WEHM All Access - Great South Bay Music Festival - Andy Falco

 In this episode, Harry sits down with Andy Falco of The Infamous Stringdusters ahead of the band's Sunday performance at the Great South Bay Music Festival. Falco reflects on building a passionate community around the band's music, shares how the Grateful Dead helped shape his musical journey, and talks about his evolution from electric guitar to the world of bluegrass. It's a conversation packed with stories, inspiration, and a look at the sound and spirit that continue to define The Infamous Stringdusters.

@Stringdusters

@GreatSouthBayMusicFestival 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's EHM All Access for the Great South Bay Music Festival. My name is Harry, and getting a chance to sit down with a whole bunch of different artists all throughout uh this uh week as we approach the Great South Bay Music Festival, and they're doing something special on Sunday afternoon. I believe it kicks off at 4 20, Sunday, July 26th at the Great South Bay Music Festival. It's a special Bob Weir celebration, and we're lucky enough to have Andy Falco of the infamous Street Dusters joining us. Andy, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:27

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, Harry. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

My pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on. You've got a whole bunch of different projects, but of course, you're you're going to be at the Great South Bay Music Festival performing uh the Bob Weir celebration on the Sunday. And I guess uh I guess we'll start. What does Bob Weir's music kind of mean to you personally?

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Well, for me personally, I mean I I I went to my first my brother Tom took me to my first Grateful Dead show in 1986 and um kind of changed everything for me. I really one of the main you know reasons why I wanted to even become a musician, but just the uh we learned just so much from you know the Grateful Dead scene in the world that I'm in. But the string duster is just an what it's what it is to build a community around the music and and and everything, even like sort of the the format of our shows is kind of similar. But yeah, I mean that that music is just kind of a lot in a lot of ways, you know. Uh it's kind of like the one band that I would go and see, you know, that was active that I could go see and and and be a fan of and just really uh let you know the music was kind of a soundtrack to my life growing up, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Was there certain songs or I guess Bob driven or Bob weir-driven moments or things that kind of shaped your, I guess your guitar playing, your sensibilities? Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

I mean, in fact, when I first got into The Grateful Dead, I was like really I I loved like the like Weir's, you know, he he was, you know, the that band, especially in those years, you know. I mean, Weir was kind of like more certainly the more animated one, you know. And uh, and uh, you know, so like when I was young and just kind of seeing him, you know, he was kind of like a like more of like a rock star kind of vibe guy, you know, and and and the rest of the band was sort of more chill. And um, so yeah, I mean, you know, it definitely was like a big part of like when I was like, you know, in uh playing in the basement, you know, with Jack La Citra, you know, uh when we were like had bands when we were like kids, you know, and we were we were like playing, you know, a bunch of weird stuff and and all that kind of thing. Definitely a big influence, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Uh for this Sunday performance, what's the biggest challenge kind of in honoring his his catalog and kind of bringing your own voice to it? How how do you kind of get through that? Because you want to make sure you represent it well, but you're also doing your own thing a little bit with it.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Yeah, I think I think it's important to let them, you know, you know, I got I got to I had the the the the the fortune of uh being able to to play a little bit with Phil Lesh, you know, we did some stuff with him and uh and I've sat in with further and and and stuff, and just to kind of see firsthand, like I, you know, the music, I guess the best way I think that you can honor that music is there was a freedom in that music that they it was very, you know, just unapologetically free, you know. It was, and I think, you know, it's important, yeah. Like you say, I mean, we're gonna honor by playing the music. And but I think a big part of that legacy of that music is to just let the music be what it's gonna be. So you you you know, uh I think it was just putting together um these musicians that that that I you know called in to be a part of this, thinking, you know, it was a a mixture of people who have like a really deep root in in the the music as and as well as people that that you know have have deep roots in other types of music too. And um, so I think I kind of want I'm you know, I want these people to all play together. And I think the idea is yeah, play these songs and just kind of let the music sort of dictate how it's gonna come out.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

You've got a whole bunch of people joining you uh for the Bob Weir celebration. Uh that's Sunday, July 26th. Kicking off at 420. Who's uh who's with you uh on that uh on that stage?

