Andrew Sa grew up obsessed with Patsy Cline. Today, he’s challenging one of country music’s oldest assumptions: who gets to belong.

The Chicago country artist’s debut album, American Rough, blends the sounds of classic country with deeply personal songs about love, masculinity, identity, and belonging. And Andrew isn’t asking permission to be part of the genre: “I’m not separate and I’m not different and I belong there.”

Andrew joins Ben Fanning and Zach Schultz to share the childhood story behind his connection to sad country songs, how Rufus Wainwright gave him “permission to have this dream,” and the unforgettable moment Lavender Country’s Patrick Haggerty grabbed him by the shoulders and told him, “I see you now.”

They also dig into the meaning behind American Rough, building bridges through music, where queer country fits within Americana, and Andrew’s upcoming opportunity to honor John Prine at the Chicago Theatre.

It’s a conversation about finding your voice, claiming your place, and why the best country music can make room for more stories...not fewer.

Who gets to decide what a country singer is supposed to look sound or love like?

Andrew Sa isn't asking whether he belongs in country music.

He already knows the answer.

I've been describing it as he gave me permission to have this dream because I hadn't seen an example of it.

Andrew Sa is a Chicago country artist whose debut album, american rough, explores love, masculinity, and belonging to the sounds of classic country.

Shaped by one of the pioneering voices of queer country music, Andrew is now making deeply personal songs that are reaching.

Audiences far beyond it.

I see you now and he didn't elaborate on that, but that was definitely affirming for me that I was on the right path.

I was trying to write something universal without sacrificing my own unique personal perspective.

This is a conversation about finding your voice, claiming her place, and discovering why music that makes us ache might also be the music that brings us together.

You'll also discover the artist who gave Andrew permission to dream, the words from a mentor that told him that he was finally on the right path and why an Andrew Saw show might leave you crying and wanting something else entirely.

You should expect to want to make love to somebody after the show as well.

That's what I've been thinking lately.

I've been fanning and my co host Zach Schultz.

It's time to get Americana Curious.

Thought I heard you calling from the door Hollering like the queen that you were Saw your baby burning up the dance floor I was balling.

Sometimes you're the sunshine Just leaning on my wall.

Sometimes you're my radio honky tonkin all night.

Andrew Saw.

Welcome to Americana Curious, my friend.

Thank you so much, guys.

Thanks for having me.

So, Andrew, you are singing Patsy Klein at an early age of 10 years old.

Did that.

Looking back now, did that kid already know the artist he was going to be or did that take a little bit of time?

Oh, man.

I guess it's a little bit of yes and a little bit of no.

I think that my mom had it in her mind who she wanted me to be as a singer because she.

My mother was an amazing singer and taught me most of what I knew at that age about singing.

I knew that I wanted to tell stories at that age, definitely.

And I think that country music does a.

Really.

Is a.

Is a.

A genre that tells stories.

And I was obsessed with Patsy Cline.

So maybe.

Maybe he did what.

What drew you to Patsy Cline as a young child and those sad songs.

You know, I've been thinking about that a lot, actually.

Over the last few months, I.

Every car that we had had this Patsy Cline greatest Hits cassette in it.

When I was that small and younger, including my grandparents, Lincoln Town Car and I on my father's side, and I spent a lot of time with them.

And so I don't know if it was just the one that I knew was in every car or if it was simply her voice.

I.

My.

The saddest way to describe this is that, you know, my mom actually left our family when I was quite small, when I was 4, and she came back when I was 7.

But I think it was during that time that maybe I grew a connection to these, you know, songs about loss and yearning and.

And whether or not I understood what that meant as a kid that age.

That is how I'd answer your question.

Wow.

Not to take it down.

No.

All right.

It's powerful.

I mean, we don't know.

Sometimes those things are like, in our unconscious, you know, past history of how we think about things and we connect moments to music that we don't even realize.

And it really goes to show the power of music and how it can touch us in ways that we.

I mean, it's really inspiring from that standpoint.

