His career has to an extent been defined by early pop successes, but every single one of Andy Fairweather Low’s performances has always been shaped by his blues, gospel and soul influences. It is ironic that although he first burst onto the scene in Britain in 1967 with a UK top twenty hit record of Gin House Blues which was inspired by Bessie Smith’s 1928 classic recording, the many hits he has enjoyed since then from his days fronting Amen Corner have gradually hidden his undeniable credentials as a great bluesman. However, this extraordinary talent hasn’t escaped the notice of some of the world’s finest artists who have drawn on his deep blue skills as a guitarist and singer.
Cornell Story
After playing with Eric Clapton and hearing Eric’s Cornell amp Andy asked me to make him an amp.
He asked me to meet him and the band at a venue a venue in Southend-on-Sea to discuss and demonstrate the type of sound he was after. He liked the 3 x 10 cabinet he was using and wanted a 40 watt head.
We discussed the various specific about the amp and he wanted and the control line up was to include Tremolo and a 3 way power reducer.
There was an initial problem in as much that the speakers in the 3 x 10 cabinet were very old and were starting to rub giving him a deep ‘barking’ sound that he liked.
This was going to be difficult for me to reproduce, fortunately his Guitar Tech (Steve Russell) obtained some speakers that had been used by ‘The Who’ for some time and gave a much closer sound than using new speakers.
Discovery
None other than Eric Clapton leads an incredibly impressive list of Andy’s discerning employers and collaborators — a list that also includes B.B. King, Benmont Tench, Bill Wyman, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Charlie Watts, Chris Barber, Chris Rea, Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown, Dave Edmunds, David Crosby, David Gilmour, David Sanborn, Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, Edie Brickell, Elton John, Emmylou Harris, Garth Hudson, George Harrison, Georgie Fame, Gerry Rafferty, Jackson Browne, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Joe Cocker, Joe Satriani, John Mayall, Kate Bush, Levon Helm, Linda Ronstadt, Lonnie Donegan, Mary J. Blige, Mick Hucknall, Otis Rush, Paul Weller, Paul Young, Pete Townshend, Phil Collins, Richard and Linda Thompson, Rick Danko, Ringo Starr, Roger Waters, Ronnie Lane, Sheryl Crow, Steve Gadd, Steve Winwood, Stevie Nicks, The Impressions, The Who, Van Morrison, Warren Zevon and hundreds more.