Andy Stochansky

Andy Stochansky, a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, devoted seven years to drumming behind Ani DiFranco before launching his own projects, which caused many listeners to link his identity exclusively to that earlier role. Two early solo albums—While You Were Sleeping and Radio Fusebox—had by 2000 begun to detach his reputation from DiFranco’s and establish an independent trajectory. He recorded While You Were Sleeping, an independent release in 1995, while still connected to DiFranco, and the album received favorable critical notice. Radio Fusebox earned further acclaim in 1999, with certain reviewers counting it among the year’s strongest releases and one declaring it the decade’s finest. Some writers drew comparisons to Jeff Buckley and Brian Eno while likening his vocals to Bono. Stochansky’s instrumental range includes piano, saxophone, and guitar, and his songs occasionally incorporate bouzoukis, an accordion, and uilleann pipes. In addition to DiFranco, he has recorded or performed with Jonathan Richman, the Indigo Girls, Janis Ian, Jane Siberry, and John Gorka. His affinity for music, and percussion in particular, surfaced at age four when he climbed onto the bandstand at a relative’s wedding reception, seized the bongos, and played for the remainder of the evening. He joined DiFranco’s troupe in his twenties. Folk, free jazz, and electronica number among the styles that shape his own songwriting. In summer 2002 he made his major-label debut with Five Star Hotel on RCA Victor.