I would say that I would.

Go ahead, Andrew.

Oh, I was just gonna say it can heal.

And for me, it certainly helped me understand or express things that I was feeling that I. I couldn't express in other ways.

Oh, man.

And you bring that forward into your album?

Oh, sure.

All that.

Yeah, man.

You can.

You can hear that.

And let me just say one of the things that when.

When I got your.

Your album American Rough, the first thing that caught me was how listenable this was.

Like, you can listen to it.

You can listen at a very detailed level on the lyrics.

You can listen for an emotion, or you can literally be multitasking.

And it's just kind of like putting you in a certain state of peacefulness,.

I think Jumped out at me the best Front Porch drinking coffee at 8am in the morning album of the year.

Well, let's say that.

And it really.

It really.

And the whole album is strong, but really, I. I feel like those first four or five tracks just really just roll so, so wonderfully together now and you listen a little more deeply.

Like, you could have made these universal love songs.

And they are universal love songs, I would say.

Just at least how they hit me.

But interestingly, right, this is a man singing a love song to another man.

And some people are going to be like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Like, I thought this was just like a love song that I could just listen playing on the radio, and there are little lines in there like, okay, all right.

This is a man arrangement of their man.

And I'm.

I'm really curious, did you write these songs with that in mind, consciously, or did they just kind of pour out of you in this way and then you're like, oh, okay, all right.

That level of specificity, I think that's the.

That's the direction I want to take this thing.

I never shied away from it, you know, I. I definitely had.

It's been inspired by songwriters like Patrick Hagerty, who you mentioned earlier of Lavender country, who obviously never shied away from that either, if you're familiar with his work, right?

Oh, yeah.

You know, I was not until I started digging into this and it.

And I'd like to come back to that in a second, but.

Go ahead and finish your.

But the other person that I would bring up is Rufus Wainwright, who I was very much inspired by as a teenager, being the first out gay singer songwriter who was doing something like that, you know, talking about men unabashedly, you know.

But to answer your question, I definitely was trying to find some middle ground of that, right, where you could enter in as a listener whether or not you were interested in men and place yourself in the song as well.

So I don't know.

I was trying to write something universal without sacrificing my own unique or at least my own personal perspective.

Another day and you've escaped High rise alone Barely too late I fall deeper into your hand this bed is just a stranger to when you're away beyond this room do you recall exactly who I am?

I'm under you With a spell that can't be broken I'm under you when your fingers trace my ear I'm under you Like a pillow on a high summer moon Begging for the sun country.

Singer guys have been writing about women in provocative ways, love ways, like, forever, right.

Beginning.

So it shouldn't be necessarily that edgy that, you know, it's coming out this way.

But I'm curious with this crowd and, like, you're.

And you're performing this, right?

And you're.

You're out, like, you're in Chicago playing these.

These songs.

When you bring them out live, like, what's the feedback that you're seeing and getting from the audience?

You know, my audiences know that I'm gonna sing tender love songs, and so they're there for that.

What I would say is I'm curious to See how it's gonna play out when I go to other places with it.

You know, New York liked it, LA liked it.

We'll see how DC likes it.

We'll see how Richmond, VA likes it.

I'm going on tour next.

Not next week, the week after.

But, you know, I definitely have my queer audiences who eat it up.

You know, they love it.

Believe it or not.

I have a lot of straight men who want to give me a big hug after these shows, you know, And I. I think.

I think it's because I'm also hearkening back to voices that they maybe and enjoy, you know, so it transcends the lyrics and in that way.

But,.

Yeah, let me ask this.

If you're going into a city that you're not, that maybe isn't so familiar with your work, is that scary or what's the emotions that run through, like, not knowing what to expect while you step on stage that night?

Yeah, I actually played the birthplace of Country Music Museum in.

In Bristol, Virginia.

Bristol, Tennessee.

Bristol, Virginia, like, a month or so ago for this PBS show, Farm and Fun Time.

And.

And I.

You know, I was.

