Andy Offutt Irwin - Recordings

Recordings

Irwin's first album, Banana Seat, (released in 1995 on Echo Lake Records), features Irwin singing and playing guitar on ten songs (nine of his own composition and the jazz standard "A Kiss to Build a Dream On") often accompanied by his band, "the fingermonsters" (sic). Banana Seat also includes Irwin telling a story about learning to play drums, a bicycle race and race. One of the songs from Banana Seat, "Clamydomonas (sp?)" (sic), is featured on the website of the International Society of Protozoologists. Another song on that album, "Clarice", (which a reviewer described as "Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl ... to the Klan.") was recorded live at Eddie's Attic by Shawn Mullins and Matthew Kahler for their album, Jeff’s Last Dance, Volume II.

Christmas at Southern White Old Lady Hospital, Irwin's second album, (2004, Echo Lake Records), is a collection of stories about his (fictional) Aunt Marguerite who became a medical doctor at the age of eighty and still enjoys a good practical joke. Christmas at Southern White Old Lady Hospital was awarded Storytelling Album of the Year in 2006 by Just Plain Folks and a 2008 Storytelling World Award for Storytelling Recordings for Any Age.

Irwin's third recording, Book Every Saturday for a Funeral (2006), is another collection of stories (most featuring Aunt Marguerite). As its title implies, the third album is a bit darker than the second and humorously deals with the topics of loss and grief, including the death of Irwin's step-mother while she was in Tennessee to attend Irwin's debut at the National Storytelling Festival. Book Every Saturday for a Funeral also received a 2008 Storytelling World Award for Storytelling Recordings for Any Age.

Bootsie in Season, Irwin's fourth album (2007, Echo Lake Records) and third storytelling compilation, contains more tales of Aunt Marguerite including how she became a self-described "recovering racist". The title track recounts Irwin's boyhood adventures as he roamed about freely on his bike in a small, Southern town. The album received the 2009 Storytelling Album of the Year award from Just Plain Folks and a cut from that album, "The Beauty Pageant", was awarded a 2009 Storytelling World Award for Stories for Adult Listeners.

The fifth album by Irwin, Crowd Control, (2008, Echo Lake Records) is mainly a storytelling compilation that was recorded during a Teller in Residence show Irwin performed at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee in July, 2008. The album includes stories about Aunt Marguerite and her deceased husband, Charles, plus stories about Irwin's experiences with his sons, Liam and Tristan. There is also one song on the album. In 2010, Crowd Control was honored by Storytelling World in the category Storytelling Recordings for Any Age.

Released in 2010 (Echo Lake Records), Lip Service is a musical album that features Irwin's whistling and 'mouth music'. Irwin also sings and plays guitar on the album and is accompanied by other musicians on a majority of the songs. There are three tracks where he is a cappella, performing all parts of the song by whistling, singing and making mouth percussion, including "Low Rider" and "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring". The release is a two disc set; in addition to a musical CD, the package includes a DVD of five pieces performed by the Kandinsky Trio, four of which feature Irwin.

Risk Assessment (2011, Road Candy Records) is Irwin's seventh album, recorded live at the International Storytelling Center, containing more stories about Aunt Marguerite and her relationships with friends and family members. It also features "Crickets in the Kudzu," an environmentally-themed singing/storytelling piece that Irwin has performed for audiences of children and students. The final track, "One Clown Short of a Circus," is an improvisational piece recorded with storytellers Bil Lepp and Kevin Kling.