18 July 2016

Multi-instrumentalist singer songwriter Andy Watts trades brass for ballads on his stunning Americana inspired album, TURN THE LIGHTS OUT. TURN THE LIGHTS OUT is the exceptional new album from multi-instrumentalist singer songwriter Andy Watts. Teaming up with a gang of like-minded musicians dubbed the Blue Mountain Rockers, Watts brings his fresh and captivating perspective to the time honoured tropes ofAmerican country and folk. A highly proficient vocalist, trumpet player and guitarist, Andy Watts is widely recognised on the London music scene as a man of many and remarkable talents. Originally from New Zealand, Wattsmoved to the UK in 2007 and has since established himself as a consummate performer across an astonishing spectrum of musical genres: alongside regular session work as a jazz trumpeter and his firm fixture in the horn section of the acclaimed London Afrobeat Collective, Watts has also written and performed with a number of other projects, from the indie stylings of his band Running Club to the alt-folk tones of festival favourites 6 Day Riot. For his latest outing, however, Watts has devoted himself to the one of the most distinct and evocative of genres: Americana. Showing a deep affection for the singular music and poetry of the American spirit, Watts draws on country music’s unique timbres and traditions to deliver a string of idiosyncratic, charming, and often deeply moving musical meditations. Perhaps the greatest revelation of TURN THE LIGHTS OUT is the way in which this seemingly unlikely musical touchstone provides such fertile ground for Watts’s own unique compositional and lyrical talent: somewhere between song and story, Watts locates a wellspring of expression that finds its fullest voice in the timeless American themes of love, loss, and whiskey. TURN THE LIGHTS OUT will enchant and enthrall a broad range of music fans, from the dyed-in-the-wool country enthusiast to fans of any genre with an ear for honest and heartfelt song writing. The album will be released on East Green Records, a London based indie founded in 2016 by musicians Ben Greenslade-Stanton & Sam Eastmond, dedicated to releasing music that they love, while retaining the full integrity of the artist’s creative vision. With his international band of fellow country devotees, Watts has captured the essence of Americana in all its jangling glory and has demonstrated the character, charm, and effortless versatility of an artist operating above and beyond the boundaries of genre.