I wasn't sure what to expect to bounce off of your question.

And so I just went at it the way I would go at it any other show.

And I. I would be lying to you if I said I didn't notice that some people disengaged and looked down at their phone when I started talking about Patrick Haggerty and other gay things.

But I. I never felt scared and I never felt unsafe.

Let the songs do the talking.

Right?

Yeah.

I mean, you.

If you like it, you like it.

If you don't take it or leave it, basically, as my German friend said to me, eat it or sit on it.

And you just kind of gotta do it, you know, boldly, bravely.

There is a quote on your website that you say something like that you forget.

You.

You remember the forgotten days when men could listen to another man sing songs and cry.

Well, I've been.

Ben knows this.

I cry a lot at shows.

I'm crying with Zach, although he did.

Cry together at shows.

But that's, you know, no matter the subject matter, you know, the emotions of this album are.

I mean, I'm a straight man, but I find it very inspiring, the songs.

Thank you.

Yeah, I. I think when I said that quote, I was thinking about Hank Williams.

I was thinking about Lefty Frizzell.

I was thinking about all these men back in the day who were singing these sad, yearning songs.

And, yeah, you can Just imagine a room full of men leaning on each other and holding each other and crying.

And I just feel like, and I, I, I can sense that you feel this too.

There's a real, as we mentioned earlier, a healing quality, a catharsis that you can find that I think we all really crave.

Yeah.

Whether we know it or not, we crave it.

You whisper Swimming in my clear as the fallen rain I watch it move around Inside the window frame like my love around your name like my love.

Yeah.

I'd like to ask more and get into the Patrick Hagerty kind of.

He became a mentor of yours.

And what would, what did he see in you that maybe you didn't see in yourself?

Oh, that's a good question.

I wish we could ask him that.

I remember I opened for him a couple of years in a row because he would come into town every year in April into Chicago, and, and I opened for him at this, my favorite venue in the world called the Hideout.

And the first year I was still doing like more of a folk leaning thing.

I had an all acoustic band.

I was working at this place called the Old Town School of Folk music, which I love dearly.

And anyway, the next year, being inspired by him, I was returning to country music and started writing some country songs myself.

And I just remember him grabbing my shoulders at that second show afterward and saying, I didn't see you before, but I see you now.

And he didn't elaborate on that, but that was definitely affirming for me that I was on the right path.

But I wish I, I knew how to answer your question.

He often said he would kill for my voice.

That's good feedback.

A lot of people would.

I got a feeling.

Yeah, well, I believed him.

No, he was, yeah, very giving and generous person.

I wish I could ask him that question.

What, what made Patrick, since you opened for him and he spent time with him, what, what do you think made Patrick Haggerty so special?

I mean, there are, certainly, there's a, I'm sure there's a long list of those reasons, but I would say he was, he was so giving.

You know, I felt like he really gave everything that he had in every moment, whether that was on stage telling you the, a heartbreaking story or an uplifting story or an empowering story from his past, or the time that he would spend with every single person at the merch table who wanted to talk to him.

I mean, he'd stand there for hours and hug everyone and I can't tell you how many people I've met, traveling around, whether they're queer country artists or just queer country lovers who met Patrick, who knew Patrick, had his phone number, had breakfast with Patrick, spent time at their house with Patrick.

You know, he was just a very.

He wanted to touch everyone.

Yeah.

And that shines through on your song Lavender, you know, Cowboy, obviously a tribute but love song to Patrick, I would say.

Yeah.

And one of my favor favorite songs on that, on that album, and people listen to this guy's voice.

You have to go check out this.

I mean, it's amazing.

My wife, we were listening to it the other day in the car driving to see Sierra Farrell, and she says, I, I, this is reminding me of my grandpa, you know, sitting on his porch with him while he listened to Hank Williams.

So you got a couple new fans there as well.

Amazing.

Yeah, I mean, that's, that's very affirming to hear because that's exactly what I wanted to do with that song.

I wanted it to very much personally be about me and Patrick and.

