"It's taken a little time to get here, but singing and playing my own songs these days is the best
it's ever been!"
Singing Dylan songs at parties and a first band in high school ("yeah, we had an electric
accordian; the Flying Wedge.") led to dabbling in coffeehouses during his years at Penn State. ("I've been chasing
and following my passion for music along with a daytime career for about 30 years now.") Accompanying himself on guitar
and harmonica and singing cover songs, mostly in bars, with an occasional festival and/or spot as an opener (including being
in line-ups with Grammy winners), kept Tony busy until 1992. He played with Episode, a dance rock/cover band based out of
Allentown, PA, from 1992 - 2003.
Resuming solo acoustic work in 1996, along with the band dates, turned into songwriting,
and in 2000 the CD of 10 original songs, Tony Andrade, straydog, was released.
As the days with Episode have concluded,
so too have the solo dates singing covers in bars. Show sets these days feature tunes from his own catalog. His 2nd CD, Antonio
Andrade, What Do You Want From Me, delivers original songs that are marked by the rock/folk/pop influences that removed him
from the sandlot and stood him on a stage.
"You know how kids hold thoughts about what they want to be? I wanted
to be a baseball player, but when I saw The Beatles on the The Ed Sullivan Show, something happened!"
"The
sensation of sharing energy with an audience arouses passion in me. Music has a presence and a life of its own. I am trying
to share it, and I am attracted to the possibilities. I am trying to honor my passion".
