Andrew Duhon and the staying-power of great songwriting.

WITH the Summer 2022 release of his latest album, “Emerald Blue,” Andrew Duhon delivers another genre-EVOLVING masterpiece that cements his importance as one of the best (MOST IMPORTANT) artists of a generation.

For those who are called to pursue art, no matter the medium, a “North Star” usually becomes visible in the mind’s sky, through the competing clouds of motivating-creativity and stifling self-doubt. A light in the distance, bright enough to follow but not quite close enough to reach. Someone showing you the way. Someone, somehow, articulating and producing work that is exactly what you wished you had produced, approaching the craft in the way you didn’t know you wanted-to but, in seeing or hearing it, now realize it’s permanently colored and informed your perspective.

We revere the greats; Bob Dylan, Keb Mo, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, McCartney, Petty, Bowie, Redding… We could go on. Musicians of their caliber have transcended to an almost mythical stature, unreachable and no longer relatable to those of us who are not (yet) super stars or songwriting royalty. Their recipe isn’t meant to be (re)discovered, distilled, and copied. It’s meant to be (audibly) tasted in its ready-to-hear form.

The artist that is closer to being our peer––seemingly one of us but somehow producing work of a caliber and originality others have only vaguely dreamed about–– That is the artist that is seemingly close enough to reach. Their talents, achievements, and progress paired with their apparent “normal person-ness” allows for tangible hope and maintainable motivation for those musicians further down the mountain.

There are only a handful of musicians in my generation that are so wonderfully ordinary and yet so paralyzingly extraordinary, that they make it seem possible for regular human beings to produce original music that engages, affects, and moves you in a singular way. They have discovered and harvested a hidden source of musical and lyrical understanding that so many search for but never find, or even know where to begin looking. They refine that sacred resource and share it with us, as only they can.

For me, Andrew Duhon meets and surpasses that criteria. The New Orleans born-and-based songwriter has been honing his specific blend of lyrics, guitar styling, and story telling for over a decade, and has consistently been one of my favorite working songwriters for about as long. His records remain in my weekly playlist, inspiring my own approach to songwriting, performing, and coping with being human. His ruminating on life, love, progress, varied socioeconomic circumstances, all expressed through his lyrics (and anecdotes during a fantastic Song Divers interview), have helped me find meaning in my own life, and sooth the internal struggles not singular to me, but personal to all of us.

Not to mention that his music is just f#!&ing great.

It is for those reasons, and the fact that he is still a relative underdog compared to the notoriety, fanfare, and/or song placements in film and television enjoyed by many of his contemporaries, that he fits the mold of the aforementioned “North Star.” He is undeniably special. Talented. On the ascent. Yet, he’s still close enough to earth that he’s tangible. He’s still real.

While some of his peers have achieved more of the notable benchmarks in the standard spell book for becoming a super successful artist, I would argue that they don’t have as much to say and they can’t say it with the originality and authenticity we have come to love about Andrew Duhon. And even if/when they do, they aren’t able to articulate those social and personal observations into the same lyrical content that permeates our hearts like Duhon’s songs always do.

That’s not to say it’s all heavy; It’s not. Despite having a humble and almost innocently mischievous wisdom beyond his years, Andrew balances the light and the dark. On this latest record, the musings of the title track “Emerald Blue” reflect on time spent in the Pacific Northwest, in a presumably happy relationship, and feelings we interpreted as refreshing [and] happiness.

––

Rewind to 2019, when Duhon was touring on his previous record, False River, sharing the road with the incomparable Lydia Luce. Things were good, and getting better (they still are). Andrew and the band had their tour van gassed up and were working their way around the country. “Covid” was not yet part of the modern lexicon. John Prine was still with us. Andrew Duhon was a man in the post-relationship, pre-pandemic, after glow of inspiration meaningfully-mined, synthesized, and expressed. The result was a true work of folk’ing great Americana art work. False River, is still to this day one of the best albums I have ever heard. Front to back, not a single throwaway or filler song. A beautiful mix of song styles, topics, and arrangements, all recorded and produced beautifully. At times bright and driving, other times dark and nuanced, and always showcasing a little grit and guitar work that doesn’t show-off but reminds you Duhon can play–– And always in service of the song, never for the playing’s sake.

Andrew and the boys made their way through the Tampa Bay Area, playing an incredible show at the Murray Theatre. Bassist, Myles Weeks and drummer, Jim Kolacek are both fantastic and accomplished musicians in their own right, but when the trio performed together, it was a beautiful unified chemistry.

We love Jim, but we need to highlight Maxwell Z anovic, the drummer that Jim replaced. Max is all over Andrew’s earlier work, including False River, before being recruited away (very amicably) by Miranda Lambert. Lucky for Andrew (and us listeners) he and Myles found Jim.

That performance was a memorable one, topped off by Lydia Luce joining Duhon and his band for a truly stirring closing cover of Gillian Welch’s “Everyone Is Free Now.”

––

The next day, Andrew was making history on Song Divers, cutting one of the show’s (now) most listened to episodes to date. If you haven’t heard it, his interview and unplugged performances will leave you breathless from both laughter and emotion. We highly recommend it.

