Andrew Clermont Biography
Andrew Clermont is a chameleon multi-instrumental musician from Bluegrass to Indian, Scandinavian to Oldtime.
Has toured with various essence of Australia & US country music and rubbed shoulders with the cools of jazz and classical.
A 3 time Bluegrass Guitar Champ and a Director of the Golden Fiddle Awards in Australia.
“The Uncommon Non Dominator” 🙂 – Mal Webb
Bio
Clermont has finally “settled down”, Solo or nestled in a happy handful of bands with 5 or 6 instruments. They appeared in Austria / Kenya / USA / Canada / UK / Germany / Taiwan / Malaysia / Hong Kong / Singapore / New Zealand / and Australia wide through the last decades!
For over 20 years now he’s been ‘pumpkin powered’ in Totally Gourdgeous (Voted Best Live Folk Band ’08); distilled a magical trio BLUGURU from epic tours with Australia’s multi-awarded/cultural Dya Singh World Music Group (LA to Toronto to London Royal Albert Hall) ; 3 time Bluegrass National Guitar Champ and straddled the ‘cutting hedge’ with The Lawnmowers, and soaring widely with his Supper Club gatherings since 1998ish recent collaborations with Paul Wookey in the Apostle String Band Tours and now also touring with Goldheist with the years of The Borderers (SA) coming to a close.
However since the Covid pause Clermont has become a most diligent Piano Tuner, bringing over 100 of them back to happy harmony – from a well over century old Collard & Collard 9 foot Flügel to easy going recent releases!
Clermont initiated the NoHoldsBarred Fiddle Contest and is a Director to the Golden Fiddle Awards.
These are both sponsored by Epoch Strings with Andrew touring the unique 5-string models while also sponsored/ assisted by
Maton Guitars, Gilchrist Mandolins and White Swallow Banjos plus seasons of sponsoring his Supper Club by Clearview IT and Better Care Central NSW.
There are up to 30 CDs & assorted Tuition DVDs (Fiddle/Mandolin/Guitar/Didgeridoo) with a recent addition of the”Being There” Big Pics multi-photo series prints. These pics can blow up to vertical door size & house wall widths & dimensions though typically the A3 size is bought.
All in all a true smorgasbord of sound and vision
See his bank of Awards here
Mini-Bio #1
ANDREW CLERMONT:
The borders of music tumble as Clermont challenges the musical moment. History has seen him with Troy Cassar Daley; The Waifs, Tom T Hall (USA) and Jeff Lang literally threw his guitar off when their Xmas duel at Woodford could go no higher. However Andrew did slip in with India(n) group Dya Singh soaring the ragas which morphed into BluGuru, and now All Corners Covered Tours.
His CD – The Longing – is a smorgasbord of acoustic finery. There’s also the over 20 years with “Totally Gourdgeous” & his “International Supper Club ” . Folk to jazz, bluegrass, blues, and a little down home country Bluegrass with “The Lawnmowers” – after all he did win 3 Bluegrass Guitar Championships as well!
Watch him go from calm to berserk with flair!
updated 2016
Mini-Bio #2
ANDREW CLERMONT: The borders of music tumble as multi-instrumentalist Clermont challenges the musical moment with his unique ability to be a chameleon with a host of artists, whether on Violin, Viola, Guitars, Mandolin, Bass, Double bass, Tenor Banjo, Didgeridoo, Dulcimer, or Voice, all played with equal fervour and style.
From cutting crazy tunes with the jester of Jazz guitar Ian Date, to choreographing with violin demon Ian Cooper, or rinsing lines with jazz violinist George Washingmachine. Jeff Lang literally threw his guitar off at Woodford when their duet performance could go no higher! Beside the songwriters – Pat Drummond, Norma O’Hara Murphy, Brent Parlane, Elizabeth Lord, Greg Champion, and Beccy Cole, USA’s Tom T. Hall & Kate Campbell, creating sound-scapes to their stories, he also recalls a cherished duet with Paul Kelly.
In another breath Andrew delivers Indian music with Dya Singh’s group – favourites of the Woodford Festival, soaring the ragas. Amongst a myriad of recordings for others, he has an acclaimed solo CD ‘The Longing’, and over 30 band & solo releases through as many years!
Golden Fiddle Lifetime Achievement Award 2023 !
Alongside Shenzo Gregorio – Best Fiddler,
Jessie May – Community Award &
Gleny Rae – Best Fiddler with a Band
– presented by Mark Mitchell of Epoch Strings
Inducted into the South Australian Music Hall of Fame! Nov 18, 2022
At Wirrina Bluegrass & Acoustic Roots Festival (just south of Adelaide)
Gleefully accepted in the arms of my SA Supper Club team having also performed the Tubular Bells excerpt that day!
