Andrew McKnight

  Welcome Hello again and Happy Friday! Autumn has finally arrived here, though the land is dry and the leaves seem to prefer shy and muted colors this year. I've been doing my best to notice it all, between my daily writer's walks, driving to and from the studio, and pounding away on both the writing and the guitar, as Treasures in My Chest emerges into full three-dimensional shape.

If you follow my Facebook music page you know that there is much on which to catch up, including… Read more

   Welcome With Labor Day behind us, it's time to take a short break from the work of making Treasures in My Chest to say hello and wish you a Happy September. There is plenty of project news, and I'll cover some of it in detail on my final - and free - Concert Window vidcast this Thursday evening Sept. 5th. In addition to sharing some of the behind-the-scenes progress, there will be some new songs written for this project within the last few weeks.

While I'm enjoying the creative… Read more

  Welcome
The season of the late summer vacation is upon us, and I too have plans for a bit of a short break this month. Due some unusual quirk of the cosmos, every five years all of the anniversaries in my family are milestones, providing us a good excuse to gather from our far scattered lives for a few days of quiet celebration off the grid. In late August my parents mark 60 years together. That's worthy of celebration indeed!

But of course, it's a bit of a working vacation… Read more

  Welcome At long last, it has begun. My audacious dream, a musical and literary project drawn from my journey into my family's past and connections in the present, is becoming reality, and I would treasure your help in making it (see below). Being an avid student of history, however, demands from me first a few moments of reflection.

On our nation's 243rd birthday I find myself profoundly conflicted. Many of us are torn by the deeply disturbing situation on our southern border… Read more

  Welcome This is the 75th anniversary of the epic events on the beaches at Normandy, and I am full of thoughts about service and sacrifice, and perhaps the rights and responsibilities of a free and self-governed people too. I spent this past weekend getting to know two amazing veterans on a long journey of healing from their time in harm's way, hearing their stories and helping them to reframe their experience to share with us. We wrote two great songs and I'll be sharing them on… Read more

   Welcome To those who celebrate the holiday in some way, Happy Mother's Day. I am grateful I got to spend a little time with my mom (and dad) last month during the New England tour. Among many delights of the visit, I was given possession of my grandmother's family history album, which included a letter from a (then) young ancestor to his wife from 1818, and my great-great grandparents wedding certificate issued two days before the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. To hold these… Read more

 

  Welcome Greetings from Galax, Virginia - the self-proclaimed "oldtime mountain music Capital of the World". I'm here doing workshops at elementary and middle schools across two counties, plus a songwriting workshop and a concert this Friday night. What a whirlwind it has been since I last dropped you a line! In just the last 36 hours, I have been to Fairview and Fancy Gap, Fries and Independence too. I am grateful that you are here to read these words, and I look forward to… Read more

   Welcome It's the St. Patrick's edition - just in time for the turning of the clocks, planting peas, the Ides of March, and if you're so inclined, the wearing of the green or a pint of Guinness. It's been a different kind of busy this spring, gearing up for a summer recording that is turning into a massive and unique project. There was the small matter of a 1,000 mile trip to surprise my mom with a birthday party too (see below). As such, I'm behind on most things (including… Read more

   Welcome While we're in the deepest days of winter, I'm also noticing the sun setting later each day, and the sunrise finally seems to be getting earlier too (weird quirks of planetary motion there). We've had snow days and frozen tundra, and T-shirts and mud season all in a week's time, much like the 48 hours of transition between summer and winter back in October. I've been burrowed in hard since the Florida tour writing and teaching (and doing a bit of 6th grade math tutoring… Read more

   Happy New Year! I hope this finds your year off to a great start. I'm a tad embarrassed to admit that it seems like New Year 1999 was not that long ago, and how weird it was going to be to "flip the millennium odometer" at the end of the year. That it's now 2019 is a bit incomprehensible, but I guess I'd better get to figuring it out!

As to the odometer, it is going to flip 240,000 miles somewhere between here and south Florida this week. I'm looking forward to some sunshine… Read more