Biography
Andy Falco functions as flatpicking guitarist, producer, singer, and songwriter inside the Infamous Stringdusters. Ahead of that affiliation he performed or recorded alongside the Water Street Blues Band, Buddy Merriam, Alecia Nugent, and Bradley Walker. His first solo album, Sentenced to Life with the Blues, surfaced on FGM in 2007, the same year the Infamous Stringdusters delivered their opening statement, Fork in the Road. Between 2008 and 2021 he maintained the group’s demanding tour and studio calendar while still fitting in solo appearances and outside projects, among them the 2008 sampler Novemberin’ that spotlighted several guitarists including Shuggie Otis. In 2019 he joined bandmate Chris Pandolfi and Aaron Kaplan for Founding Fathers: Big Valley. His second Americana Vibes release, the widely praised The Will of the Way, reached listeners in 2021. Two years later he and bass-playing bandmate Travis Book issued the live set Falco & Book Play Jerry Garcia, then promptly followed it with the joint effort Folkin’ Amazing alongside Dusty Trales. Outside the Infamous Stringdusters, Falco continues to share stages with his brother and mentor Tom Falco in the Falco Brothers.
Raised in a music-filled household on Long Island, New York, Falco took up the guitar under his older brother’s guidance. He launched his professional path as lead guitarist and vocalist for the Northeast-based Water Street Blues Band, remaining until 1999. While still living in New York he became lead guitarist and singer for Buddy Merriam & Backroads in 2000 and held the post until 2004, when he moved to Nashville. That relocation led to appearances on Alecia Nugent’s 2006 album A Little Girl...A Big Four-Lane and on Bradley Walker’s Highway of Dreams the same year.
He stepped in for founding guitarist Chris Eldridge within the Infamous Stringdusters. The band’s debut, Fork in the Road, arrived on Sugar Hill in January 2007, after which the group toured briefly. That autumn Falco issued his own first album, Sentenced to Life with the Blues. While the Stringdusters resumed the road, he scheduled solo dates during breaks in travel; the record drew abundant favorable notices. Additional session and concert work followed with artists such as Malibu Storm, Vanessa Carlton, David Amram, and Levon Helm.
Once the Stringdusters operated as a full-time touring and recording unit across the United States, Canada, and Europe, Falco occasionally sat in with others yet found no opportunity to cut his own material. An EP titled Founding Fathers: Big Valley, recorded with banjo-playing bandmate Chris Pandolfi and roots guitarist Aaron Kaplan, emerged on Extreme Music in 2020.
The next year the Infamous Stringdusters released the studio album Silver Sky. Six months afterward Falco’s sophomore outing The Will of the Way appeared, earning international acclaim and spawning the singles “Stones Unturned” and “The Edge.” Among the players on that record were drummer/percussionist Joe Russo, bassist Patrick Falco, banjoist Cody Kilby, and backing vocalists Erica Leigh and Joe Preddice. In 2023 Falco united with the Stringdusters’ singing bassist Travis Book to capture the six-song live EP Falco & Book Play Jerry Garcia.
Raised in a music-filled household on Long Island, New York, Falco took up the guitar under his older brother’s guidance. He launched his professional path as lead guitarist and vocalist for the Northeast-based Water Street Blues Band, remaining until 1999. While still living in New York he became lead guitarist and singer for Buddy Merriam & Backroads in 2000 and held the post until 2004, when he moved to Nashville. That relocation led to appearances on Alecia Nugent’s 2006 album A Little Girl...A Big Four-Lane and on Bradley Walker’s Highway of Dreams the same year.
He stepped in for founding guitarist Chris Eldridge within the Infamous Stringdusters. The band’s debut, Fork in the Road, arrived on Sugar Hill in January 2007, after which the group toured briefly. That autumn Falco issued his own first album, Sentenced to Life with the Blues. While the Stringdusters resumed the road, he scheduled solo dates during breaks in travel; the record drew abundant favorable notices. Additional session and concert work followed with artists such as Malibu Storm, Vanessa Carlton, David Amram, and Levon Helm.
Once the Stringdusters operated as a full-time touring and recording unit across the United States, Canada, and Europe, Falco occasionally sat in with others yet found no opportunity to cut his own material. An EP titled Founding Fathers: Big Valley, recorded with banjo-playing bandmate Chris Pandolfi and roots guitarist Aaron Kaplan, emerged on Extreme Music in 2020.
The next year the Infamous Stringdusters released the studio album Silver Sky. Six months afterward Falco’s sophomore outing The Will of the Way appeared, earning international acclaim and spawning the singles “Stones Unturned” and “The Edge.” Among the players on that record were drummer/percussionist Joe Russo, bassist Patrick Falco, banjoist Cody Kilby, and backing vocalists Erica Leigh and Joe Preddice. In 2023 Falco united with the Stringdusters’ singing bassist Travis Book to capture the six-song live EP Falco & Book Play Jerry Garcia.
Albums
Folkin' Amazing
2023
The Will of the Way
2021
Founding Fathers: Big Valley
2019
Sentenced To Life With The Blues
2007
Singles
Live