Tim Bailey, Quentin Eyers, Margie Russell, Lucy Kammerman, Tim Bennett, Ingrid Wangel, Janet & Hugh Gordon, Gary Coombs
plus Tubular MD – Tony Schick & Fiddler Rob Wallace off the side!
Inducted by Enrico Morena – Adelaide Music Collective
2021 – Peoples Choice Award – Folk Alliance Australia – The Borderers!
Andrew has appeared with them steadily since 1998! Here in concert at Adelaide Fringe 2021
John Elliot Portrait Photo Shoot which appeared across the Country!
Check out my shark tooth (thanks Diana Kühn, Germany)! Oh! And “me mate” John Williamson
And soooo grateful to be also beside Reg Lindsay with whom I sessioned on his Reasons to Ride CD 1993 and
Jimmy Little who joined the Brian Young Tour with me 1985 looping the Australian outback in a 1946 DeHaviland Dove (about 28,000km!)
ORIGINAL AWARDS
Golden Guitar for Best Vocal Group in 1985 Three Chord Wonders/ The Album “Try Change” and the Track – “Losin’ My Blues!”
John Green thanking his daughter Billie as we received Golden Guitar for Best Vocal Group in about 1985 for the band formed by Lawrie Minson, Three Chord Wonders/ The Album “Try Change” and the Track – “Losin’ My Blues!”
There are a few between Lawrie Minson & myself !
1984, 1985, 1987 National Flat-pick (Bluegrass) Guitar Champion
Here with Fiddle Champ Tom Fitzgerald (whom I backed on guitar for the occasion!) and Banjo Champ Ian Simpson, from The Flying Emus & Slim Dusty Show
Won of the Battle of the BushBands 1999
Won of the Battle of the BushBands 1999 as FowlHouse Jack & Battle of the BushBands 2000 & 2002 as Terra Australis
Barmera Country Music Hands of Fame Inductee 1999
with youngest daughter Tahlia photo bombing just behind 🙂
rubbing shoulders with fellow Inductee of SA Music Hall of Fame Jim Hermel 2022
and quite the who’s who of SA Country Artists of the time
Wayne Law, Jonnie Russell, Peter Busher, Zeta Burns, Wally Sparrow and Noel Watson !
Musicianship Award Inaugural Frances Folk Gathering 2001 & Best Instrumentalist 2006
Heritage Award (Mildura CM Festival 2003) as Terra Australis
Thredbo Festival, SA Music Awards (early 80s) and here
Dya Singh – Best World Music Act
variously Awarded while with Dya Singh World Music Group from California to Nairobi !
Noses of Fame inclusion (mid 80s) include our many infamous stars !
Country Music Hands of Fame Inductee (Tamworth 2003)
Together with good friend Pat Drummond and Adam Harvey !
Totally Gourdgeous – Voted Best Live Folk Act by Australian Folk Alliance 2008
Cheers to the years !
Andrew Clermont BIO Earlier Overview
From watching his brother & sister learning music, Clermont was soon singing The Seekers songs at infant school in Adelaide. A few years tuition, a “Guitar Favourites” record from the folks, “The Ventures” from sister and “Dark Side of the Moon” /”Led Zeppelin” from brother; add 9th year English teacher, Geoff Bridgland’s, introduction to Bluegrass (as a school elective!) and the seeds were sown.
Funnily enough, the school music classes never turned him on. He just appeared at the end of year concert, bewildering the music Dept.
Even before high school finished (I think there was a school mates band called Jaguar), Andrew was co-ordinating gatherings of musicians in school/ church halls for big jams.
Somehow that form has stuck. Recent years gatherings at Woodford World Music festival with up to 14 on stage – from aboriginal chants, Indian lilts to the fiddle fraternity plus Blues, Bluegrass & New Acoustic devotees.
Leaving the louder electric realm for acoustic timbres, the formative years with his brother Alex, late 70s early 80s, exploring bluegrass and original ideas set Andrew’s quick musical wit in place. Several years with the admired Adelaide Newgrass group, Remnants, soaking knowledge, vision and considerable Port(!), between Peter Hall (their banjo-man & all instrument supplier!) and importer/ Radio presenter Neil Meaney (now ABC Wodonga), cemented Andrew’s musical approach (not the Port!).
After surviving the many round the clock sessions, parties, and a little mechanical engineering training, the world of musical mingling and passing on, was afoot. Add to that the appearance of a beautiful daughter every 4 or so years, 2 very full decades followed.
