As a founding member of several of Canada’s top acoustic string bands, Andrew Collins is in the centre of a burgeoning acoustic-music scene. It’s no wonder, as his breadth is evident. In the role of instrumentalist, he is adept at several genres including, bluegrass, jazz, blues, swing, celtic and classical music. While primarily a mandolin player, he is also an accomplished guitar player, fiddle player and vocalist. To top it off, he is a prolific composer. His original compositions (instrumental and vocal) have become an integral part in the success of his many projects.
Both the Creaking Tree String Quartet and the Foggy Hogtown Boys have been recognized for their work as the recipients of several awards. To name a few, the CTSQ has earned two Juno Nominations (Best Roots & Traditional album 2004 and Best Instrumental album 2009), three Canadian Folk Music Awards (two for Pushing the Boundaries 2005, 2007 and one for Best Instrumental Group 2007) and several Central Canada Bluegrass association awards including Mandolin player of the year in 2005.
As a solo artist, Andrew has recorded and produced several albums of original instrumental music which showcase his abilities as multi-instrumentalist on mandolin, guitar, mandola, mandocello and fiddle. Most notable is his solo album, “Little Widgets”. The release of this collection of original instrumentals was celebrated and aired nationally from CBC’s Glen Gould studio and earned him a 2006 Canadian Folk Music Award for Pushing the Boundaries.
On the other side of the musical spectrum, 2007 brought forth a collaboration called “Mando Lore” with world class celtic musician, Brian Taheney. Their mutual love and knowledge of traditional music shines through, as they feature the mandolin family on this on this collections of celtic and american old time traditionals.
More recently, Andrew added recording engineer to his list of credits with four new releases in the fall of 2009 alone. Among these include the new Lickin’ Good Fried release “Say Uncle” which was produced by Andrew. This is an offering of honky tonk/bluegrass originals by the band’s leader, Tom Parker and features Andrew in the triple role as musician (mandolin/harmonie vocals), engineer and producer. Having also recorded and mixed albums by Chris Coole, Brad Keller, The Foggy Hogtown Boys, John Showman and more, word of his fine work on both sides of the mic is spreading.
With two years of training at Toronto’s Humber College Jazz program and 13 years of self training in several other genres, Andrew has a lot of breadth informing his mandolin playing. Having been an educator at Bluegrass, Celti c, Folk and Jazz Camps, as well as privately, he has developed program for teaching his unique improvisational method for mandolin which has been a hit with mandolin students of all levels.
With plans for several new recordings, the winter of 2010 will prove to be a very productive time in the studio. Amongst the projects in the cue, are new albums by the Foggy Hogtown Boys, the Creaking Tree String Quartet and singer/songwriter Laura Repo. Also due out late spring of 2010 are two new Andrew Collins albums.
"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