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Yeah, so we have Rob Eaton, who who plays in the Darkstar Orchestra. Um, and we have um I have my brother Patrick who's playing bass. Um I have uh Leslie Mendelssohn is joining us, and uh Dave Diamond, who are both you know, Long Islanders and on the scene. Um and uh and I have Alwyn Robinson playing drums. Um and uh he plays with Leftover Salmon normally, and uh among other things. And then I have um Eric Finland, who is an amazing uh ham and organ player, you know, keyboard player. He he's he's been at the festival, I know, with uh with uh Eric Krasno. That's actually where I first met him. Um but uh yeah, so it's this it's like a cool lineup of of just some some really great musicians and people who really I think will will will blend well, but also, you know, that you know, we're gonna just uh you know play some some favorites, I think. You know, I got to pick out you know a bunch of tunes um that I just kind of want to try to get to. You know, the challenge in an hour set is you know, yes, there's so many you want to do, you know, but uh but you know it's it's gonna be it's really gonna be a good time. I'm really looking forward to seeing how how it end how it all comes out, you know, because in the end, we won't know until it happens, you know. And so that's I think I think that's sort of the spirit of of the music is to kind of let the let it sort of just just guide us, you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Where did the idea come from to do this at the at the festival?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

You know, it came from Jim Faith. You know, Jim Jim hit me up and he was like, hey man, you know, like uh I was thinking about kind of doing this thing and was wondering if you would uh you know if you could put something together for it. And I just I was like, yeah, awesome. You know, I mean a lot of times I'm out of town, you know, for it's a it's a sort of a busy time. So I'm often, you know, out of town on on tour with the string dusters in for that weekend. So I miss a lot of the festival, but it's such a great festival, and I'm so I was so happy that I was gonna be in town and then able to participate, and especially in such a meaningful way, you know, to be able to do uh this weird tribute, you know. So I'm so glad that Jim uh and grateful that Jim Jim called me to put it together.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Well, thank you for sitting there. We want to go over it. I'm curious, I kind of want to get to know you a little bit more as far as your early influences. And I've I've read different art interviews and articles about the Beatles, and of course we talked about the dead, but you talked about your brother Tom, who was your earliest, um, your earliest influence. What's one lesson that's that kind of still guides your playing today that you really learned from him? And you kind of just point to that.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

I have fun with it always. You know, it's just everything is about, you know, it's you know, you're you're you're you're playing music, and I think it's just important to always the joy of playing music is is is where the source of everything, whether you're doing it for a living or doing it as a hobby or just doing it in a in a in a you know in a living room with friends or by yourself, you know. It's like at the end of the day, no matter what, when you're when you're picking up the instrument, it's about you know the joy of the music, and and I think that's just uh an important part of it all. And Tom, you know, he just he that's you know, he he's always kind of turned us on and and taught us sort of for the a big in a lot of ways, you know, that love for the music and respect for the music and um and and jamming and and keeping the joys. So yeah, Tom is Tom is great. He plays around town too and everything locally, and um, and we get to do stuff together with with with our you know little brother Patrick as well, you know. And so it's uh it's always fun to to do Falco Brothers things, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

That that's really nice. Uh what was the moment you realized that the guitar was kind of gonna be your instrument? When did you first pick it up? And how long did it take to really get comfortable?

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yeah, it was like, you know, I think it was you know, around fifth grade or so, and my older brother was kind of playing guitar and he was encouraging, you know, maybe show me some chords and we would kind of jam and you know, and I think I think you know what I really I I had been like playing some horns like in school, you know. I remember, and I remember, you know, like with the horn, like I think it was maybe a you know, trombone I was playing, you know, it's got like a slider, and you know, you they're teaching you to play these notes, but you have to kind of like there's a little bit of an ambiguity of like where the note is, you know. You're like, I don't know, is that the note? I think that's the note. And I remember like when I played guitar, and it was like, oh, if you if you fret this note and it's that's it's an E, that's an E. You know, you there's you didn't have that, and I know it's such a weird thing, but I remember that so vividly, being like, wow, that's that's so cool that you don't have to like guess if that's the note, that's just the note, you know. And I and that's kind of maybe when I got more serious about playing guitar and jamming with Tom and and uh and then you know, and then I met, you know, an uh another guy who lives locally is Jack Clissitra, you know, and he's a he's a great local musician. And me and Jack, you know, we met in school when we were kids and we started a band, you know, and we we started jamming in the basement, had a garage band and writing songs and doing all that stuff, and um, you know, so it just be kind of became the thing, you know, for us.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