But, but I wanted anyone to be able to think of their cowboy elder, you know, who maybe passed just remembering them and honoring their legacy.

With a lucky.

Is queen American Ralph in the heart of this room.

Mean handsome can hardly be decent together American rich.

When you write a song like that to your hero or mentor, is that roll right off the pages or is that one take a little time to construct?

You know, I, I love the romantic idea of songs just, you know, flowing out, that you have like this divining rod and you just like, let them use.

But I, I don't work like that,.

You know, or like the idea of Dolly Parton writing 9 to 5, I will always love you and Jolene in the same day, which I believe she did.

I believe it too, but.

Sorry, go ahead, Legend.

But there's some anecdote somewhere, a story about Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, and it's kind of the, the two, you know.

Yeah.

Ways that a song can come together.

Bob being the one who has that kind of flow and Leonard who used.

Who would take, you know, years to construct.

I.

For that song, you know, I, I really needed it to be just right.

And so I, I let, I let it cook for a while.

I definitely, what's cool is that the chorus came in that way.

The day before we had to record the song, the chorus came in that way.

So I, I guess in some ways it did, but in other ways, it definitely, it took turn.

Wow.

Thinking about your album there, how was it putting the band together for that because it's, you know, you've got such a full sound.

And I mentioned earlier about having Spencer Tweety, who's obviously got legendary Americana roots himself.

How did you dream this team up and what was it like bringing them together for this album?

It definitely was a joint effort.

So my producer, or my lead producer, H.C. mcIntyre, because she wanted to record in North Carolina, we recorded at a place called Fidelatorium in Kernersville, which is just outside of Greensboro.

But he actually put together her band first since they were the local guys.

So the guitar across the record that you hear is Luke Norton, who, honestly, I find myself humming his guitar parts more often than I sing along to my own voice.

I love the way that he plays and the.

And the different licks that he came up with and melodies for this record.

And then her bass player, Casey Toll, and then Spencer.

You know, I've been playing with Spencer for a while in this.

This show that I. I host and help produce called the Cosmic Country Showcase here in Chicago.

He was in the house band in its original form for a couple of years before the Pandemic.

And so he knew, you know, the style that I sing.

He knew the way that he.

He had a touch and a feel for playing with me.

And that mixed with him being at that time not even 30 years old and having laid on almost 30 records, maybe 30 plus already himself.

Like, I was like, okay, why not?

I mean, no brainer.

Yeah, I think you can handle this one.

Yeah.

Wow.

Not to mention, you know, Spencer is one of the sweetest people.

I mean, so humble and he just, you know, he could be a real.

If he wanted to be, but he isn't at all.

He's so sweet.

And then later on, you know, the overdubs, we had a bunch of people from Chicago, really wonderful players, like Macy Stewart did all the string parts.

The horn section is a bunch of guys here that I love.

Pedal steel is actually this guy out in North Carolina named Alan Love.

And man, does he wreck me with those parts.

That'll still strong, my friend.

Yeah, it really is such a great vibe.

Why the title American Rough?

Oh, you want to open that can of worms?

Okay.

But we do.

Oh, that's exciting.

Yes.

We want to know.

Andrew.

So really the object of my desire across this record is that masculine archetype man, blue collar, probably stoic and emotionally unavailable, that American man.

I was reading a bunch of poetry when I was writing this record.

And that song in particular, I was reading some poems by Walt Whitman, who he has this collection Called the Calamus poems in his book Leaves of Grass.

Anyway, all these poems are about masculine, manly love between men.

And I don't know why those words American and rough came together, but they did.

And it just.

It just clicked for me.

It made so much sense.

There's this.

There is this.

In gay culture, there is a man who is often referred to as rough trade, which is someone who is likely.

Who.

Who fits these characteristics that I described, but is likely in the closet or passing as straight, if you will.

And so that kind of added to the reason to use rough.

Plus, I'm.

I'm so soft and like a lot of what I do across the record vocally is so soft.

