If there’s ever a Nashville edition of the famed “Survivor”
television series, the smart bet would likely be on multi-talented
artist Andy Gibson to bring home the big money. Based on a
lifelong work ethic and incredible resumé of talents, skills and
experience, Andy certainly has what it takes to survive long after
others have been voted off the proverbial Music City Island. And we’re
not just talking music here.
Sure, Andy co-wrote one of the biggest hits in recent memory with his
powerful tune “Don’t You Want To Stay,” the multi-week #1 country hit
for Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson that the duo performed on the last
year’s CMA Awards to a standing ovation. And he’s also currently in the
studio with legendary producer James Stroud finishing up his own debut
album of killer songs, including the infectious first single and video,
“Wanna Make You Love Me.”
But Andy’s talents don’t end there. He’s a guy who more than knows
his way around a tool shed. He can do everything from hanging drywall
and trim carpentry to installing and maintaining a heating and air
conditioning system. He’s worked professionally as a freelance graphic
designer, photographer, videographer, deck hand, pizza maker and studio
engineer. And, since moving to Nashville five years ago, he’s been a
demo singer and performed in Spanish restaurants, singing everything
from classic country and his own original tunes to traditional Spanish
songs… in Spanish.
So where does Andy get his incredible drive and work ethic? From the
same place he gets his passion and talent for music -- his parents, John
and Debbie Gibson (the original Debbie Gibson, Andy’s quick to point
out). The fourth of five children, Andy was born September 15, 1981 in
Spokane, Washington. The family moved to the San Francisco area when
Andy was very young, living there until moving outside Las Vegas when
Andy was nine.
Throughout much of Andy’s childhood, the Gibson family worked
together on projects -- buying old houses, gutting them, fixing them up
and reselling them. Andy’s first job was at age five -- pulling nails
out of boards. “That’s just how we grew up,” he remembers. “We didn’t
watch television. We didn’t even have cable. We’re all just really hard
workers and we’re happiest when we’re working.”
Andy also got an early start on his musical journey and comes by his
love of music honestly. His dad, a beach-loving surfer, was just
fourteen when he wrote the theme song for cult classic surfing film
Endless Summer, and later earned a deal with RCA Records. So there was
always music around the Gibson household -- everything from his dad’s
music to records by The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Wilson Pickett,
Little Richard, Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens, The Ventures and pretty
much everything from Motown. True to his hands-on style, five-year-old
Andy built his first guitar -- out of cigar boxes and rubber bands.
When he was nine, his parents bought him his first real guitar, a
Fender Stratocaster. By the time he was twelve, Andy and some buddies
put together a band called Missing In Action. By then, he’d already
started writing his own songs, recording them on an old multi-track
recorder his dad had given him. But it was a local Battle Of The Bands
that confirmed to Andy that not only did he love making music but that
he might just be pretty good at it.
“I was always a shy kid growing up. So when I got onstage during that
first performance, people were shocked because I was singing lead and
playing lead guitar,” Andy remembers with an affable smile. “When I saw
people’s reactions, I thought, ‘Maybe there’s something here.’ That was
the first time when I had that spark.”
After busting his tail taking summer sessions and online classes,
Andy graduated high school after his sophomore year. But he sensed there
was no future for him and his music in Las Vegas. So Andy checked out
Nashville -- and loved it. “I moved to Nashville and into a little
basement apartment,” Andy recalls. “It was just concrete and bare walls
-- and lots of spiders! To make the rent and be able to eat, I got a job
at Texas Roadhouse waiting tables at night and worked maintenance at
Babies-R-Us starting at 4:30am.”
After work, Andy would tirelessly knock on doors and take demos
around Music Row. Ironically, his big break finally came as a result of
his ability to speak Spanish, a skill he’d honed through school programs
in Las Vegas. “I knew a lot of Spanish songs and got three different
gigs in Mexican restaurants around town,” he remembers. “ John Rich
heard me at this place called Las Cazuelas. He liked my songs and signed
me to write for his publishing company. I really focused on my writing
and turned in about 150 songs the first year.”
None would be bigger than “Don’t You Want to Stay,” which he wrote
with Paul Jenkins and Jason Sellers.
“I still don’t have cable, so I couldn’t watch the CMA Awards at
home,” Andy says of the night Aldean and Clarkson performed the song to
a massive television audience. “Thankfully, I have some friends who
invited me over to see the show. Jason and Kelly sounded so amazing.
That song was written over two years ago and it was pitched and turned
down a lot, so it was really rewarding to have it do as well as it did.
It’s just overwhelming to me to hear people singing my song. Whether
you’ve reached one person or 100 million people, it’s a satisfaction you
can’t get with anything else.”
Armed with a bevy of great new songs like “Wanna Make You Love Me,”
“Summer Back,” “Walk Away” and “Believe in Me” for his forthcoming debut
album, Andy will likely have to get used to hearing a lot more of his
songs sung back to him. When that happens, it will be a tribute not just
to his incredible musical gifts, but to the work ethic that has never
let him be satisfied with the status quo.
“I do what I do because I love music,” he says. “I’ve got to be
working on something, making something better. And if you’re someone who
wants to work and will work, you can survive. You’ll find a way.”