BIOGRAPHY into 2000 – New Acoustic Music Exponent
!Clermont’s ability to be chameleon within each individual performance of a host of Artists sets him apart from the pack.
Clermont has prepared himself for your event:
- One day cutting crazy tunes with the jester of Jazz guitar, Ian Date;
- Choreographing with violin demon, Ian Cooper;
- Rinsing lines with George Washingmachine;
Beside the songwriters –
- Pat Drummond, Norma O’Hara Murphy, Brent Parlane, Elizabeth Lord, Greg Champion, Beccy Cole, (and he recalls a cherished duet with Paul Kelly);
- USA’s Tom T. Hall and Kate Campbell creating sound-scapes to their stories;
In another breath delivering Indian music with Dya Singh favorites of the Woodford World Music Festival);
Or don’t suppose you’ve caught the latest offering from the Screaming Jets? That intriguing spot of mandolin and in parts fiddle, comes courtesy of this obliging gentleman;
The bands take a turn too:
- The Fiddlers Festival show cases;
- The multi-awarded Dead Ringer Band;
- Adelaide’s refined Brigalow with a classical touch;
- Leslie Avril Band – Country Soul;
- Happening Thang – when it was happening;
- Sydney’s choice venue ‘The Basement’ with The Shuffle Kings supreme
and more
But then there are the 3 Bluegrass Guitar Championships to his name, a Golden Guitar for Best Vocal Group with the Innovative Three Chord Wonders, European Tours including the wide-ranging Kelly’s Revenge and the entire season of World Expo ’92 in Seville, Spain for the notorious Kangaroo Pub. From Taipei’s Blue Note Jazz Club via Leofoo Village Adventure Park Bluegrass Show (Taiwan ) to the smoldering quadrangle of the Pilpilatjara community NW South Australia on one of Brian Young’s “Longest Chartered Flight Concert Tours in the World!” There are no boundaries to Clermont’s spreading music “gospel”. And listening to his 4-way and more CD package, one is convinced this is but the tip of his melodic iceberg – look out Titanic!
Nominated to Top 5 ‘Best Instrumental’ for Golden Guitar Awards with Once Upon Arrival with Steve Berry in 1998 & The Crest of Gilmont with Steve Gilbert Harmonica in 1999 – both from THE LONGING CD. Awarded ‘Album of the Month’ in September 1998 Capital News. USA Tour in Oct/Nov 1999 with India(n) cross-culture group, Dya Singh. Now in Top 5 for ‘Best instrumental’ in Golden Guitars 2000. Reeling in the Big One with Parris McCleod.
Andrew Clermont – the essentials ( solo or with band ) – plays Didgeridoo, Dulcimer, Fiddle, Viola, Guitars, Mandolin, Bass, Double bass, Tenor Banjo and Voice with equal fervor, style and technique.
Has a CD package to offer – a feast of Clermont’s recorded musicology – link
Andrew has produced a dozen definitive albums for assorted artists and can design recordings for albums, ads or private memoirs . . . even restoration.
Just call to discuss your musical needs for a solution.
Bio from the 90’s
Andrew & Nayia
photo by Lou Farina
Andrew was born on June 5th, 1961 in Adelaide, South Australia and from his early efforts on the guitar and singing Seekers songs when just six years old, he has progressed to become one of Australia’s leading musicians and Bluegrass exponents – a virtuoso on instruments as diverse as the fiddle, the mandolin and the didgeridoo. He has toured extensively right across Australia and through the outback with the likes of Johnny Chester, Brian Young, Tammy Wynette, Tom T. Hall, Allison Durban and James Blundell. A regular performer at Tamworth and other CM festivals and at many folk festivals, Andrew has worked with numerous artists including The Dead Ringer Band, Beccy Cole, Troy Cassar-Daley, Greg Champion, Brent Parlane, Jim Haynes and Pat Drummond.
Andrew was the National Bluegrass Flatpick Guitar Champion in 1984, 1985 and 1987 and is currently a Bluegrass Championship Judge. A member of the Three Chord Wonders from 1985 to 1988, he shared their Golden Guitar for “Losin’ My Blues Tonight” in 1987. Overseas tours have taken Andrew to Spain for the World Expo in 1992 and to Sweden, Norway, Austria and his family’s homeland, Germany, in 1995; closely followed by a UK tour with Norma O’Hara Murphy. Then in 1996, he spent four months performing in Taiwan.
