Andy Sydow Defined "Hustle" in 2020 with Awards, New Music, and Big Things to Come in 2021

Photo by Seth Beamer

If you’ve been around the local Colorado music scene over the past few years, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Andy Sydow. At least, I’m sure you saw the fun (and brilliant in my opinion) marketing for the Americana Rocker’s most recent venture, a mashup of Fleetwood Mac’s Gold Dust Woman and The Chain. The team behind Andy Sydow and The Andy Sydow Band, including Manager Ellie Tomasso, have been hard at work this year, and truly defined the spirit of “hustle” despite the never-ending hurdles thrown out by 2020. Since January of ths year, Andy Sydow has released tons of new songs, won awards, hosted live streams, hit a milestone with his podcast, Middle Class Rock Star, and has so much in store for 2021 that I can’t wait for next year to just be here already. Make sure you read all the way to the end for a special preview of a project that Andy will be releasing in 2021.

First, Let’s Talk Songs.

Despite the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the multiple mandates and stay-at-home orders that came with it, Andy Sydow charged full steam ahead with the release of his Wicked Dreams EP, featuring three songs - Wicked Dreams, Still My Girl , and Feel Like Gold - and the music videos to go with them. The team hit hard on promoting - taking to social media on Andy’s artist page and on outlets like Rocky Mountain Virtual to get the songs into the ears of the people who so desperately needed music to help them through the hard times. At a time when we were all stuck at home, Wicked Dreams felt like a summer drive in a classic car with the windows down, one of the closest feelings to true freedom that there is.

A few months later, in September 2020, Andy released two brand new singles: Hard Times are Alrightand My Friend. In Hard Times are Alright, Andy once again gives us an escape from the suffocating reality that has been 2020. We’re all having hard times right now, but within the first 10 seconds of this nod to Reggae-Rock, you’ll find yourself on an island with a drink in your hand and the sea-breeze in your hair, a long way from the chilly Colorado winter and endless depressing headlines. The song throws back to a late 70s Jimmy Buffett feel, with a laid back, “give yourself a minute” essence to it. I think we should all thank Andy for this reminder that yes, hard times are alright; We’ll all get through this eventually, and until then, let’s be gentle and patient with ourselves and others. You can find both the radio cut and extended version of Hard Times are Alright on all streaming platforms.

The September release of Andy’s single My Friend is an expression of joy and extension of a friendly hand in these times when everything seems to be falling apart. Of the song, Andy says, “It’s an uplifting song about being who you are and being ok with not having yourself 100% figured out." Do any of us really have ourselves figured out? Let’s take a note from wise Andy and give ourselves a break. Things are weird enough without us being overly critical of our own shortcomings.

Then, in November, Andy stopped the local music scene in its tracks when photos surfaced of him dressed as both Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks in a behind-the-scenes look at the album artwork creation for his mashup of ‘Gold Dust Woman” and “The Chain.” Fleetwood Mac had a moment this year, getting near-constant radio play and skyrocketing back to the top of the charts thanks to a viral video by Nathan Apodaca on TikTok. It was a perfect time for a local artist to pick up the thread and cover the famous band, and with the added hype built up by the PR campaign ahead of the release, the mashup has reached a wide audience and acheved a high degree of listenership. There’s even a music video to go along with the release that shows some of the behind-the-scenes footage of Andy getting ready to play the iconic Stevie Nicks in all her glory. The timely and smart cover was truly a team effort, featuring the Andy Sydow Band members, and with Fabiola Mirolo, a CU Denver music student heavily involved. She edited the album art and made it a true tribute to the original Rumours album cover.

Artwork courtesy of Andy Sydow

Whew. That was a lot of new releases for the crazy year we’ve had. But Andy isn’t even done yet. Later this month, Andy has plans to release his newest single, Piece of the Valley, a truly beautiful ode to getting away from it all in the Colorado mountains. This song beautifully blends the Americana Rock that Andy is known for with the flair of the 1980s and the soul of a Gospel choir to create a song unlike any other. It’s definitely worth waiting for. Make sure you follow Andy on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify to be the first to hear this new release. Of Piece of the Valley, Andy says, “'Piece of the Valley' is about the frustrations of modern society. Don't get me wrong, I love my iphone. I love that I can look up, "how to paint my toenails like Rhianna" in less than four seconds. The connection to the world from my bedroom is great. It just gets overwhelming sometimes. There's times when I can't think straight and every time I try to do something, I get distracted by 80 other things until I don't remember what I was doing in the first place. There's an amount of peace that comes over me when disconnecting from everything and just feeling the open road, the mountain air, and the natural sounds of the world."

