23 Facts About Andy McKee

Andy McKee played his first guitar, an Aria nylon string bought by his father, at age 13.

Andy McKee began learning shred guitar music, including songs by Metallica, Eric Johnson, and Joe Satriani.

Andy McKee's electric guitar-playing cousin inspired him to continue learning, taking him out for his 16th birthday to see a guitarist named Preston Reed perform live at a clinic.

Andy McKee later bought an instructional videotape from Reed and began to learn many of his acoustic guitar techniques from it.

Andy McKee began to be influenced by primarily acoustic guitarists such as Michael Hedges, Billy McLaughlin, Pat Kirtley, and from Passion Session by Don Ross, as he continued studying the instrument on his own.

In 2003, Andy McKee toured in Taiwan with Jacques Stotzem, Isato Nakagawa, and Masaaki Kishibe, and earned first place in the Miscellaneous Acoustic Instrument contest of the New Jersey State Fiddling and Picking Championships with a Ron Spillers harp guitar he purchased from Stephen Bennett in 2002.

Andy McKee placed second in the Fingerstyle Guitar Competition of the Canadian Guitar Festival that year.

In 2008, Andy McKee released a collaborative album with Don Ross, entitled The Thing That Came From Somewhere.

Andy McKee released a split DVD that same year with labelmate Antoine Dufour, each artist contributing eight songs to the disc; two of McKee's from Gates of Gnomeria.

In between touring, and helping promote his duo guitar record with Don Ross, Andy McKee recorded an EP of two re-recordings of songs from his Dreamcatcher album, and a cover song by Japanese guitarist Masaaki Kishibe.

Andy McKee announced in May 2009 that he intended to finish touring in the second half of the year and concentrate on recording his upcoming album.

Andy McKee maintained a prolific worldwide touring schedule for several years after the release of "Joyland," including tours with Antoine Dufour, Trevor Gordon Hall, Stephen Bennett, Jon Gomm, Eric Johnson, Peppino D'Agostino, Preston Reed, and others.

In December 2015, Andy McKee professionally recorded live shows at The Melting Point in Athens, GA, the Red Clay Music Foundry in Duluth, GA, and Workplay in Birmingham, AL, which he then edited together and released as his first ever live record, entitled "Live Book," on March 8,2016.

In June 2021, Andy McKee performed his first live show since the start of the pandemic in Nashville, Tennessee and announced his first release of new music since 2014's "Mythmaker," beginning with a six-track EP of cover songs entitled "Symbol" to be released on September 17,2021.

Self-described as "just this guy from Topeka, Kansas, who kind of blew up on the Internet about a week before Christmas", McKee became one of Candyrat Records' best-selling artists after their video of "Drifting" was promoted by users at Digg.

Andy McKee contributed to Josh Groban's 2007 Grammy-nominated Christmas album, Noel, playing guitar on the song "Little Drummer Boy".

In 2010, Andy McKee contributed to Lee Ritenour's CD 6 String Theory that features guitarists like Steve Lukather, Slash, Neal Schon, Tal Wilkenfeld, and Mike Stern.

In 2012, Andy McKee played alongside Prince on his Welcome 2 Australia tour.

Andy McKee kicked off the Melbourne concert with Ebon Coast, Drifting, and The Friend I Never Met.

In 2016, Andy McKee began developing and hosting a series of multi-day guitar workshops through Dreamcatcher Events.

Andy McKee's influences include: Eric Johnson, Dream Theater, Michael Hedges, Preston Reed, Billy McLaughlin, Tommy Emmanuel, Bjork, Steve Lukather, Metallica, Joe Satriani, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Vince DiCola, Toto, Peter Gabriel, Imogen Heap, King Crimson, Primus, Pat Metheny, and Don Ross.

Andy McKee began listening to metal, such as Dream Theater, at an early age.

Andy McKee described on Woodsongs how he was a "metal freak" during childhood, even performing a Metallica song in his high school talent show.