And I loved the dichotomy of that.

Yeah, yeah, that's why I asked.

Because you nailed it with that.

With.

You're so like.

It's such.

The album is so flowing, like we've said, but just.

It's so smooth and quiet in areas where it needs to be quiet and then you add in rough.

And that's a really good explanation, I think.

Sorry, Ben, go ahead.

I also.

I also wanted to people to lean in when they read the title.

I wanted them to wonder, like you did, what is.

Why this.

You know, I. I didn't want something that just originally we were going to call it Where It Lands because that song has kind of an overarching, like the whole story kind of vibe to it, but it sounds so matter of fact where It Lands, you know, American Rough.

There are questions.

Yes.

It makes people curious.

Yeah, like Americana curious.

That's.

Yeah.

And you know, I really like the song and it's.

It's so short.

It starts the album out and you want to listen to it over and over again.

It's like, oh, what am I?

I mean, it's such a full.

It's such a cool sound, man.

Thank you.

In my reading, I understand you discovered an album early on from Rufus Wainwright Poses.

Is that.

And when I heard that thing, I. I remember it grabbed me.

What did that album like?

What is that?

What did Rufus and that album, you know, open for you or do for you as a teenager to.

To inspire you music as a person?

Well, you know, I had known about and love gay artists like Freddie Mercury, like Elton John, but Rufus was the first one.

When I heard it, I thought, oh my God, he's so much like me.

I'm so much like him.

And I think it was the theatricality, of course, but it was also the.

The yearning.

I think that he really has that, like Longing in his voice.

And then to know that he never hid that he was gay and that he wrote about men.

He used he and him when he or you know, it just like it was eye opening it in the way that I never thought I, I've been describing it as he gave me permission to have this dream because I hadn't seen an example of it before.

And then of course I fell in love with him and obsessed over him for many years.

But yeah, I mean poses is a perfect record.

Poses.

I mean I, I romanticize it, I'm sure because I was a teenager when I heard it, but, but yeah, I, I, and then I went and dug through the rest of his records and fell madly in love.

You know, when I heard it the first time I heard Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk and I thought, is it okay for me to like this song?

Like,.

It was so edgy and beautiful all at the same time and very theatrical and well, and we've seen him live once and man brings it to the stage so.

Oh yeah.

Does not tone down the theatrical nature and drama.

Never.

No.

He'll even have a costume change every now and then.

He first time I saw him.

I know I'm running on a tangent now, but the first time I saw him play was at the Hollywood bowl.

I was 18.

I grew up in the Bay Area, Fremont, San Jose.

So I was 18.

My friend and I drove down to see him at the Hollywood Bowl.

He was opening up for somebody named K.D.

Lang.

Oh, Canadian.

I, I had no idea who Katie Lang was.

Yeah.

And we sat through Rufus and I'm like, oh my God, we're crying.

Do you guys, do you want to stay for KD Lang?

And my friend was like, we drove all the way down here.

Let's, let's day.

Oh my God, talk about blown away.

I, I, I have been a devotee ever since.

Katie Lang is another groundbreaking, you know, queer artist.

If you, I mean, I remember I only I learned of her when I was very young because I spent a lot of summers in Canada and I she was from around the area.

Constant craving.

My grandparents were always playing Katie Lang.

So well and her first two records were so country, you know.

And she was also very inspired by Patsy Klein and Roy Orbison.

Someone we haven't talked about on this yet.

But yeah, I anyway, that was my.

First When I first heard the album, the first couple notes of that first song, I was like, this is Roy Orbison.

Like, I mean that's how good this guy's voice is.

People just listen to Me,.

Roy.

Roy, what a voice.

Yours too, my friend.

But the.

What's the most overrated country cliche?

Oh, I can think of something.

I've never thought about that.

I don't know what to tell you.

I was gonna say something about pickup trucks, but you know what?

And I loved that truck so much.

I don't know.

I'm gonna have to get back to you on that next time.

What do you.

