Andy is quite crafty with his guitar picking, vocals are smooth. He was well rounded in his choices of music he played, which included cover songs from Elvis Presley, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Black Crows, John Lennon, Alice In Chains and more. With Andy's attention to detail, I wanted to know more about his music and meet his band for the full effect.
I passed off my contact information so that Andy could contact me in his own time for an interview. Unfortunately, I was not able catch up with Andy again for some time. Andy made contact with me out of the blue one day. He shared some of his music background with me. Andy parted ways with Mystery Road in May 2012, a short time later he departed from SOL Junkie, however, Andy maintained ground with Mud Bucket.
In July, Andy was planning to record with Muddy Guy, formerly Mud Bucket, and invited me out for the event. I reluctantly had to miss out on the mud, but I do have some Muddy Guy dirt for you.
Muddy Guy
Andy disclosed of the band name change, "Our original name was Mud Bucket. Greg came up with that one. But I took it as a symbol of our attitude on a lot of things. A lot of people have darker sides to their personalities, but are often afraid to portray that side of themselves because it's socially "wrong." But Mud is about embracing that opportunity. And it feels good! One of our supporters yelled "Muddy Guy" one night at one of our live shows, and we liked it, so we started using it in some of our t-shirt designs. Then, we discovered that their was already a Mud Bucket, in Alabama, that already had a considerable following. The decision was easy to change to Muddy Guy, because we all liked the name, we thought it still represented our vision, and we like both Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy."
Muddy Guy is comprised of singer & guitarist, Andy Johnson,along side Greg Gordy on bass, and Jeremy Akins on drums. Andy correlated, "Muddy Guy has been together for over a year now. We started out as a side/fun project. All 3 of us were playing in our "main" bands at the time, and we just got together on off-weekends to jam a little. We started having a lot of fun together, and our "main" bands kind of fizzled out, so Muddy Guy became a main thing. We had already known each other for years, and have played in different bands together before, but this is the first time in this lineup, with Jeremy on drums. He had played guitar before."
RED, WHITE + MUD
Was Muddy Guy "Born Under a Bad Sign" or was it "Smokestack Lightnin?" "Oh, me" I hear a cool guitar riff then we are "Goin' Down" to "That One Place" with "Sunshine Blues." There will be not a "Politician" nor anyone to say "Get A Haircut" as Muddy Guy lays the melody and has some wondering "Where's My Mind?" It's all fine, as "The Sunshine Of Your Love" comes out, we all, including "Lizzy," want to be "Part Of Something."
Andy announced in regards to the album, "Red White and Mud - We recorded this live around Independence Day in 2012 at a party on the river. We invited our friends, cooked a low country boil and set up our equipment on a deck overhanging the Flint River (one of the band's favorite places). We hired a guy to come down, set up (many)mics, and record the whole thing. He did a good job recording, but he never mixed the album, so what you hear is just a live mix. And it took him months to tell us he was ripping us off, so we didn't get to release the album until Halloween 2012. But we are glad we were able to capture this moment in time. Jeremy and I designed the packaging and we decided to release the live mix."
I own a copy of Red White and Mud, special thanks to Andy. Expect a bluesy, alternative, southern rock to hard rock vibe on RED, WHITE + MUD, with many originals and a Cream cover of Sunshine Of Your Love.
Although RED, WHITE + MUD is a live, unmixed CD, I found it has much of a studio quality with good sound, the music flows, and there's no background noise. Andy's vocals are top notch and the band doesn't miss a beat.
The Hummingbird
I recently caught up with Andy as he was playing The Hummingbird with Muddy Guy. I was amazed as Muddy Guy brought something to the table I have not seen from another band, they are not confined by any genre. If you ask for it, Muddy Guy can probably shell it out for you. For this show, they played a bit of country,southern rock to hard rock, and some blues - this sound reflects in Muddy Guy's originals and covers. When I spoke to Andy about my impression, he simply said "We love music - all music." Muddy Guy currently books monthly gigs at The Hummingbird and Billy's Clubhouse.
With a band with so much love for mud and music, they certainly have many plans to come.
If you slip up on a Muddy Guy show, grab some unique merchandise and a CD. Now get out there and support local music!
Are you looking for more mud? You can find a fully functioning website with music, videos, songlists, bio, merchandise, calendar and more -
http://www.facebook.com/throwsomemud
For booking information, contact Andy (706)577-4445, muddyguy@rocketmail.com