You've uh you've toured around a lot around the country and really the globe. What did growing up on Long Island though? And long, I guess New York audiences and New York City clubs kind of teach you about kind of honing your live performances. I'm I'm curious the the difference between Long Island and New York and the rest.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Well, you know, it it really, you know, it's it's it's hard to say, you know, but I I would say, you know, just definitely cutting your teeth in New York, you know, there's a little bit of like you have to you have to have kind of thick skin, sort of, you know, and and um, you know, and I think really like, yeah, playing growing up playing in Long Island in New York, and we were doing a lot of gigs back in those days, and you know, it was, you know, you're you're kind of paying your dues and you're putting in your 10,000 hours, you know, and you're but you're yeah, you're just learning a lot about, you know, just kind of keeping your skin thick and you know, and uh and just kind of putting your head down and doing your thing and making your art as best as you can and and hoping that it maybe, you know, enough people will like it, or maybe not, you know, but you know, you're just going out and doing your thing, you know. And I think that that that was maybe the biggest part of it.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

That makes sense. How did you transition from I guess more an electric style to to kind of getting involved with bluegrass in Americana? How did that kind of happen for you?

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Yeah, I think you know, it's kind of like again, you know, when we kind of really getting into the Grateful Dead and then realizing that there was a lineage of the of you know, a lot of the music they were playing, which a lot of their music was was covers too, and then their their their original music was sort of influenced by this like Americana songbook, kind of in a lot of ways. And so, you know, I think you know, once you start branching off from like Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers and start getting into blues and deeper blues and getting into, you know, maybe like a little bit of country and a little bit of also bluegrass, you know, Jerry's connection to bluegrass, of course, you know, um, him being a uh a banjo player, you know, and um and really, you know, he was like really, you know, had bluegrass chops and then, you know, and then the Grateful Dead thing happened later. But um, you know, but you know, he did sort of perform a lot of that music in his in his iterations, especially with David Grisman, and not to mention, of course, old in the way and all that stuff. So, you know, there was this connection there to sort of roots music, and you know, and again, you know, my older brother Tom, you know, he was always like the one, he was always like the first one to find like the cool music, you know. And so he would always, you know, kind of find it first and then start turning us on to this and that, you know, and and and bluegrass was was sort of no exception. And um, you know, and then as we got deeper into it and playing it more and and then meeting um another local guy, Buddy Miriam, you know, he's a he's an amazing uh person, uh bluegrass musician who dedicated his whole life to to his band and playing bluegrass, you know, mandolin. And also notably, you know, learned a lot and was friends with and and and and sort of had a a bit of a mentor in in Bill Monroe, who's of course the father of bluegrass. So, you know, he had that sort of connection to that. And then, you know, he taught us a lot and um about bluegrass, and we played in his band and and everything. And you know, that was like a big, big part of all that.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

But um what did what about a teacher? What was the kind of the most important lesson? Because of course, uh, about bluegrass. What what do you remember that kind of changed it for you a little bit or kind of made kind of light bulb go off in in your mind?

