Hickory by Andy Bunn

This collection of songs is inspired by family stories. My family has roots in the Appalachians and the Piedmont of the southeastern US and that landscape is with me wherever I go. My grandmother’s and great grandmother’s house on Watts Street in Durham, my mother’s memories of growing up outside of Charlotte, my uncle’s cabin near Asheville where he sang old country tunes – are all tied up in my mind with the hardwood forests and mountains of North Carolina.

As for the stories, are they true? Some stick mostly to the facts` and some are tall tales. My mother said that her mother never let truth interfere with art and neither did she. The characters in the stories feel real to me and I think that’s enough.

My mother Betsy is living with Alzheimer’s now, a disease that took her brother Jerry (my beloved uncle), and her mother Aura as well. Family stories comforted them as they faded. These songs are dedicated to them and to the people that cared for them. Proceeds from this record will go to support research into that terrible disease.

Keep telling stories. And remember those who can’t.

Andy Bunn is a songwriter living in Bellingham WA who writes character-focused songs.

Some of the stories in the songs stick mostly to the facts and some are tall tales. The characters in the stories feel real to him and that’s enough.

In addition to solo stuff, he plays bluegrass in the High Mountain String Band.