Collins’ obsession with mandolin pays off
What: Andrew Collins Trio Where: Upstairs Lounge, Oak Bay Recreation Centre When: Friday, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $25 door or $20 advance at Ivy’s Book Store, Oak Bay Rec Centre and beaconridgeproductions.com
At first, Andrew Collins was a ski bum. And then he attended the concert that would change his life.
It was a Bellingham show by mandolinist David Grisman, the bluegrass virtuoso.
“As soon as I heard this, the mandolin became my favourite instrument,” Collins said.
The next day, the 23-year-old plunked down $200 for an entry-level Tradition mandolin. He began practising obsessively, spending most of his waking time plucking and strumming.
Today, Collins is the critically acclaimed leader of the Andrew Collins Trio. The group, also featuring bassist James McEleney and guitarist/fiddler Mike Mezzatesta, will offer a mix of bluegrass, folk, blues, jazz and old-time swing at Oak Bay’s Upstairs Lounge on Friday night.
A five-time Juno nominee, Torontobased Collins has also played with such noted bluegrass acts as the Foggy Hogtown Boys and the Creaking Street Quartet.
Before that seminal Grisman concert, Collins had led the carefree life of a ski bum at Whistler. He tuned and repaired skis at night and hit the slopes during the day. When he bought his first mandolin, it was summertime. Through a friend, Collins scored a job as a night security guard on a construction site.
The new gig required he do nothing more than “be present and be awake.” It provided the perfect opportunity to learn to play the mandolin. “I was definitely putting in a good eight hours of practice and jamming almost every day. I was playing the mandolin almost every waking hour,” Collins said.
“I probably did 20 years of the average person’s practising in my first five years.”
The fledgling musician was soon busking at Granville Island. After just six months of wood-shedding, Collins announced to his parents — an auto-parts seller and an interior decorator — that he intended to be a professional musician.
This worried them. He was still finding his way on the instrument. Collins’ dad had imagined his son would go into the family auto-parts business, which he’d inherited from his own father.
“When I became a mandolin player, his hopes were dashed. But at this point, they’re incredibly supportive and think I made the right choice,” said Collins, the winner of seven Canadian Folk Music Awards.
He’s a late bloomer. Most professional musicians select their instrument of choice by their teens, if not sooner. Collins played trumpet in high school. He also played guitar on and off. What made the mandolin appealing was the fact Collins had bluegrass-loving friends who loved to jam.
Being able to play with others changed everything. “All of a sudden, I loved practising,” he said.
Collins’ latest album, released in September, is And It Was All Good. It’s a secular musical recreation of the creation narrative from the Book of Genesis. Replete with classical music touches, it furthers the progressive bluegrass style espoused by Grisman and others.
Each day of the creation story is represented in song. It’s not intended as a religious recording, rather, it’s an attempt to tap into something universal, Collins said.
“Whatever religion people are coming from, this creation story is pretty similar,” he said.