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Yeah, well, it's like you know, a lot of it is just the role of each instrument, you know, in a bluegrass band, there's no drums, right? So it's like every instrument has sort of a role and a and a and a part in the rhythm, you know, and so you know what you what you learn is just like, you know, yeah, the especially with like bluegrass guitar, I mean, the incredible importance of like rhythm playing, you know, as opposed to like playing like some kind of fancy solo. What's actually is more important in in that music is is sort of the rhythmic value of it and and and playing good rhythm and and um and you know, and even souling, the approach is souling, which you know, really traditionally like in bluegrass, is very sort of melody-based, you know, not straying too far from the melody, enough from the melody, but not too far from the melody, you know. And um, you know, that's like really important parts of bluegrass that I think you know we were kind of learning and and then just you know, turning us on, you know, giving us, you know, uh, you know, burning us CDs of mix or tapes of like mixes of different artists and turning us on to different music and you know, and um, you know, and getting to play with guys who, you know, for us, we we were coming from this other angle and coming into bluegrass, but you know, buddy was like in it, you know, and just knew the deal. And uh, you know, and and the band at the time, you know, he had Ronnie Feinberg in the band, you know, who's a who's a local fiddle player and guitar player, and he's he's got a band now still with his sons, you know, the Feinberg brothers, you know, and Ronnie plays in that band. But Ronnie was in back roads back then too, and just you know, those guys and Buddy with his band and and and Britain, we got to do all these great, you know, bluegrass festivals and connecting with people, and uh, you know, it was a big part of me connecting into the into the broader bluegrass world, you know. Um, so you know, it was very, very influential.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

I think you're heading on uh 20 years of the string dusters. I think you've been in the band. Uh, what was it like moving from uh kind of uh just a side musician work to being part of a full-time band? Was it in 2007 I think you joined?

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Yeah, I joined in 2007, um, which was about you know like a year or two into the the uh into the string dusters, you know, uh conception. And um yeah, you know, we were and everybody, you know, String Dusters really everybody, I mean, the whole band was based on, you know, being side guys in Nashville and then realizing that hey, be sweet if we just did our own thing, you know, and that's like what then like so when they started the band, that was really like a big part of it, which was a risk, you know, because back then, you know, we you know, we're we're we're kind of playing for other people, you get a paycheck for that, you you know, you you have no risk because it's just you get X amount of dollars for this this per day to go out on the road and do this or that, and you they pay for everything and you know, hotels and everything, and you don't, you know, but with that also comes, you know, you're kind of you have to sort of, you know, they can change their band, they can take some time off, you know, you have no say in that. And um, so uh when the band started, that was very much, you know, it was as a bit of a risk, but everybody's sort of you have to believe in it. And then uh I joined in and it was already well on its way. Um and uh yeah, it was great to sort of just be involved in a band where now it's like we all sort of democratically make decisions on what we're doing or what we're not doing and what we want to do and song choices and and and everything, and just being able to evolve, um you know, evolve together through all these years and and and go on this sort of you know creative journey in in music of being able to just be a band that you know we've we've done more than our 10,000 hours playing together, and uh, you know, and there's something that you only get in that situation, you know, but when you've been playing so many years together and the sort of like the mind reading and the mind melding that can happen, and you know, just the the being able to kind of go out and you know, in our shows, every every set list is different, you know. Um, and uh so it's it has that sort of similar to like a Grateful Dead sort of philosophy of every show being different, and there's jams and and you know, points of the night where you know we don't really know exactly what's gonna happen in this section, and um, you know, just let's explore and keeping you know your ears open. And you know, so having that in in in a band like this, it's just it's I can't imagine doing it any other way, you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

You uh you won the uh the Grammy Award uh back in 2018, I believe, for Laws of Gravity. And I'm curious, was there something different going into that record that you kind of knew it was more special than the others? Or how does that work? Or do you kind of just look back and realize uh at the time, was there something you remember about making that record that was different? You know, it's funny.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Every record has its own thing, there's uh has its own sort of place in an evolution, you know, of uh whether it be a process or whatever. And um, and so every record kind of has its own thing. It's hard to know, you know, and you know, you're never making a record thinking, oh, this will be oh, this will get this, or this will get a nomination for this, or this will get, you know, you're just kind of making your record as best everyone as best as you can, kind of like, you know, it's like your your new creation, and you know, and and you know, what you're theoretically trying to do is is you know, say something with your record and your songs and and hold and you're picking what you think are your best songs that you have, you know, out that that that and so every record's kind of like that. And then so when you get any kind of um, you know, awards or anything like that, nominations or whatever, I mean, that stuff kind of comes after, and it's almost like surprising sometimes, like, oh really, okay, great. You know, I mean, you know, um, but yeah, it's never something that you're thinking of as it's going down, you know, really. So it's just uh they all feel special when you're making them, you know.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

