Video Premiere: Watch Andy McKee’s Moody New Video For ‘Ouray’

Fingerstyle guitarist Andy McKee launched his career on Youtube, and he continues to make great videos. The guitarist is releasing this video of “Ouray” in advance of his new live album, Live Book, which arrived in Europe in February and comes out worldwide on April 22.

McKee is currently embarking on the U.S. leg of his Next Chapter Tour.

The new video takes McKee back to his beginnings.

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“My tune ‘Ouray’ is, in fact, the first instrumental acoustic guitar piece that I wrote,” McKee tells Acoustic Guitar. “It was inspired by a trip to a small village in Colorado called Ouray many years ago. Technically speaking, this tune is heavily influenced by the playing of Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac. In fact, I borrowed the tuning ‘CGDGBE’ from him — he used it on his tune ‘Never Going Back Again’ from the Rumors album.”

In the clip, McKee plays his Greenfield G4.2 with Maccassar ebony back and sides, and a Sitka spruce top. He says the the instrument has a fanned fret neck for intonation accuracy and two bevels for additional comfort.

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McKee recorded Live Book at several December 2015 shows in Georgia and Alabama. It features tracks spanning his entire catalog. “This album will feature some of my YouTube hits like ‘Drifting’ and ‘Rylynn,’ some songs from my 2014 EP Mythmaker, and a cover of a Michael Hedges song called ‘Because It’s There’ played on harp guitar that I haven’t released yet,” McKee said in a press release.

“I’ve always wanted to do a live album,” McKee added. “For quite a few years I’ve felt it’s something that has been missing from my collection of releases.”

Andy McKee 2016 harp guitar

 

Mark Kemp
Mark Kemp

Former AG editor Mark Kemp is the author of Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race, and New Beginnings in a New South (Simon & Schuster, 2004; University of Georgia Press, 2006).