The Andy T Band (formerly The Andy T – Nick Nixon Band) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

band from

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, United States, led by Andy "T" Talamantez, originally with James "Nick" Nixon. The group formed in 2011 and is signed to the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

-based

Blind Pig Records Blind Pig Records is an American blues independent record label. Blind Pig was formed in 1977 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Jerry Del Giudice, owner of the Blind Pig Cafe, and his friend Edward Chmelewski. The label is now based in San Francisco. I ...

. In 2017, the band renamed itself The Andy T Band, after their lead singer, Nick Nixon, left due to health issues; he died in 2018. "Alabama Mike" Benjamin has since taken the lead singer spot.

Members

Andy T

Guitarist Andy "T" Talamantez, a

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

native, was first influenced by the sounds of English rock and blues musician

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

during his teenage years. Falling in love with the blues, Andy listened and learned from the styles and works of musicians like Peter Green and

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

, among others. He performed in various bands in and around Los Angeles until 1996, when he was picked up by

Smokey Wilson Robert Lee "Smokey" Wilson (July 11, 1936 – September 8, 2015) was an American West Coast blues guitarist. He spent most of his career performing West Coast blues and juke joint blues in Los Angeles, California. He recorded a number of albums ...

to perform with him on his first tour. In 1998, Andy also began playing alongside

Texan Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

blues musician

Guitar Shorty David William Kearney (September 8, 1934 – April 20, 2022), known as Guitar Shorty, was an American blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was known for his explosive guitar style and wild stage antics. Credited with influencing both ...

. During Andy's seven years

on the road ''On the Road'' is a 1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonis ...

with Smokey and Shorty, he not developed his own distinct playing style, but also learned how to get a crowd on their feet. He remembers that "the biggest lesson I learned from Smokey and Shorty was the importance of putting on a good show, because they were great showmen". Smokey Wilson and the Andy T Band album released ''Ready to Roll'' in 2003. Andy relocated to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

in 2008.

Nick Nixon

James "Nick" Nixon was a Nashville native who sang throughout his childhood, in church, high school performances, and opera. He remembered: "I had to actually learn how to sing 'wrong' after that, when I decided I wanted to sing rock and blues". An active participant in the Jefferson Street blues scene of the 1960s and 1970s, Nixon befriended and performed with

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

. Nixon and his band, Past, Present and Future, were signed to

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

in 1974. In the 1960s, he also sang lead vocals in an racially integrated band, the R&B group King James and the Sceptres, as well as with the New Imperials, but his longest gig was teaching music for Nashville's Parks and Recreation Department, which he did for 35 years before teaming up with Andy T. Nixon died in 2018, aged 76.

History

Andy T and Nixon met at the Nashville Blues Society's regular Sunday night

jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and entertai ...

, where Andy was leading the house band. The two performers were immediately impressed and struck by their stagemate's talent, with Andy saying of the vocalist, "The first time Nick sang next to me on stage I got goose bumps. Nick sings like I'd like to able to sing". Nixon has appreciation of Andy to match, saying of the team's first record, ''Drink Drank Drunk'', released in 2013, "I just had a feeling it was going to do real good". Andy T and the Nick Nixon Band then stuck to "getting to the bottom of what the blues is all about." The band collaborated with several musicians on their sophomore album, ''Livin' It Up,'' which featured Ron Jones on saxophone, as well as Larry Van Loon on the piano.

Discography

* ''Drink Drank Drunk'', 2013 * ''Livin' It Up'', 2014 * ''Numbers Man'', 2015 * ''Double Strike'', 2017

References

External links

The Andy T-Nick Nixon Band Official SiteBlind Pig Records Official SiteNick Nixon Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2016)Andy Talamantez Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2016)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andy T-Nick Nixon Band American blues musical groups Musical groups from Nashville, Tennessee Musical groups established in 2011 2011 establishments in Tennessee