Now, Let’s Dive into Achievements, Awards, and Projects

As if releasing that many new songs wasn’t enough, Andy had a huge achievement this year. In October, his original song, Alibi, was named one of the winners in the 2020 Durango Songwriters Expo Song Competition in the Country/Folk/Americana division. Durango Songwriters Expo is one of the nation's premier singer/songwriter events. Held twice annually since 1996, the Expo offers artists and songwriters an unmatched opportunity to network with publishers, labels, and music supervisors, and create lifelong relationships with fellow creatives. Andy recorded a version of Alibi in 2016, and plans to release the version recorded for this competition soon. Before you listen, be ready for a very powerful song about the struggles with the demons inside all of us. The song deals with the effort to “keep that crazy fool inside,” a sentiment that we can all relate to about the less-than-shiny parts of ourselves.

On top of this huge honor, Andy received his first song placement back in October for his piano arrangement of Oh Christmas Tree. It was bought by a client of “That Pitch.”

In addition, Andy’s former college professor, Owen Kortz, has a podcast called Dreamcasters. He's following around several creatives (including Andy) on a project journey. Of this opportunity, Andy says, “I have a background in writing for orchestra and I have a passion for that music, so for my Dreamcasters project, I've been writing full orchestra arrangements of several of my original songs as well as a couple covers. I've been working hard on that project for the last couple of months. I don't know who will record the album, but I really hope that when I'm done with the music I can collaborate with a local orchestra in 2021 to record these songs!” Keep your eyes open in 2021 for the completion and release of this project!

Andy also just co-wrote an original Christmas song called Red Pajamas and Silver Cowboy Boots. Now, you all know how much I love Christmas music; Well, this song embodies EVERYTHING that I love about Christmas music! It starts out with that epic-feature-film-feel, then slides into the category of the best classic Christmas songs, telling the story of a boy who is allergic to Christmas trees in the fasion of Burl Ives’ or Gene Autry’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Andy says, “It was a commission piece for a friend of mine to give to his kids and grandkids as a Christmas present. I wrote a big band arrangement for it, but because of the pandemic, we won't be able to record it with real instruments until after the new year. We are going to do a commercial release of the song, but not till next Christmas at this point.” Another thing to look forward to from Andy Sydow in 2021! Trust me, this one will be a classic for years to come.

Oh, Andy Also Hosts a Podcast

How did Andy pack all of this into a single year? This is why I truly believe he defined the word “hustle” for 2020. He still somehow finds time to record, edit, and release a weekly podcast called Middle Class Rock Star, in which he interviews top local musicians and music industry influencers such as Andy Frasco, Chris Kresge (The Colorado Playlist), and Dango Rose (Elephant Revival). This last week, Middle Class Rock Star hit a huge milestone, releasing its 50th episode featuring Colorado music heavyweight Sarah Slaton talking about her upcoming release, Get Up (out December 11), and all of the other incredible things she’s done this year. This is a particularly deep episode, owing to Andy’s great questions and open, empathic, caring personality. If you love hearing musicians and industry folks talk about their craft, be sure to subscribe to Andy’s channel to get new episodes about all things local Colorado music.

Looking Toward 2021 (Aren’t We All?)

Starting in January 2021, Andy will be releasing a high-quality video/audio recording on YouTube every single week. These sessions are being recorded at Third & James Studios, and feature both covers and originals, and showcase Andy’s many musical talents with different instruments and musical styles. Andy gave me permission to share one of these recordings early, so click below for a taste of what’s to come next year.

Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of Andy Sydow - not just because I really dig his music, but because he truly embodies the spirit of hard work that makes our local Colorado music scene so great. I recently had the pleasure of appearing on his Middle Class Rock Star podcast to talk about another project I started with Co-Founder Alyssa Montaño, Rocky Mountain Virtual, during which Andy asked unique and thought-provoking questions. During the recording, we also found out that Andy and I went to high school together at good ‘ol Holy Family High School in Broomfeld, CO. It inspires me to feel this contnued kinship with him through the thing that unites us all - music.

Don’t forget - to keep up wth all of the incredibly rad things Andy is doing, follow him on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify.