Andru Bemis is an American musician from

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, currently living in

Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...

Life

He performs on the

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and banjo-ukulele (which he calls a "banjolele"). Bemis lives a minimalist lifestyle, and is known for his engaging live shows throughout the United States. He tours primarily by train, public transportation, and

hitchhiking Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free. Signaling ...

. Bemis has released three solo albums: "Plays Past His Bedtime" (2002), "Singer" (2004), and "Rail To Reel" (2006). He has collaborated on albums with

Jason Webley Jason Webley is an American musician known for his fusion of folk, experimental, and alternative music. Webley plays the guitar and accordion, sometimes providing percussion by stomping or shaking a plastic vodka bottle filled with coins. Webley b ...

, Trent Wagler & Jay Lapp, Rachel Ries, and Elisabeth Pixley-Fink. For six years starting in 2007, Bemis operated Foundry Hall, a non-profit, all-ages community center and performance venue in

South Haven, Michigan South Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city is in Van Buren County, Michigan, Van Buren County, although a small portion extends into Allegan County, Michigan, Allegan County. The population was 3,964 at the 2020 United ...

. Bemis hosts the radio show ''Chenango Sessions''.

Discography

* '' Plays Past His Bedtime'' (2002) * ''Singer'' (2004) * '' Rail To Reel'' (2006)

Collaborations

* '' How Big Is Tacoma'' (EP with

) (2006) * '' Say Yes To Yourself'' (EP with Elisabeth Pixley-Fink) (2011)

Other Appearances

* ''For You Only'' ( Rachel Ries,

Waterbug Records Waterbug Records is a small independent record label based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois specializing in singer-songwriters and traditional folk musicians who do original research. The label was founded as an artist cooperative label in 1992 by singer-s ...

– vocals, banjo, guitar, recording engineer) (2005) * '' Adrienna Valentine'' ( Trent Wagler & Jay Lapp – vocals, banjo) (2007)

References

External links

AndruBemis.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bemis, Andru Living people Folk musicians from New Mexico 1978 births People from Carlsbad, New Mexico People from South Haven, Michigan