The Master of Acoustic Guitar

Success

Andy McKee was born in 1979 in Topeka, Kansas. He is an American guitarist whose style of playing and his compositions have earned him a considerable international fanbase; in late 2006, a live performance of his flagship song "Drifting" became a featured video on Youtube and MySpace achieving over 21,000,000 views. A handful of McKee's other songs have experienced lesser success on YouTube, such as "Rylynn" with over 10,000,000 views and "Africa" with 9,000,000 views.

Origins

McKee played his first guitar, an Aria nylon string bought by his father at age 13. 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. McKee later bought an instructional videotape from Reed and began to learn more complex guitar techniques from it, also earning his GED (General Educational Development) that year in order to drop out of high school. He began to take influence from guitarists such as MichaelHedges and from Passion Session by Don Ross.

Dreamcatcher (2004)

McKee released his second album, El Atrapasueños, in 2004. The album includes his cover of "Africa" , as well as "The Friend I Never Met", a song written in tribute to Michael Hedges. McKee used the track title to win the opportunity to perform with bassist Michael Manring, with whom he has since toured. Additionally, he placed second in the Fingerstyle Guitar Competition of the Canadian Guitar Festival that year.The album was later re-released by McKee's label in response to the popularity he garnered on YouTube.

By Naftor (Pablo G)