So I think a lot of listeners may be thinking, wow, there is a queer country scene and there are artists coming from that.

Maybe they're not as familiar with that.

What do you, how do you see that scene merging with country, Americana and being a part of it?

And what are, what are areas where you think that maybe they're just worlds divided?

And I'm just curious when you're.

And there wouldn't one and no pressure, but I see you as a leader in this space and your album is really breaking some, some ground here.

So how do you see it?

Well, I'll start with saying that in for me, with this record, I intentionally, I've been, I'm interested in building bridges and, and so I really hope that that happens with this record.

That people who would otherwise, you know, discredit or, or dismiss something that was inherently gay or queer, that they lean in and, and look for themselves and in this record, because I do think there are reflections for everyone in this record.

But to answer your question, I think that queer country as a genre, as an umbrella of genre, because I think everyone, there's so many artists out there who are approaching it from their own angle, you know, and in different sonic ways.

I think that we don't know yet.

Right.

I think it's so new, I think it's so fresh.

We're just starting, you know, it's just beginning to blossom.

I, I, I couldn't say how it it will or will not comix, you know, or co. How it will merge with, with what I, I think it exists already with it, you know, or at least that's my mindset with it.

It's like that, that I'm not separate and that I'm not different and that I belong there and that I'm kind of inserting myself there.

Take it or leave it, eat it or sit on it and, But I, I'm doing it, I'm hopefully doing it with grace and with kindness and, and tenderness and.

Yeah, I hope that answers your question.

Yeah, it does it's interesting.

You know, we.

One thing Zach and I really think about Americana is we feel like it's.

And this is not from everybody's perspective, but our show, we.

We think it's like a really big umbrella for.

For perspectives and different kinds of music.

Sometimes it may sound country, sometimes it might sound more rock, but there.

There's like a connective tissue between all of these.

And I. I.

Sometimes the country label, I feel like, is not always open to all perspectives on this.

And not that it.

Not that it should be that way or should.

You know, it's just the way it seems to evolve on, like, country radio.

It can be hard to get.

Hard to get heard and get noticed.

I can see that.

Yeah.

My daughter was having a conversation with her dance.

A new dance teacher the other day, and she brought up the podcast or something, and the guy says, well, who has he interviewed?

And she goes, well, he.

I don't remember his name, but the guy who wrote Wagon Wheel, and the guy said, oh, Darius Rucker.

And she goes, no, no, not that guy.

The guy who wrote it.

So, you know, there's.

That's a little bit of where we need to merge a little bit better, you know, But Catch isn't mad about it.

I think that Americana.

I think that Americana is.

Is, as I see it, as you described as.

As like a.

A big, warm, you know, welcoming hug for all perspectives within the.

What I would describe the cosmic American.

You know, Graham Parsons talked about it not as cosmic country, but as cosmic American music, which really was, you know, the blending of all of the inherently American styles of music.

And that's what I'm reaching for.

And so if the country stations want to play it, cool.

If they don't, cool.

But they're not gonna sit on it.

Yeah, I'm gonna be playing that all day long.

Careful.

Your wife's gonna be like, oh,.

Yeah, that's funny.

I do want to bring up.

So in October, you're doing something very special because I will actually be there, because, I mean, John Prine's the second love of my life, so.

And me and my wife go.

Have gone.

I mean, we go to the.

You got gold every year.

And now that they moved it.

But he's having a birthday party at the Chicago theater, and you're one of the performers.

Hi.

Still, I'm blown away.

I don't know how I got that gig, you guys.

Yeah, we're bringing.

It's an honor and everything.

So super pumped.

Amazing.

Now, do you want to tell me what song you're singing or you know, when people.

Well, when people ask me, I feel like.

Well, to answer your question, I can tell you.

I think no one's told me that I can't.

I'm definitely not singing angel from Montgomery, although I would have loved to.

Yeah.

When I got the ask, I decided to do a deep dive and try to listen to a bunch of John that I didn't know because there's so many records out there.

