The term “virtuoso” is not used much these days when it comes to musical acts that tour outside of on-campus recital halls or similar venues. But Andy McKee is just that, a wonderful guitarist who can play a wide array of styles masterfully. Back in the day, high-end fingerpick guitarists like John Fahey and Michael Hedges filled the niche. Fahey died in 2001 and Hedges passed away in 1997, but pickers Leo Kottke and Muriel Anderson are still going strong. McKee is following in the tradition of those artists as an exquisite instrumentalist who plays both regular guitar and the harp guitar.
McKee uses all of the sonic tricks of the acoustic-guitar trade to produce his rich sound, including capos that only go partially across the strings, alternate tunings and two-handed tapping techniques that add a percussive flair to his tunes. Three years ago, Prince found McKee’s videos online and asked him to join his band on a tour of Australia. McKee often tours the world on his own and will gig in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France after his Cincinnati stop.
The guitarist recently uploaded a video onto YouTube called “Because It’s There,” a tribute to the influential Hedges that showcases the beautiful, intricate and multi-layered sound that McKee is able to create on the harp guitar.
This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2015.