Rather than just talking about how this disc was made, we wanted to share the story of the player behind it. We’ ve illuminated the insights of Andy’ s teachers, peers, and gear gurus by gathering some truly spectacular YouTube footage. If you’ re reading our print edition and haven’ t downloaded the free Layar App detailed on Page 8, these videos will make it well worth your while!
THE EARLY YEARS // GETTING STARTED [ CG ] How did you get started and who were your earliest influences?
D, and The Black Keys live on.
[ CG ] How did music get passed down between the Timmons brothers?
JOHN: We are all four years apart. Mark’ s the oldest, then me, our brother Brian who’ s no longer with us, and then Andy. He was privy to all our record collections. AM radio was also a big part of our upbringing; it was with us all the time, which is ironic now that I’ m a DJ at WFPK.
[ CG ] Andy mentioned the impact that“ I Saw Her Standing There” had on him. Whose disc was that?
JOHN: We had the earliest Beatles singles and the Vee-Jay album that came out before the Capitol stuff. All the money I made from odd jobs and my allowance would go to buying singles at the record store. Mark was the one that could afford the albums. I was buying singles, but I think that single was probably Mark’ s.
JOHN: I vividly remember teaching Andy everything I knew about guitar, which was three chords. He would come home from school, sit in his room and play along with Kiss and Ted Nugent records nonstop. He always had a guitar in his hands.
TAYLOR BAY BAND Andy’ s“ next” professional engagements were along side keyboardist / vocalist Matt Clark. Another lifer, Matt continues to play professionally.
[ CG ] What were some of the highlights playing with Andy?
ANDY: My earliest musical memory was the solo from“ I Saw Her Standing There” by the Beatles. I didn’ t know it was a guitar solo, but it was my favorite section of the song. I grew up in the 70’ s and started learning guitar in my bedroom. Somebody showed me an A Pentatonic box position and a power chord, and I was getting it all going playing along with Kiss Alive. As my passion grew, it wasn’ t Rock specific. If I heard anything with a guitar it would just turn me on. That’ s kind of an overriding theme on how I’ ve approached things.
BROTHER JOHN Like many of us, Andy was influenced by the music his siblings were listening to. Called to a different side of the music business, John Timmons founded ear X-tacy, the iconic Louisville, KY record store that inspired the titles for two of Andy’ s solo discs. After 26 years in business, ear X-tacy is gone, but the music and memories of in-store performances with artists like John Mayer, The Foo Fighters, Tenacious
[ CG ] What was your earliest musical memory of Andy?
JOHN: Our Dad had a steakhouse and bar in Scottsdale, Arizona. Andy had a little plastic guitar with nylon strings and got up on the stage with Chuck Carter and the Kinsmen and just kind of faked it. That was his first gig. I think he got a quarter.
[ CG ] What do you remember about Andy as he was learning how to play?
MATT: I joined the band that became Taylor Bay when I was 20 and Andy was 15. He was copping Eddie Van Halen right down to Eruption. Andy was the most level headed of all of us, even though he was the youngest. He had incredible drive and a great work ethic. He was the riff-master and co-writer with me on a lot of the stuff we did. We had great success for a local band in a small market. I don’ t think we could have had anything like we did without him.
ANDY: We were local Rock heroes. We made an independent record, got some label attention, and nearly got signed, but it was one of those things that just never came together.
OTHER INFLUENCES [ CG ] In the early years, what did you do to expand your musical horizons?
ANDY: I started taking lessons when I was about sixteen. By then I was playing two or
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