Kristin Andreassen | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Portland, Oregon |
Genres | Old-time music, folk, indie pop |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, dancer, square dance caller, camp director |
Instruments | Guitar, fiddle, body percussion, vocals, harmonica, keyboards, banjo, ukulele |
Years active | 1999–present |
Associated acts | Uncle Earl, Sometymes Why, The Jolly Bankers, Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard, Aoife O'Donovan, The Bright Siders |
Website | kristinandreassen |
Music Video for "Crayola Doesn't Make A Color For Your Eyes" | |
Simmon - Kristin Andreassen with Aoife O’Donovan - Doug Fir Lounge |
Music Video for "Streak o' Lean, Streak o' Fat by Uncle Earl (first filmed Nov 20, 2009) | |
Live Video on BBC: Uncle Earl, with Andreassen on guitar and dancing |
Kristin Andreassen is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, old time musician and educator. Currently based in Nashville, Tennessee, she started her music career as a professional clogger with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble and in the early 2000s joined the folk bands Uncle Earl and Sometymes Why as a vocalist, dancer, songwriter, guitarist. She is known for using body percussion and dance in live performances.
In 2007 she released her first solo album, Kiss Me Hello, which was produced by Mark Schatz (Nickel Creek). The opening track "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes" won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the Children's Category, also becoming a hit on children's radio despite the fact that the overall album was intended for adult listeners. Since charting on Sirius XM’s Kids' Place Live, the song has been covered by artists including Tyne Daly. Andreassen's second full-length solo album, Gondolier, was released on February 17, 2015.
With her bands, Andreassen has performed at festivals such as Bonnaroo, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, the Greyfox Bluegrass Festival and internationally at the Port Fairy Festival in Australia and Celtic Connections in the UK. In 2008, she appeared on A Prairie Home Companion as a solo artist. She has recently toured as a harmony singer, fiddler and harmonica player with Aoife O'Donovan, Dawn Landes, Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard, Lucius and Jefferson Hamer. In 2011, Andreassen and Laura Cortese co-founded Miles of Music Camp, an all-ages artist retreat that operates weekend and week-long workshops in New Hampshire, Brooklyn and Boston. She appeared at the Folk Alliance International conference in Kansas City in February 2015