Andy Tagger

Description

Ponte Carlo is the debut album from singer, songwriter and guitarist, Andy Tagger. The album showcases a selection of Andy’s poignant, melodic and humorous songs. He cites a diverse range of artists as inspiration for his songwriting, such as Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Jake Thackray, Ewan Caruthers, Irving Berlin and Stephen Soundheim.

Andy is a Leeds’ lad (a “Loiner”, as Mr Thackray might have put it) and has spent much of the last three years building a following for himself across Yorkshire through frequent appearances in many of the area’s folk clubs and venues.

Of all the tracks, special attention should be drawn to the title track as well as track 7, Lady of the Dance. The title track of Ponte Carlo is a fond homage to Andy’s home town of Pontefract in West Yorkshire. After all, why should only big names such as London, New York, Sanfranciso and El Paso have hometown anthems they can be proud of? Lady of the Dance is often described as being well-suited to the stages of “Strictly”, for its tantalisingly, audacious latin rhythm that would help any find their feet on the dance floor.

Andy’s musical journey has been an eclectic one. From touring folk venues around Devon, Cornwall and Cudworth in the 70s, to co-producing many successful school musicals between the 80s and 00s. A memorable highlight was composing songs and music for E56B – perhaps the only production ever performed on a climbing wall at the Edinburgh Fringe! The production was deservedly awarded a Fringe First. And it was clearly a hit, as they were back with E56C, a show that featured Andy performing his own self-composed music.

Acknowledgement must be paid to Danny Hepworth, a rare musical talent and member of Skinny Living, who helped enrich the album with his creative work on mellotron, electro-acoustic guitar and grand piano, amongst other instruments. The album was produced under the skilled guidance of David Watts, producer and mastering engineer at The Chairworks Studio, Castelford. Lastly, special thanks should also be given to Chris Dyson of Gaelforce and Roisin Ban.