Andrew Collins‘ skills as composer-arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist, have put him in the centre of a growing Canadian, acoustic-music scene. Born and raised in Toronto, Andrew found the love for mandolin while living in BC, at age twenty-three. Since that time, he has received a diverse formal education on the mandolin, studying bluegrass music at South Plains College in Texas and jazz music at Toronto’s, Humber College. However, Andrew’s knowledge of music reaches into many other genres including, classical, old-time, swing and celtic.
Andrew has crammed a lot of professional experience into the nine years that he has played music, as well. He is a founding member of several of Canada’s top acoustic string bands, including the Creaking Tree String Quartet, The Foggy Hogtown Boys and Crazy Strings. In the instrumental CTSQ, Collins is joined by violinist John Showman, guitarist Brad Keller and bassist Brian Kobayakawa, each contributing compositions to their two albums. Their unique blend of musical genres, bluegrass, jazz, classical and celtic music grace their two recordings and has earned them several international awards, including a Juno Nomination for Best Roots & Traditional album of 2004 and a 2005 Canadian Folk Music Award for Pushing the Boundaries.
Andrew earned a 2005 C.C.B.M.A. (Central Canada Bluegrass Association) award of Mandolin Player of the Year, singing and playing straight ahead bluegrass music with the award winning Foggy Hogtown Boys, who have recently released their second album Northern White Clouds and Crazy Strings, who’s High Lonesome Wednesdays at the Silver Dollar, have become an institution in Toronto’s bluegrass music scene. With both bands, Andrew is joined by some of Canada’s top musicians, many of which are Juno award winners, including; Chris Coole, Chris Quinn, Dan Whiteley, Jenny Whiteley, Joey Wright, John Showman and John McNaughton.
In the last couple of years, Collins has set out to build a solo recording career. In the summer of 2003, he produced Likewise, an album of original duets, with guitarist Marc Roy, that has made the top ten lists of 2004 releases in both Now Magazine and the Chicago Tribune, being referred to as “a richly textured album that is a prime example of the beauty that can be coaxed out between just two instruments“(Bluegrass North Magazine).
Thanks to the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council, Andrew has a new release out entitled “Little Widgets“. This self produced album features nine original instrumental compositions, showcasing his abilities on mandolin, guitar, mandola, mandocello and fiddle. With several projects in the works, there should be no doubt that Andrew will be an integral force, in the evolution and raising of the bar of string music.
"Andrew's ability to compose and arrange complex material to sound musically pleasing to any listener, as well as exciting and challenging to the experienced picker, is nothing short of astounding. His creative mandolin style pushes all the boundaries, raises the bar, and finds new ways to become a signature sound that will always be identifiable as his.” -- Emory Lester