And so I picked a song from an album that quickly became one of my new favorite John Prine albums called German Afternoons.

I picked a song called Bad Boy.

Yes.

Which is toward the end of the record.

And it's kind of a tongue in cheek like tail between my legs.

Coming back home I was a bad boy again looking for, you know, forgiveness.

Yes.

And John had a way of tongue in cheek like nobody else, man.

Because it's earnest but it is very pointed at the same time.

And, and what I like about it and what I.

The reason that I picked it is, you know, kind of what we were talking about earlier.

There's a lot of gendering in his songs.

Like he's very specifically talking about his experiences between himself being a man and then with women, with the exception of angel from Montgomery.

Right.

That's from the woman's perspective.

But this song in particular, he doesn't ever talk about that.

You know, he just talks about being a bad boy.

And that felt like I could make it my own, you know.

That's awesome.

I can't wait to see.

And I get to play with his band.

Yes.

Jason, Wilbur.

I can't wait.

What a moment, y'.

All.

And Fats, go see that.

Zach will be there as always.

Andrew's gonna be on stage.

I'll be trying.

Superstar Zach will be the 12 year.

Old son who loves John.

He goes, I can't wait.

You know, he says, what's it going to be like?

You know, he's never really.

And I go, it's going to be a lot of very old men crying.

Because that's what, that's what it was last year at the Ryman and that's what it will be this year at Chicago Theater.

So.

So starting a lot of plan here.

We're getting out of time.

But I've got to ask you about the power of something that we like in Americana a lot and appreciate is community.

So you mentioned Patsy Klein, Rufus Wainwright, of course Patrick Hagerty.

And then we're talking about your ban and the relationships there.

And then you're, you know, you Mentioned the hideout, which actually my younger sister and her husband were married there a few years ago.

So I've been there.

Amazing.

They.

And thinking about bringing it forward to the John Prine wonderful tribute that that's going to happen here in Chicago.

What, what does the community of music mean to you in all of this?

I used to think when I started out writing music and, and wanting to perform as a singer songwriter, I used to think I had to do it all alone, you know, I used to think I had to be the one playing the insort.

I had to be the one singing the song.

I had to be the one writing the music and the lyrics.

And that is a fallacy.

I am so much stronger working with other people.

I'm bigger.

I'm, I'm, I'm.

I can reach further working with other people.

So I hope that answers your question.

But it, it took a village, you know, in Chicago.

A community of so many amazing musicians that I get to play with regularly and inspired by the people who come through for the Cosmic country showcase, who've given me platforms to do what I want to do and say what I want to say.

I mean, I feel very blessed that Chicago is a very supportive town, community wise and within the music community.

We don't.

We.

We may compete with each other for, for gigs, but we are not competitive with each other.

I like to say.

Yeah.

I mean, if without community, what are we?

I mean, what.

Who am I?

I don't know.

Well, we're in your community now, my friend.

Yeah.

And everybody check out Andrew Saw on tour and join it.

What.

Last question here.

What should we expect?

What should the listeners expect when they come into an Andrew Saw show?

And what can we do to be supportive there when we show up?

Well, other than you're likely gonna cry, Zach.

Yeah, Zach's already crying.

I've got a problem.

You should, you should expect to.

To want to make love to somebody after the show as well.

That's what I've been thinking lately.

So cry and make love.

I like that.

There you go.

Okay.

All right.

It's gonna be a.

Let's just say it's.

The show is going to be unforgettable.

Yes.

And if you can deliver on that promise that the show will be.

You'll.

You'll be selling a lot of tickets, my friend.

Maybe I should have condoms at the merch table.

I was just thinking that maybe.

All right, everybody stay curious.

Thanks, Andrew, for joining us, my friend.

Thank you.

Thanks, guys.

Thanks for joining Zach and I for this episode of Americana Curious subscribe where you listen to your podcast so you.

Are notified when a new episode is released.

I'm Ben Fanning and it's been great.

Sharing these artists and music with you.

Until next time, stay Americana Curious.