You're involved with a lot of different projects, and I and I'm curious because you've got the string dusters, but also solo work too. What kind of how do you choose um to and had it? Is it different? I guess I'd imagine I guess you express yourself different from the string dusters. How does that how has that evolved over the years? I know during the pandemic you kind of got serious about um putting together another record, your first solo record in years.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah, I did a solo record and and and I did some shows like that, which was which was fun. And you know, um, you know, and during the pandemic, you know, I just had this kind of time that I that I don't normally have, that like all of us, right? You know, we all have this sort of found time that you know that we were you know forced that was forced upon us, but there was a silver lining to that, and and it was like you know, having that time with families or whatever. And um, and you know, I needed to make a schedule for myself. So I I typically like when I write songs, I kind of write in batches, I sort of write little bits and pieces here and there, and then I sit down, I try to find some inspiration. And sometimes it comes, sometimes it doesn't. And and during the pandemic, I had the time to like, you know, every morning I get up early. Because if I didn't do this, I would have gone and gone crazy. You know, I needed to have some sort of structure, you know. And so I would like wake up in the morning, make a cup of coffee, and then I sit in my studio and I would write force write a song, whether I was inspired or not inspired, whatever. If it's gonna be good, bad, it didn't matter. I was gonna write, just start working on a song, just gonna make something up. And it might totally be lame. That's okay. Just like let it, and I would do that every single day. And I got to a point where I would have, you know, I was like writing more than I ever had. And and you know, what happens is, and I should know this just being a musician, it's just, you know, it's like that with guitar. I mean, if you obviously if you're practicing every day, then all of a sudden your guitar chops start to you start to play a little, you know, smoother. And you know, you start. And it's like that with songwriting too. If you're doing it every day, you know, the first you sort of like what they call like running the brown water, you know, you're kind of running that stuff out first, and all of a sudden, some decent things start coming out, and you start it starts to get a little bit easier, you know, and you're like, oh wow, okay, like this is really flowing. And I never really had that opportunity to kind of do that just for a long time, just everyday writing to get into that point of just like where it was flowing. So I, you know, I I don't know if you know, if that album, you know, who knows? Are songs good, bad? I don't know. It doesn't matter. But I think what's important is that they that for for me, they just there were songs that I felt connected to, you know, and I felt like I was able to make this album have something that I that I was I felt really connected to. And so I enjoyed, you know, putting a band together and and and touring some of that stuff. But you know, mainly these days when I play locally, I do I play at the People's Pub in Bayport. Um it's it's it's a great place for me to play. We can do all kinds of, I do all kinds of different things there from you know, a bunch of stuff of my brothers, Falco Brothers, but I also do, you know, and I and I don't do it during the summer usually. I usually take the summer off. Um, but uh I try to do about once a month, and I try to do something just a different lineup, you know, always kind of changing it up. And sometimes it's electric, sometimes it's acoustic, sometimes it's bluegrass, sometimes it's more songwriting. Sometimes I just go and play solo, you know. Um, but it just kind of keeps things fun and fresh for me. And um, and and it's and it's just I love I love playing in that room. It's just a really nice room place to play with night, really, really nice people um that run it and dear friends. Um and so I'm usually like there. And when I do other stuff outside the string dusters, you do a little bit of this and that. But like really, me and Travis, um, the bass player in the dusters, we have a project called Falco and Book Play Garcia, where we just as a duo play um all like Garcia catalog stuff, whether it be Grateful Dead, Garcia Great. But anything that he sort of had in his repertoire is fair game. And we we go and we do, we have uh tie-dyed suits and we and we go and we like you know it's it's like an honor of Jerry, it's like a it's like a you know celebration of Garcia. And so we do that quite a bit, and that's kind of the thing, you know. If I go out on the road to do so any kind of side project, that outside of the dusters, that is like really, I love it because we, you know, with the string dusters, we're we're like the artists, we're like making, we're playing our own music or or playing covers that we were doing our way, and string dusters, that's that's our place to do that. And and with this project, it's like I could just unapologetically play Jerry tunes for an entire night, and just you know, it's not something that's you're so attached to in the in the sense of like your art. It's kind of you're you're just able to so like what I tell people with that project, I tell the audience all the time like we're here because we're huge fans of Jerry Garcia's music, it's been so influential to us, and and we're and we're here not to like celebrate this music for you, like, but we're here to celebrate it with you. Like we're we're we're all celebrating this together, you know. And it kind of takes that pressure off of like what you know, like like I said, when you write your own music and you're playing your own music and you're playing it for an audience, you know, you can't, I don't know. Maybe I'm maybe maybe it's just me. I don't think so. But like you can't help but like you wonder, like, I don't know, like I wrote this song, is this good, like even? Like, I don't know, like do people like this? I don't know, maybe they do, maybe they don't. But you know, when you're playing that Garcia, a lot of this classic Garcia stuff, it's like you know that the songs are good.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Back to when you first started, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Right, and you're like, you know, and you're able to just have a good time, and like you, you know, that you don't have those other pressures of of artistic pressures, it's just kind of like you're just sort of allowing yourself, it's just kind of flowing through you more, and it's in honor of Garcia. So, and you're doing that with the audience, so that's kind of a fun thing that I really that we really like to do. Um yeah, but that's that's it, man.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

