ROB JOHNSON
HITTIN’ THE NOTE MAGAZINE -
Andrew Black is one of those local treasures who make Atlanta such a great music town, but he is too good to remain a secret for long – and 14th and Crescent is proof of his talent. The heart-wrenching opener, "Treat a Dog," shows right away that Black has an uncommonly soulful voice and knows how to treat a song.
This is especially apparent on the excellent covers of "In the Ghetto" and "Everyday I Have the Blues." Black doesn’t just cover a song – he interprets it and puts his own stamp on it. It takes guts to follow in the footsteps of Elvis and B.B. King, but Black has the vocal chops to hold his own against anybody.
"Love Worth Having" is an Andrew Black original, and shows that his own writing aims for the same heights as the timeless tunes by other artists on this CD. There is a strong Stevie Wonder vibe throughout 14th and Crescent, and can there be any greater compliment to a soul singer than to say he reminds you of Stevie?
The disc has a strong finish – a powerful version of War’s classic "The World Is a Ghetto." Since Black once auditioned for the Derek Trucks Band, and this song used to be a dTb standard, it provokes thoughts of what could have been. Never mind all that, though. 14th and Crescent is about what Andrew Black is doing right now, which is making some of the sweetest music around today.
Howard Leese
(of Heart & The Paul Rodgers Band)
on Andrew Black
"I wanted to do a straight Blues song, and Lucy Piller, head of the Paul Rodgers Fan Club, goes ‘You gotta hear this guy, this local guy, he’s got a great voice and he’s a great songwriter.’ And she knows. She’s a big Paul Rodgers fan. She sent me a couple tracks of this guy and it’s like, ‘Oh my God! Why have I never even heard of this guy before?!’ The guy’s phenomenal! So I sent him the track that we cut up in Seattle, and he comes back with a killer set of lyrics and a killer vocal. This guy’s talented... period ! I wanted to have a couple of guys on here who were unknowns. Everybody expected there would be a few name singers, but I wanted to kinda introduce a couple guys too. "When I heard his stuff I had no problem giving him a shot at this tune. He was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALLIE SMALL
EDITOR/PUBLISHER
THE NOOZE
Okay... So I show up at a local open mic competition and, yes I expected to win. Having drawn the last spot on reputation alone, I patiently waited for my turn and courteously listened to the other participants play. At some point they called the name of Andrew Black. This unassuming Georgia boy who had been sitting at the bar casually walked up to the stage with an equally unassuming guitar, and proceeded to slay that bad boy. "Okay," I thought. "I’m going to get outplayed. Not like that has never happened. But can he sing?" Oh my God... Later that night, I’m driving home listening to his cd and marveling at the EXTREME levels of talent that we have here in North Georgia. Yeah... I finished a close second. If you can call a thousand miles or more close. It was like the Wauka Mountain Braves little league team vs. The New York Yankees.
www.myspace.com/andrewblackmusic
