Antonio Andrade – Here We Go! (Life Shakes Records, 2025)
Antonio Andrade’s, Here We Go!, presents a covers collection developed during the shutdown months of August 2020 after live shows disappeared.
The emotive folk music set draws on staples from his stage book. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (1908) is the oldest selection, while “Love Shack” (1989) is the most recent. A “Looney Tunes Medley” opens the album, referencing the TV cartoons that sparked his earliest musical memories.
Derek Euston at Green Room Recording Studio in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, co-produced the album, their seventh album together. Euston plays bass, electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, and organ. Vocalists include Amma Johnson, back for a fifth collaboration, and first-timer Kj Reimensnyder-Wagner. Richie “raggs” Ranaglia handles saxophones, clarinet, and flute, with Denny Niedich on drums and congas and Ed Lesser on drums.
Andrade frames the project as character-driven interpretation. “My ability to re-interpret songs might be a noteworthy skill… I become that character when I act out the song,” he shared.
Andrade’s all-original My Reward, arrived in October 2023 on Lifeshakes Recordings, following the holiday set Jingle All the Way (2021).
Since retiring from his day job in 2014, he has increased recording and touring; Lucky in Love (May 2020) reached No. 34 on the Folk Alliance International Chart, and his 2011 take on Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place” appeared in the film of the same name.
Author: Ryan Emmert