You know, we're chatting with that. Andy Thalkov, the string dusters, and of course, Bob Weir celebration Sunday, July 26th of the Great South Bay Music Festival. Putting that together. Final question. I'm curious because you play live a lot. Do you travel around, especially with the String Dusters and Festivals? How have festival crowds changed? I'm curious, and audience has changed over the years since you've been doing this. I'm curious because a lot of people think that it's different now after the pandemic and people are out and about. It's I don't know if it's a tougher crowd, but how have you noticed changes in the in the audience?

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Well, I think that um I think that with festivals, I think we've kind of gotten back. I feel festivals feel normal to me these days, like like they feel like pre-pandemic in a lot of ways. Um but um, you know, I think it's harder for these festivals because you know, as as weather patterns change, as we all know they are, you know, and whatever, like they they are. And it's it's like it does, I've d I have noticed like in recent years, you know, things festivals being like really extra hot or extra rainy, you know. And so, you know, that's that you so I think people sometimes are a little bit slow in in uh in in deciding if they're gonna go to festival, or maybe people maybe are a little bit more selective, you know, just because and that just might be uh just a bigger comment on just, you know, like you know, how people feel about an economy or whatever like that. But like, you know, but I think generally people are I think people are are are you know festivals are are pretty much behaving the same. But I I do I would say, you know, it's important for people to uh you know support these festivals and and and the best way you could do that is by you know showing up and and also you know buying tickets in advance is really helpful for festivals because they, you know, they they put up a lot of money to get, you know, especially a festival like this, for example. You know, I mean they have they they you know they have an incredible lineup and it's but it's an it's it's also an expensive lineup, you know. And so, you know, we have this wonderful event that happens right in our backyard, you know, in Patchog, and it's a beautiful festival with a killer lineup, world-class lineup, you know. And so I and and I I think it's important people, you know, it's important that we have that kind of stuff where we live and to keep it there, you know, make sure you're you're going out and supporting these things and buying tickets and and everything. And I would I would say that extends to all the music venues around too, you know. Just making sure you're keeping these places going because, you know, it's an important part of our culture, yeah. You know, it's an important part of the culture, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

All right. So um, but you know, perfect. That's that's great. Andy, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. And we'll see you with uh with Rob and from Darkstar and a whole bunch of Leslie Mendelson. Uh it's all together. Bob Weir celebrations, Sunday, July 26th, 4 20 p.m. It kicks off. Uh, thank you so much for sitting down. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Thank you so much. I appreciate chatting with you.