Andrew Duhon on Song Divers in 2019 >

As a long time fan, and the guy that interviewed him, I can tell you that Andrew is the “real thing.” Andrew’s playing, voice, and lyrics were just as affecting only halfway through his morning coffee, as he is with his full band. Just as impactful. He is exceedingly “normal,” funny, and a great hang. As are Myles and Jim, for that matter. This is a guy you want to follow and hitch your wagon-to, and a band you wish you could join and play with. When you listen to the interview you come away rooting for him. Feeling a strange dichotomy of relatable affection and reverence.

Chemistry and talent are not unique to Andrew and his trio, but being able to bottle that and translate it meaningfully into recorded music is not an easy task. Yet, Duhon has managed to evolve his sound again, producing a fantastic, bound-to-be timeless record.

While this latest record, Emerald Blue, opens and regularly weaves back to hopeful and optimistic themes, the record also moves into darker waters. Never so deep that you can’t still see the rays of sun through the surface, but songs like “Slow Down” humbly (and correctly) pontificate about the pace at which we live our lives. The track starts up-tempo but dark and brooding. You can almost picture him singing and picking on a train traveling through a dark, stormy town. The tune comments on the insatiable and unsustainable way our society lives today, only to quite literally slow-down mid way through the song, cutting the pace to half time. A clever mechanism that you smirk at as a listener, but not enough to lose the soulful groove that the song gives-way to. It never loses its message despite the very intentional mood change.

Duhon is not just a clever lyricist, he’s an all-around resourceful musician. Like many, Andrew found himself off the road and stuck at home during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, isolating from the world with which he had been working to share more of his music. He was among the many performers to pickup from home with a camera and an internet connection. We saw him in almost real time working through tunes that were named only by number at the time, and many of which became standouts on this latest album. Many did not, but one can hope they will show up on a later release.

One of the tunes from that series of YouTube clips that felt the furthest from Duhon’s usual melodic leanings, was a tune called “Everyone Colored Their Own Jesus,” that I rewatched over and over again. I loved the unique up-strumming that flits in and out parts of the song, and I really appreciated the perspective and message (and not a religious one). Thankfully, this became track number 9 on this latest release, and he’s taken the acoustic performance to a place that I really enjoyed. The album cut has a great momentum with elements that sent visions of Richie Havens and Cat Stevens through my head. It’s a beautiful message, and another credential on his resume as one of songwriting’s elite.

We learned in Duhon’s Song Divers interview that he is left handed (despite playing guitar as a righty) which adds a multitude of double meanings and analogies to the song “Southpaw.” The chorus is reflective, full of implication and plays-on-words that, again, never feel corny or stretched. Just descriptive and impactful. The harmony that hits with his hook, “Left Handed Love Letters are all I seem to write,” is classic Duhon; Playful, reflective, full of a reckoning with the feelings you own but can’t control.

Left handed love letters are all I seem to write.

All of the songs on the album deserve and are worthy of study and contemplation. “Sunrise” is a light, softly approached tune, but driven by an uptempo riff, that feels like it could easily be an Ellis Paul cover. That is, until you hit the chorus and feel the gospel sounding harmonies, that bring to mind Duhon’s creole-country upbringing. No matter who you might hear as glimmers of possible influences in this record, it all/always sounds so authentically him. You can hear it even more in the grooves of “Castle on Irish Bayou.” You can picture him on stage in the french quarter, playing to a rowdy, smiling crowd, in somewhere like the Maple Leaf.

“Diggin’ Deep Down” is another style departure for Duhon. It’s a fun, slightly Motown-leaning tune that sounds like the arrangement could have been suggested by Leon Bridges. Again, this is a complement.

Emerald Blue crescendos in a soulful, big-room vocal, backed by organs and background vocals that felt a little Bob Seger’y (in a good way). Ultimately the song has the waltz and sentiments of the late-great John Prine, and not just because he’s mentioned by name in the song multiple times…

Andrew performed several songs via live-stream from home during the Covid-19 lockdowns, including a very Duhon cover of Prine’s “Spanish Pipe Dream.” It’s raw but musically rich, and absolutely phenomenal.

Like Prine, Duhon is a writer with the perspective, prose, and ability to influence a whole generation of songwriters and string-strummers still finding their way. I can’t argue that there aren’t other working artists out there as “good” as Andrew Duhon, but you would have to work pretty hard to find anyone better.

One of the most memorable quotes from Andrew’s 2019 Song Divers episode was that he still “believe[s] in the staying power of the song.” With the collection of songs on Emerlad Blue, we are also true-believers.

I often describe Andrew Duhon with the same words as title of closing song on this record: “As Good as it Gets.”

Although we do have a caveat to that: He just keeps getting better. ///

Andrew Duhon and the staying-power of great songwriting.

WITH the Summer 2022 release of his latest album, “Emerald Blue,” Andrew Duhon delivers another genre-EVOLVING masterpiece that cements his importance as one of the best (MOST IMPORTANT) artists of a generation.

Left handed love letters are all I seem to write.

Stefan Scheuermann