Andrew McKnight

I've lived a largely offline life for the past few months. I read things daily for sure, but I haven't done much of that “engagement” thing that the algorithms want, or “post more often for higher visibility.” Perhaps I have a touch of oppositional defiance going on, or perhaps I just don't really want to be slave to a machine. The current state of the world isn't exactly much enticement to participate in "the Commons", as cruelty seems to have won the day over civility, discussion, and basic human respect…

July 1, 2026

I am slowly emerging from the longest “publicity hiatus” of my 30-plus years making a livelihood as well as a life in service of music. Since tragically losing my brother-in-law in Maine in March, I have spent time both at home and “in the real world” healing and slowly finding my footing. We are a quarter of the way through the “year of firsts,” and while the shock has worn off, the numbness still pervades. It is hard at times to find meaning in anything frankly, even in the midst of the…

Valentine's Day 2026

This month is a big thank you for a LOT of things! Firstly, the performance calendar is getting busier thanks to some special folks on the email list, and grateful doesn't begin to cover it! 

But I'm grateful for so many other things too - your emails and notes in the mail, the donations in all their forms, the folks who keep showing up at my livestreams and shows, and share my music with their friends, and of course the comments, likes and shares on social media too. I can't begin to…

November 23, 2025

As I am seeing the news spreading today through the many circles of community that she connected, I'm deeply saddened by the loss of our dear friend Maria De Los Angeles the night before last. I will be ever grateful for her immense contributions as one of my editors for Treasures in My Chest, but she also fell in love with our family, our village, our musical world - and especially Mountville.

That was how she rolled; sleeves up, wide-eyed, heart-centered, through an amazing array of…

For decades I've been envious of my NYC singer/songwriter friends who kept their weekly songwriters group meetings at Jack Hardy's apartment to compare notes, offer critiques and encourage each other. I've always wished I had a local songwriters circle to help keep my creative feet to the fire, since I only seem to produce when I have a deadline!

So I'm mighty happy that two of my songwriter neighbors from out here in the hills are coming over for dinner and a song swap tonight. One could walk here, the…

September 15, 2025

When Michelle and I were new parents, the year that our baby would turn 18 always seemed so far off.  "Someday," she would grow up and move into the next adventures in her life, but who could imagine 2025? — "that's SO far in the future!" We  barely gave any thought about one day being a couple again and occasionally a family, instead of the other way around as naturally happens when there are kids in the house. 

Yet, here we are, speeding relentlessly through "The Year of the Way of…

August 14, 2025

I made my "going away" dinner for the kid tonight - grilled sirloin tip steak with red wine mushroom sauce, some of the best white corn of the season, and green beans from our garden. Tomorrow it's her turn to cook for us, probably chicken alfredo or carbonara or something similarly delicious. Then Saturday morning the three of us go to Richmond, and only two of us will make the return trip. Her next adventure begins this weekend and classes start Tuesday.

It was a long and wonderful lingering…

July 22, 2005

Ozzy, wow. Just, wow. All afternoon my Facebook feed is full of tributes from his fellow musicians and mine too. Laments from people I grew up with, especially during our high school years. And interestingly, quite a few of my current acoustic singer/songwriter friends and peers too - people whom I might not have imagined listening to Ozzy Osbourne's music.

And I guess that's the crux of it, isn't it. To transcend rock music is iconic indeed, to become a one word name. Ozzy has been a global…

June 6, 2025

That sure went by in a short speedy slide.

It is a beautiful and bittersweet ritual. The graduating seniors return to their elementary school replete in the transitional regalia of adulthood, to remember just how small they once were, and how big these classrooms were. To think of when it was they who watched the seniors came through to be cheered on, unable to imagine what that journey would be like.

We're still a week and a half from graduation, and a couple months from the departure for…

Many of you kind souls who follow my music know that for the past six years I've occasionally been honored to serve as songwriting staff for Music Therapy Retreats, using songwriting as a healing tool for our wounded warriors. I've been fortunate to have met and worked one on one with six wonderful human beings in that time, each of whom wrote a blank check and stood in harm's way on our behalf. And I've learned that this act of sharing a story and creativity, taking someone's pain and resilience and…

I spent my last day off for this tour out exploring eastern Connecticut's "Last Green Valley", a large portion of which was my childhood stomping grounds in Pachaug State Forest. People don't often believe me when I share stories about literally roaming out of my parent's back yard and through their woods into this heavily glaciated landscape; full of upland swamps, bedrock outcrops and clear springs running fast towards slow moving rivers locked in constant battle with Long Island Sound twice a day.

