Tiny Moore, the legendary mandolin and fiddle player from Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, was Andrews’ first teacher. Moore’s greatest emphasis was on playing from the heart. That’s remained the core aspect of his playing to this day.

As a junior high student in Sacramento, CA, Andrews had a regional hit entitled “Surfer’s Beach,” earning a major-label contract offer at age 14.

He studied composition at UC Santa Barbara while also fronting a very popular rock & roll band, Hot Bentley and playing solo spots at coffee houses. Andrews soon headed for Hollywood, where Davy Jones of the Monkees recommended him to Paul Revere and the Raiders bassist Phil “Fang” Volk for what became a two-year gig in his band, The Friendship Train. Over the next couple of decades, he lived in an old hunting cabin in Laurel Canyon, immersing himself in the neighborhood’s great musical culture.

There Andrews co-wrote with Toni Stern, who was then enjoying immense success with “It’s Too Late” and other songs co-created with Carole King for Tapestry, an album which ultimately sold 15 million worldwide. He later co-wrote with Grammy-winner Shandi Sinnamon, and Academy Award- and Tony-winner Joel Hirschhorn, who had also written for Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison.He did soundtrack work with writer/director David Peckinpah, wrote and recorded with actress/singer Melora Hardin, and actress/singer/songwriter Heather Stewart. Stewart and Andrews co-wrote “If  I Can’t Take You With Me,” which won Best Song Americana category at the 2011 Malibu Music Awards, and Top Honors in the Americana/Country category at the 2012 Indie International Songwriting Contest.

From the early to the mid-1970s Andrews studied with Barney Kessel, winner of several Downbeat readers’ polls and widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time.

He later studied both classical and jazz piano with Terry Trotter, who has recorded with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Natalie Cole, Celine Dion, and Stevie Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, and subsequently studied with Jimmy Wyble, the former Texas Playboys guitarist who had also played with Red Norvo, Frank Sinatra, and Benny Goodman.

In the 90s Andrews was a member of Nancy Boy, a band fronted by Donovan Leitch and Jason Nesmith and signed to Elektra/Asylum. (The above link takes you to the band’s video for “Deep Sleep Motel,” the group’s first single, which Andrews co-wrote with Donovan and Jason.)

More recently he has served as guitarist and bandleader for Tammy Lang (a.k.a. Tammy Faye Starlite), and accompanist for Bay Area singer/songwriter Steve Meckfessel. He also recently played mandolin and guitar on stage with Carlene Carter, daughter of June Carter, step-daughter of Johnny Cash, bearer of the magnificent Carter Family lineage.

In addition to performance, Andrews teaches guitar technique to a limited number of students, and he composes and performs music for film and television. His work has been featured on such series as NCIS, JAG, TMZ,  and Ellen DeGeneres, and in such films as Independence Day, Nightmare on Elm Street and Mr. Majestyk.

Instruments played by Andrews include mandolin, banjo, bass, bouzouki, and piano,in addition to numerous acoustic and electric guitars.