for the tour, Adie Cook, was a friend of Roger’s. So when Roger was looking for a replacement for Eric for The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking tour, my name came up.
“‘Hello, Andy. Roger Waters here. Will you come up and see whether we get on?’ We did get on. And I stayed for 24 years. Then I’m doing The Wall in 1990 with Roger, and Van Morrison is on the show. So I do the Van Morrison tour. I’m doing a charity gig at the Natural History Museum. Chris Rea is on that bill. I do the Road To Hell tour.
“The other connection is Glyn (Johns). Glyn got me in with Joe Satriani, David Crosby, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks and Pete Townshend. I’m staying with Glyn and they’re recording Who Are You. Pete says, ‘Come down, do some vocals.’
“I did a live album with Joe Satriani. Me! Think about it! I phoned him up and said, ‘Joe, why? Do you know what I do?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ He’d seen me with Eric. But I can’t even think as quickly as he can play. I mean, he wasn’t just in control of the guitar; it’s like he’d invented the bloody thing.”
Clearly, you are that safe pair of hands because all these incredible artists want to work with you.
“Well, there was a guitar player called Roy Smeck. It came to the end of a concert and someone shouted, ‘You’re a genius!’ And he just said, ‘No. I’m a lucky guy. I’m very grateful.’ And that’s me. I’m a very lucky guy, and I’m very, very grateful.
“And you need luck. Amen Corner got a record deal because the guy from Decca saw the band that went on before us, then left and said, ‘Tell them to be in the studio Monday morning, nine o’clock.’
“So we turn up and we’re not that band. He said, ‘Well, we might as well do something.’ So we played Gin House, and without that bit of luck, and a bit of payola, too, we may not have got our success.”
When you were with Amen Corner, were you already into blues?
“No. In the ’70s, when we were called Fair Weather, I got hold of the Robert Johnson album, put it on and said these immortal words, ‘They all sound the same.’ The blues came along when touring with Eric in the big band, doing baseball stadiums with Elton John around America and Europe.
“One day in the car he puts on Chicago Bound by Jimmy Rogers, and that was his way of saying, ‘Check that out – because this is what’s coming.’
“The thing is, he’d got so big that no-one was listening any more. We came off one night and Greg Phillinganes (keyboards) said, ‘Man, just like The Beatles.’ And Eric looked at him and went, ‘Yeah, just like The Beatles.’ And that was him saying, ‘I’m done with this. I need to play what I really want to play.’ And that’s when he seriously played. And in 13 years I never tired of any of it.
“But I wanted to play more, and it was inappropriate with Eric or Roger. I was not the lead guitarist, and I wanted to be, and that’s why I left two of the best-paying and most socially comfortable gigs. I knew I had to do it and not hear those words, ‘No, Andy.’ I can’t pretend I’m a guitar player next to Eric Clapton, can I?”
Did you meet Hendrix?
“He’d been on Top of the Pops, so the word is out. Amen Corner had a residency at the Speakeasy, and one night Jimi is there and wants to play. So he borrows Clive (Taylor)’s bass, flips it upside down, and we do Otis Redding’s I Can’t Turn You Loose. So great!
“Next night, he wanted to play guitar, so he took Neil (Jones)’s guitar, flipped it upside down, I took the bass, so it was Dennis (Bryon, drums), me and Hendrix. I have to say it was three o’clock in the morning and I wasn’t very good! You gotta learn somewhere though, eh?
“Then it’s 1969, I’m in New York and I get a phone call. ‘Jimi’s in the studio. Would you come down and do some vocals?’ He’s recutting Stone Free. So we go down, Roger Chapman (of Family) is also there, so we did it. It’s not a good version. There’s only one version of Stone Free.”
And you even recorded with Kate Bush!
“Oh, man. This is off the scale. I’m at home, nothing’s going on. Phone rings. There’s this woman who says she’s Kate Bush. ‘Would you consider doing some vocals on a track? You’d be absolutely perfect.’ I said, ‘Well, can you send me something?’ ‘No, just come up.’
“I’m apprehensive. But I get up there and gosh, she’s just fabulous. She plays me Wild Man and we record it. I get home, send my bill in: ‘Hello, Andy, I’ve just got your bill. You don’t charge enough.’ So she gave me three times more, then put the single out as Kate Bush and Andy Fairweather Low.”
You’ve had and continue to have a long and distinguished career. What’s the secret?
“The point is to keep aiming for that high bar. If you aim high and fail, it’s not that bad. If you aim for a low bar and fail, then you’re in trouble.”
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings