Andrew McKnight

On National DNA Day, Andrew kicked off a new series of Treasures "Livestreaminars" - part DIY family history, woven together with music and stories from Treasures in My Chest. The series is free through his YouTube channel, and each one offers a tip on family research and using DNA evidence. While each episode is loosely connected to the book, those starting into family research will certainly learn something useful from each video.

NEXT UP: June 6th, 2020 at 11am EDT, "Our Ancestors Who Gave All, Part II."…

It's been exciting here to see Treasures in My Chest on folk and acoustic radio playlists from around the world these past couple of months! It charted at #7 for February on the Folk Radio charts maintained by the Folk Alliance International, and #11 for the month of March. We're grateful to the DJs and programmers who've been kind enough to share it with their audiences. The most-played songs from the album have been "Aretas Culver," "My Little Town," "When My Time Comes," and the title cut.

Many thanks to…

In early April, Andrew had a chat with Michelle Murillo at Washington DC news/traffic/weather radio giant WTOP about the many challenges for performing artists in the time of pandemic - read it here.

He also sat with Jan Mercker of Loudoun Now for an in-depth discussion about Treasures in My Chest in advance of the Album and Book release concert here in Virginia. It includes video - read and listen here.

Like every touring artist in the world here in the spring of 2020, Andrew's live performance schedule is in a state of suspended animation while the global pandemic is "in charge." There's a lot to say about the artistic, emotional and personal elements of these times - Andrew is keeping active on the blog and social media.

Thankfully we are well prepared in two ways for these times.
1) Andrew has been vidcasting from home several times a year for over a decade, and now the world is getting used to…

March 24th marks the official release of Treasures in My Chest when the book drops to Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc. The album hits Spotify, iTunes and the other digital services on February 28th. But we'd love to have you at one of the celebration concerts in person!

The hometown show is at our Franklin Park Arts Center in Purcellville VA on Friday March 6th, complete with the recording band! Andrew will be joined by longtime friend and Beyond Borders bandmate Lisa Taylor on drums, Lincoln neighbor Michael…

Join the fun during Music Week, "Mind, Body and Spirit in Harmony" from April 12-17th at the beautiful Mountain Retreat and Learning Center in Highlands NC. Andrew is honored to be joining fellow singer/songwriters Tret Fure and Friction Farm to help you learn more about music and your abilities to make music. You’ll learn new music and techniques in a gorgeous setting in the southern Appalachians of western North Carolina. Focus will be on voice as well as instruments. Bring your dulcimers, flutes, drums…

Andrew is thrilled to return for a 3rd year of teaching songwriting workshops for middle and high school students as part of the Chords of Courage Step Up! Songwriting Contest. Open to any students from 6th to 12th grade attending school in Frederick County, Maryland, the contest "encourages them to use their creativity to write dynamic and powerful songs about people of particular courage." Andrew's workshops help students to break down "writer's block," develop lyrical structure and use elements of basic…

January 30th we migrated the website from its old host to its new home at Bandzoogle. As with most website migrations, not everything is perfect so you may find broken links and missing images here and there during your visit, and we greatly appreciate you letting us know what you find missing as well as how the new site works for you! We may well "re-skin" the website with new look sometime in the late winter/early spring, but our focus for the next few weeks is getting Treasures in My Chest into…

While the companion book won't be published until late February, we have an advance download release of the album available now! Treasures in My Chest is a 15-song, 50 minute musical journey you won't soon forget - inspired by Andrew's incredible experiences and discoveries as he explored his family's history.

Own the album download for $12 right now from our Bandcamp webstore below, or get the download while pre-ordering the book too! When you click the Buy link on the player, simply set the amount at…

The Winter Holiday Vidcast lives on! Join me in my living room on Tuesday December 17th at 8:30pm EST at my YouTube channel - for more come to the Vidcast page.

I had the privilege Saturday night of being part of an awards ceremony and concert for my friend Scott Moore, one of the founding members of Focus Music here in the DMV. He was honored with the Vic Heyman Award for his longtime work and dedication to the folk and acoustic singer/songwriter community here - well deserved and hard earned by Scott and his wife Paula.

It was an incredible show hosted at Positano's Italian Restaurant in Bethesda MD. For me it was a reunion with some friends not seen in way too…

I am grateful for the possibilities of connection that social media offers in between in person visits. Although I use those tools frequently out of necessity, I remain disenchanted with many of the limitations. In 2020, the focus of my social media energy as well as my monthly E-Zine is going to be primarily in driving traffic back to my website for more content and context.

That said, it is time for a quick update on what I use and how, so you can decide what you might see and what is worth your…

November 12, 2019

A personal journey of sorts that began at Christmas 2014 came to a close on Veteran's Day weekend in Bristol, Connecticut. Andrew first met his 3 times great grandfather Aretas Culver "face to face" by chance when he stumbled over a six-month old Connecticut Public Radio web story about an exhibition at the CT State Library. The exhibition featured photographs of the state's Civil War veterans who'd had the misfortune of being imprisoned at Andersonville, the notorious Confederate POW…

Andrew is thrilled and honored to return to the beautiful Madison Fields farm in central Maryland October 19th and 20th, working with renowned singer/songwriter and music therapist Mack Bailey and his Music Therapy of the Rockies program. Since 2014 Mack has been helping veterans using music and mindfulness in dealing with their PTS/PTSD (post-traumatic stress) by helping reframe their stories, learning how to rewire brains, and in doing so, saving lives. 

The veterans will meet with Mack, two music…

We're pleased to have our touring assistance grant renewed, and again be included in the Virginia Commission for the Arts prestigious Touring Artist Directory. Eligible presenters within the Commonwealth may be reimbursed up to 50% of the cost for performances and workshops, solo or with Andrew McKnight & Beyond Borders. We hope that more new presenters will take advantage of our funding and help bring Andrew's music to new parts of our Commonwealth, particularly his new program "The Gifts in Our Genes"…

After a good run of six years or so, our vidcasting platform Concert Window is going away September 16th. It has been a wonderful vehicle for Andrew to stay connected with friends and fans around the world, and to be compensated for the performance in some fashion too. Unfortunately as with many things in the arts in the streaming era, these models struggle to keep up with "free" outlets like Facebook Live, and so Concert Window will shut their doors for good on September 16th. We are actively seeking…

Hardly a month in, and most of the songs for Treasures in My Chest have been recorded already! Since work began at Cabin Studios on July 5th, eleven pieces have been recorded with four more to go in the next few weeks. Some of them feature Andrew with a full band, while there are also several solo pieces as warm and intimate as anything he's previously recorded. For guitar fans keeping score, thus far the Lowden (beautiful gift guitar from Ireland), the Fairbuilt and the Gretsch resonator as well as…

We are excited to announce that the work has begun on Andrew's latest project, Treasures in My Chest - a full-length studio recording and companion book!

The album is a song cycle drawn from the connections between Andrew's musical DNA and many discoveries of his McKnight family heritage, while exploring the greater age-old human questions of "who am I?" and "how did I get here?". 

Treasures will be released to radio and crowdfunding backers late in 2019, and the book and album in both print and digital…

Andrew was honored to lend a hand and a pen last weekend at the beautiful Madison Fields farm in central Maryland, working with renowned singer/songwriter and music therapist Mack Bailey and his Music Therapy of the Rockies program. Since 2014 Mack has been helping veterans using music and mindfulness in dealing with their PTS/PTSD (post-traumatic stress) by helping reframe their stories, learning how to rewire brains, and in doing so, saving lives. 

Ten veterans met with Mack, two music therapists and…

For those who attended the first Mountville Folk Festival back in 1994, there was no way to imagine what that seed would grow into over the quarter century. This little gathering that started in Andrew's backyard as an excuse for singer/songwriter friends to spend time together sharing each other's work among the local music community, now annually draws 200-300 people to the slopes of Bull Run Mountain near Aldie VA.

This year's 25th annual Mountville will include an extra night of music in celebration…