Andrew’s long awaited third album, “The Longing”, was released in 1997 and featured many friends – the best talent available anywhere – including guitarist Steve Berry. Andrew now makes his home near Moonbi, north-east of Tamworth, and daughter, Nayia Michelle (who appears with dad in the above photo), is destined for big things in the music world – despite her tender years, when she sings, you just know that she is singing from the heart
1996 Allan J. Tompkins and Limberlost Services,
THE BANDS
- Andrew Clermont’s Supper Club (Across Australia to Estonia!) … read more
- BluGuru (including tours to Europe/ Borneo) … read more
- Goldheist (with Hester Fraser) … read more
- Totally Gourdgeous (OZ & Europe) / The Borderers (Oz to Denmark) (till they retired!) … read more
- Zen Tripitalia & The Apostle String Band (occasionally)
- Even the odd rccording / performance with The Pigs in Oz, Germany & Denmark !
and previously
- The Lawnmowers/ Fiddlers Festival (Tamworth to Tokyo)/ Terra Australis (Multi-Awarded Bush Band) /
- Dya Singh (Nationally Awarded World Music Group – SA to USA, UK, India & Malaysia)
- Celtic Conundrums (Snow band!)
- Other occasional collaborations through the years –
Elizabeth Lord & Leigh James/ Tania Elizabeth (Canada)/ Kavisha Mazzella/ - Greg Champion/ Pat Drummond/ Donna Reynolds/ The Waifs….
SPONSORSHIP / ASSISTANCE
Maton Guitars, Gilchrist Mandolins and Epoch Violins with close relations to Tucker Barrett Instruments, White Swallow Banjos and Swales Gourd instruments
– plus a few years from Clearview IT and Better Care Central NSW for performer travel for AC Supper Club
– and always seeking friendly accom.
ANDREW CLERMONT TEACHER
Gleaning from over 40 years of Festival Workshops/ Schools/ Private & Group lessons, Clermont has specialised in a bridge for the people who learnt violin at some time, likely classically trained but are perhaps stuck at a progress plateau. Clermont can come to you or you to him or even take a DVD path. This Crash Course to Fiddle gets your bowing rhythms & lilts up & running for the multitude of fun Bluegrass/Celtic/ Swing tunes, plus lowdown Fiddlin` Blues & Country. A simple introduction to modes of scales, reactive and interactive playing, going ballistic and easy improvisational possibilities (also available for Mandolin, Guitar or Didgeridoo).
SOUND PRODUCTION
Clermont annually includes sound-sorting at numerous Festivals
Including, head of production at his “epic” 35 hours over 8 days Supper Club at Tamworth Festival, or inclusive of Sandford Bush Fest, Yarra Junction Fiddlers Convention, Wirrina Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Fests, all but one of the 20 Frances Folk Gatherings, a decade of Mildura Country MusicFests, The Penola Folk Fests – and now the last few years of St Albans Folk Fest
PIANO TUNING
Since the Covid pause, Andrew has enjoyed the upskill to become a piano tuner, bringing nearly 100 pianos back into happy harmony — from recent models through to much older instruments, including a century-old Collard & Collard 9-foot grand.
With deep musical sensitivity, technical care and genuine respect for each instrument, Andrew offers piano tuning that is precise, thoughtful and grounded in real performance experience.
FAMILY, CAUSES & FINE FRIENDS
Born in Adelaide in 61 and soon a ‘legend’ at his Primary School concerts, Andrew has now resided near Tamworth for most of his life; trained horses to ride off into the sunset on and taught/ mentored a string of adventurous musicians across the country through workshops, visits & lessons both direct & on Video.
His love of acoustic music gained him 3 Bluegrass Guitar Championships (now a judge) and a Golden Guitar with the Three Chord Wonders at the beginning of his working life. Then there was the Noses of Fame & Hands of Fame (Tamworth & Barmera) inclusions in cement!
There is a bold bunch of beautiful daughters & grandsons plus family from Adelaide through Tamworth to Berlin, Germany. Funnily enough it’s the regular touring that keeps a large element of family contact rolling along.
He is a tall, colourful and exuberant regular at many festivals – even providing sound production to suit some of them. The only Artist to Fairbridge Folk Fest to be invited to all four showcases of Mandolin, Fiddle, Guitar & Gospel + Musicianship Award winner at Frances Folk Gathering + a regular host of Fiddle Round Robins around the country.
somewhere near, or with, you soon!
RECORDINGS, INTERNET, VIDEOS & PHOTOS
There are some 30 or more CDs which present Andrew in the various groups, Solo and with various collaborations. Most can be sampled at the extensive www.andrewclermont.com.au website with many travel stories, photos world wide, and Concert Emovies to download. Also waiting there are samples of the 4 Tuition Videos, and an entire ‘House’ of photos & linked pages to glean a more personal insight to the last decades of world traveled music from the chameleon, Andrew Clermont.