Leftover Salmon’s Andy Thorn Releases “Songs of the Sunrise Fox”

Sep 19, 2022Featured, News

Leftover Salmon’s Andy Thorn Releases Songs of the Sunrise Fox

Available on Vinyl, CD, and streaming everywhere.

 

Back in the height of the pandemic, Festy GoNuts interviewed Andy Thorn and his wife, Cecilia, as part of our Festy From The Futon series.

At a time when we were all stuck alone in our homes, we looked for other ways to continue to connect with those in the music world.

For Andy and Cecilia, their human connections were as limited as everyone.  However, the time the Thorns spent at home in the Spring of 2020 led to an entirely different connection.

As Andy spent more time in his Boulder, CO foothills home picking his banjo in the backyard, he began to enjoy visits from one of his local “neighbors” – a happy little red fox, nicknamed “Foxy.”

Andy and Cecilia wrote a song in tribute to their new friend and performed “Got The Fox As Company” during our interview.  None of us knew just how fruitful this new friendship would prove to be for Andy!

The more Andy played, the more Foxy came to enjoy the entertainment.  Cecilia began to capture these encounters on video, and they quickly began to go viral on Andy’s YouTube page.

Thus, the legend of “Foxy” and Andy was born.

Andy Thorn, already a star in some circles as the banjo player for Leftover Salmon, began to be known to a much wider audience.  My mom even started following his page.

Kelly Clarkson interviewed him.  Every local news outlet featured the story of ‘the banjo player and the fox.’  Andy and Foxy simply blew up.

And the song Andy was playing in the original viral “Foxy” video began to grab as much attention as the wildlife encounter.

Based on the enthusiasm surrounding it, Andy eventually recorded the improvised tune, titling it “Aesop Mountain.”  Thorn then followed up with 14 other original banjo instrumentals, and Songs of the Sunrise Fox was born.

With the help of some of Andy’s friends – Erik Deutsch, Greg Garrison, Tyler GrantSongs of the Sunrise Fox is a beautiful instrumental that captures the moments where music, art, and nature come together.

Known for picking in his backyard at sunrise, Thorn treats his Instagram followers to beautiful vistas of Colorado set to soothing banjo licks (yes, we know some may think “soothing banjo” to be an oxymoron, but trust us!). Songs of the Sunrise Fox embodies these moments and relays the feeling of a Colorado sunrise, with Foxy proudly looking on in enjoyment.

 

LISTEN/BUY/STREAM “SONGS OF THE SUNRISE FOX”

Andy Thorn: Foxy The Fox
“Just a Banjo Player Serenading a Wild Fox” —The A.V. Club

 

BOULDER, CO — Leftover Salmon banjo player Andy Thorn never expected to go viral. But in 2021, he was in his backyard, playing an improvised banjo tune to a wild fox, when his wife caught the whole thing on video. The video made headlines around the world. Soon, Andy was interviewed on the Kelly Clarkson Show, The Dodo, and A & E’s Neighborhood Wars. Even Political Gabfest discussed the video. A New York Times writer, Ferris Jabr, called it “a moment plucked from Aesop.” 
 
Andy was stunned by the publicity, and by how many people kept asking him about the song. He finally recorded it (“Aesop Mountain”), along with 14 other banjo instrumentals. The resulting album, Songs of the Sunrise Fox, stands in contrast to the music Andy normally plays with Leftover Salmon. This new album isn’t about the flashy banjo picking favored by jam bands. Instead, it’s the banjo melodies Andy would play for his friend “Foxy” at sunrise. The stripped-down band also features Erik Deutsch [Black Crowes] on piano, Greg Garrison [Leftover Salmon] on bass, and Windfield champ Tyler Grant on guitar. 

The first single, “Aesop Mountain,” was released last month and has already garnered nearly 100,000 listens on Spotify. This is the song from the viral video that started all the Foxy craze (that now has 3.8 million views). Thorn says, “I really enjoyed turning it into a full band tune and Erik Deutsch’s piano brought it all together.” The album also includes an acoustic solo version of the song as the closing track.

Other songs include the upbeat solo banjo tune, “Barry’s Bounce,” which was written right around the time Thorn’s baby boy Barry started bouncing around, while the solo clawhammer number “Stork Bite” was written right after his birth. “Red Sun Salutation” commemorates a wintery sunrise and “Dawn is Coming” feels like the winter storm that it was written about with the addition of Garrison and Grant adding to the mood. “Monarch Morning” is a relaxing duet with Deutsch on piano; Andy wrote this tune in his backyard while butterflies were swirling around. 

As you keep listening you will hear more of the songs that were first performed for Foxy during the morning light, sun pillars, and sundown as his furry little friend sat down and listened and then trotted along… Foxy even has kids of her own now. “In a world full of crazy, this brought joy to my soul. Thank you,” Eve S. wrote on YouTube. Andy is thrilled to release Songs of the Sunrise Fox and hopes it sends some joy your way as well.
 
Andy Thorn: Songs of the Sunrise Fox Track Listing:
 
1. Aesop Mountain (3:28)
2. Barry’s Bounce (1:40)
3. Red Sun Salutation (2:44)
4. Dawn is Coming (3:42)
5. Stork Bite (2:22)
6. Monarch Morning (3:39)
7. The Morning Light (1:25)
8. Whisker Twitchin’ (1:02) 
9. Fox’s Fancy (3:06)
10. Fabled Way (3:45)
11. Trot Along (1:37)
12. Fox Trail (3:05)
13. Sun Pillar (1:54)
14. Silver Thorn (3:24)
15. Aesop Mountain (2:20)
 
Songs of the Sunrise Fox is available at https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/andythorn/songs-of-the-sunrise-fox. Vinyl records are available to purchase at the website www.andythornmusic.com/shop

About The Author

Jason

Jason has been in love with the festy lifestyle ever since his first festival experience, The Great Went in August of 1997. Whew. That was a while ago. Jason loves the way festivals free us from the constraints of the outside world, and let us be our true "fest" selves!

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