Big Al Anderson
He’s been called one of the greatest rock guitar players. Ever. He’s known on Nashville’s Music Row as one of those elite writers of country songs who consistently pens hit after hit. Over 200 cuts at last count. Is he country or is he rock and roll? The answer is yes. Big Al Anderson is both–not to mention a healthy measure of blues, soul and pop. Larger than life in person and in music, Big Al encompasses all these sounds and does it with a style and a genius that’s never been more apparent than on his latest release with his band (The Balls), Pawn Shop Guitars. Guitars is a big, juicy album, chock full of gutsy country, meaty rock and roll, sunny guitar pop and a good, greasy streak of blue funk.
Best known for his 23-year stint playing guitar in the iconic and notoriously eclectic rock band NRBQ (New Rhythm and Blues Quartet), Anderson reaches even farther back in his history to find the roots of his far-ranging musical influences, noting that when he was a kid “a lot of rock and roll and country were the same thing.” Raised by his piano teacher mother in Windsor, CT (his father, a bass player died when he was 10), Al was inspired by his sister’s guitar-playing husband. ”At first, I think I just liked the look of the thing.” But soon a very young Al was devouring all manner of records–the Everly Brothers, the Ventures, Chet Atkins, Ray Charles–and paving the way for what would be a giant life in music.
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