Andy McKee
notes by Rick Shubb
Tweet

Question: What kind of capo is Andy McKee using on Rylynn?

Answer: He is using a Shubb banjo capo.

About five years ago I suddenly started getting dozens of emails asking me that question. But I had a couple of questions of my own: who was Andy McKee, and what was Rylynn? It took me only a minute to find the answers on YouTube.

Of course I was pleased to discover that he used a Shubb banjo capo, applied from the bass side, covering the bottom four strings of the guitar at the fifth fret.

My other questions were answered as well, as I learned what millions of people apparently already knew: that Andy McKee is an exceptionally talented young acoustic guitarist, and that his video of Rylynn, his own instrumental composition, had been viewed at that time by over 8 million people. The count now is over 20 million. And he's not a one-hit-wonder, either, for he had posted several other videos of his instrumentals, and they all were just about as popular. I think his total views for all his videos might be nearing 100 million.

This blows me away, in the very best sense. These videos didn't have any mayhem, or stupid humor, or pop stars, or sexy babes, or anything one would typically associate with huge popularity — just a guy sitting in a chair playing his acoustic guitar — and they were THE MOST POPULAR thing on YouTube! Seriously.

This makes me feel so good. It goes a long way towards undoing my own cynicism regarding public taste; what can and does become popular. Andy McKee is a new kind of superstar, and he totally deserves it.

With a bit of detective work I tracked down his email address, and got in touch. We arranged to meet at the NAMM show. Since he was so much the picture of intense concentration on those early videos, I was surprised by his vivacious and warm personality... a really nice guy, and seemingly unaffected by his enormous popularity. And I was especially pleased with his enthusiasm for Shubb capos. He uses them exclusively on all of his performances.

Since then, Andy has joined us at our trade show booth in 2009 and again in 2010 (see below). His dynamic performances never fail to draw an enthusiastic crowd. It is fun to mingle among them as they watch in amazement, and now and then someone will nudge a friend and say "That's him! That's the guy I saw on YouTube!"

Andy's music has continued to expand, adding rhythmical and percussive elements not present in his early videos. And so has his popularity, winning new audiences wherever he goes. I just swung by his Facebook page, and noticed that he has over 132,000 "likes," one of which is me. By the time you read this, it'll be far more than that. He just keeps playing his guitar, and the rest of this stuff seems to happen by itself.