Rural…

April 7, 2025

Those who know me know I'm a somewhat passionate hockey fan as well as occasional baseball enthusiast. Our hometown Washington Capitals brought our whole region tremendous joy when they won the ultimate prize in professional hockey in 2018, Lord Stanley's Cup. 

But only people who've known me since I was a kid might remember that I decided to be a Capitals fan from the very beginning. In 1974 they were a brand-new team, and I thought it would be cool to be a fan of a team from Game 1 on. And I…

March 31, 2025

Last night was wonderful for a lot of reasons - most especially a lovely crowd! But I'm celebrating a mundane yet thrilling-to-me item too.

My Fender Stratocaster has been my go-to electric guitar since I was 15. It was my job and income during high school. Paid a lot of my way through college. Bars, weddings, parties, whatever it was - my trusty Strat and I did it together. We went through quite a collection of amplifiers to be sure! But always together, each of us accumulating a few more…

It's no secret that the usefulness of social media is in deep decay for things upon which we've grown to depend - primarily connection and interaction with other human beings. If you know most any type of creative person/business personally, you've likely seen the lament, the anger and frustrations, and most of all the desire to stay connected with you about their work. I addressed my own ideas how to bypass these challenges last year in this article, and if you care to spend 3 minutes revisiting it now I'd…

December 4, 2024.

It's been over a year now. 

During my shows for most of the last year since it happened last October, I've been sharing the story of the "Jane Doe" murder victim who had been buried in the historic African-American cemetery just a few feet from my back yard. A young African-American woman found in 1973, shot to death on the side of a local gravel road; a spot that I pass on my near-daily walks, until now blissfully ignorant of her tragic story. The local Baptist church graciously accepted…

Our humble little tree. Frankly, it's as much an investment in my own mental health as the nights get longer and the days get colder; the smell is divine aromatherapy along with the glitter and gleam of ornaments in the lights. I'm looking forward to my first coffee in the rocking chair next to it in the morning, teaching my students next to it for the rest of the month, and of course, my 15th Annual Winter Holiday Livestreams on Sunday Dec. 15th. I'm also hoping that these rambunctious cats don't destroy…

October 30, 2024

On this autumn night, nearly 15 years after his untimely passing, I'm finally finding whatever it takes to be able to sing one of my friend Keith Pitzer's songs. The tears still are hanging right on the edge, but Saturday night I will be with people celebrating 30 years of recovery and preservation in West Virginia's beautiful Cheat River watershed. I'm damn well going to make sure his musical legacy is as well-represented as I can; in so many ways to me Keith and Joan gave voice to the…

October 18, 2024

By now I've had some time to digest the horrific imagery from the catastrophic flooding in the southern Appalachians largely due to Hurricane Helene, as well as see the resilience and creativity of mountain communities. Last fall a lifelong friend and I made a camping and hiking pilgrimage down the North Carolina section of the Blue Ridge Parkway under picture-perfect conditions. I've rarely had any of my excursions go quite so flawlessly according to plan. We had plans for months to make a…

October 14, 2024

At long last, our familia has had to say our final farewell to La Gatita con Manchas (Cat with Patches). She showed up in our yard in the summer of 2006 hunting in our woodpiles and never having any interest in us at all. That Thanksgiving, when Michelle was pregnant and with all of her family here for the holiday, she was standing on my porch meowing loudly at me when I went to take the post-repast trash out. Of course I took pity and shared some of the bounty from our table. 

Although she…

August 31, 2024

Many of us who follow our calling in the performing arts are blessed with fans in many places who become friends. I met Chris Nicholson in the late 90s when he and his then toddler-age son Andrew would come to the weekly singer/songwriter series at Starbucks near his home in Sterling VA. Through those years he befriended many of us, as he introduced his two young sons to music and creativity, up close and personal. When he learned that I had spent much of my childhood and young adult summers…