Al Anderson

Guitarist and songwriter Al Anderson first earned widespread recognition through more than two decades performing with the roots-rock collective NRBQ, yet he has also established a separate identity through his own recordings and compositions. Born in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1947 into a household filled with music, he absorbed country sounds from radio broadcasts, took up the guitar, and by age eleven was already performing locally with the Visuals. Home recordings from the previous year later appeared on the now out-of-print EP Little Al.

Following stints in several teenage groups, he joined the Six Packs, who adopted the name the Wildweeds in 1966. The first original song Anderson supplied to that lineup, the R&B-tinged “No Good to Cry,” became a regional sensation across the East Coast in 1967 and was licensed nationally by Cadet Records. Although the track briefly reached the Billboard Top 100 and was later recorded by the Florida ensemble the Hour Glass—whose members eventually formed the Allman Brothers Band—the Wildweeds remained largely a local phenomenon. Their only album, a self-titled Vanguard release from 1970, reflected a shift toward country-rock shortly before the group disbanded; a compilation of their Cadet material surfaced in 2002.

Anderson joined NRBQ in 1971 as guitarist after Steve Ferguson’s exit. His affinity for country, R&B, rockabilly, and jazz aligned perfectly with the band’s wide-ranging style, and his incisive playing was matched by songwriting contributions such as “Ridin’ in My Car,” “It Comes to Me Naturally,” “Crazy Like a Fox,” and “A Girl Like That.” While still contractually obligated to Vanguard, he issued his debut solo album, simply titled Al Anderson, in 1972, enlisting NRBQ colleagues Terry Adams and Tom Staley along with former Wildweeds bassist Al Lepak.

A second solo effort, Party Favors, appeared quietly in 1989, coinciding with songwriting sessions alongside John Hiatt. Increasingly focused on composition and less inclined to maintain NRBQ’s demanding touring pace, Anderson achieved a major country-radio success with “Every Little Thing,” written for Carlene Carter. He then departed the band, remarking that he had “no hard feelings. It was a great band before, and will be a great band after.”

Although he occasionally served as a touring guitarist for various country artists, Anderson concentrated primarily on writing and placed material with leading Nashville acts of the 1990s, among them Trisha Yearwood, LeAnn Rimes, Alabama, the Mavericks, and Deana Carter. He also completed additional solo projects, including the high-energy roots-rock album Pay Before You Pump in 1996 and the fourteen-track collection After Hours in 2006.