Rusty Anderson

Born On Earth, out August 3^rd, 2010

Rusty Anderson is a musician’s musician, and has become an integral part of the musical landscape through his varied work both as a solo musician and in collaboration with other artists.  He has lent his considerable guitar skills to high-profile artists including Elton John, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Stevie Nicks, Jewel, Regina Spektor, Gwen Stefani, Ozzy Osbourne, Neil Diamond, Matthew Sweet, Nelly Furtado, Cat Stevens, and Corinne Bailey Rae, among many others. And then, there’s his day job: the lead guitar player for Sir Paul McCartney, with whom he’s played both live and on record since 2001.  Now, Anderson continues moving toward the foreground with his sophomore album, Born On Earth.

Born On Earth is a loosely conceptual album recorded primarily in his Los Angeles, CA, home studio. Anderson’s free, expressive guitar playing ebbs and flows across the album – whether it’s the crushing riffs of “Born On Earth,” the gentle finger-picked acoustic guitar on “Where Would We Go?” or the blistering solo towards the end of “Under A White Star.”  And while his career quietly speaks volumes of his gift, it’s his use of restraint that shines through and sets him apart. While his clear, affecting tenor vocals soar throughout the album, Anderson’s good-natured, southern Californian vibe and innate sense of melody are infused into every song, a form he clearly loves, which often take multiple directions and juxtapose varying styles within themselves, and yet always stay on course.

Born On Earth looks at modern life, what it’s like to be alive in this era and on our planet as individuals and in communities. With reoccurring motifs of the Earth, moon, stars, and universe, the songs explore personal relationships (the evocative and cascading “Baggage Claim;” the jaunty, folk-y “Where Would We Go?” written for his wife) as well as a broader context of basic human connectivity (the howling, guitar-heavy and orchestral title track; the artfully disguised, wistfully sunny ditty “Julia Roberts”).  Some tracks explore living life to its fullest and finding a place of one’s own (the dreamy, power-pop of “Timed Exposure;” the grand modern rock of “New Beginning,” with horns that herald a call for change), while others address the struggle to find comfort and meaning in a world that’s a tiny speck in a giant universe among universes (“These Are The Days;” the driving, spacey build of the guitar and piano-powered “Under A White Star”).

In addition to Anderson on vocals, guitar, and other assorted melodic instruments, most tracks on Born On Earth feature Petur Smith on drums (who also co-produced many songs on the album), Matt McKenna on second guitars, and Todd O’Keefe or Mark Lane on bass – giving the album a unified, ‘band-y’ sound.  A couple of guests pop up on occasion, including Bunk Gardner (The Mothers Of Invention) playing saxophone and bass clarinet on the groovy, quirky, Hall & Oates-ian “Funky Birthday Cake” (which Anderson wrote as a teenager).  The title track features his neighbor, Elizabeth Baker of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, on violin, while another neighbor, producer Mudrock, also lends his hand to a few tracks.

It’s been a whirlwind, life-affirming journey for Anderson, growing up creative and mildly rambunctious in the north Orange County town of La Habra, CA.  An adventurous free-spirit, he used to blow holes in his backyard with homemade fireworks while his mom routinely said, “That’s enough of that, Rusty.”  His dad gave him his first guitar at age eight and – with few formal lessons – he taught himself to play, fueled by passion for the music of Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Genesis, The Mothers of Invention, and Mick Ronson.

An out of place kid constantly bullied and attacked by the gangs in his high school, he channeled his energy into his first band, Eulogy, which he formed at age 13.  Over the next six years, Eulogy played with other bands like The Police, The Runaways, Van Halen, and Quiet Riot before breaking up without ever releasing an album.

Following a stint with The Living Daylights, Anderson signed a solo development deal with Columbia Records and was introduced to producer David Kahne (The Strokes, Regina Spektor, Sublime).  Kahne connected him with the Bangles, for whom he played guitar on their album, Different Light.  This session led to many others during this time, with artists such as Fishbone, Little Richard, and Carole King, among others, while he also briefly spent time as a member of Animal Logic (which featured Stewart Copeland of The Police and legendary bassist Stanley Clarke).

In 1993, Anderson helped found alternative rockers Ednaswap.  One of the ‘90s best, the band released four major label albums (for East West/Elektra and Island) and toured with No Doubt, Weezer, Local H, and others.  Ednaswap perhaps ended up being best known for penning the song “Torn” (from their debut self-titled album and more widely released second outing, Wacko Magneto), which became a massive hit single globally when Natalie Imbruglia covered it shortly after.  They disbanded after five years and Anderson returned to studio work – playing with artists that include The Wallflowers, Santana, and Ricky Martin (the memorable lead guitar riff on “Livin’ La Vida Loca”?  That’s Rusty) – and continuing to write his own songs.

Anderson received a fateful call from Kahne in 2001: an invitation to play and sing on Paul McCartney’s album, Driving Rain.  It was during these sessions that the Paul McCartney Band was born.  Since then he has played countless shows with the group, including The Concert for New York City, Live 8 UK, at the Roman Coliseum and Red Square in Moscow, Russia.  These performances have won Anderson praise in the press as well, with Rolling Stone remarking, “McCartney’s four-piece band handled the broad range of his music seamlessly, with fiery guitar work from Rusty Anderson” and Variety declaring, “[McCartney's] longtime band, including versatile guitarist Rusty Anderson…matched him step for step.”  He has also played on McCartney’s albums Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005) and Memory Almost Full (2007), as well as been featured on multiple tour DVDs: Back in the US, Back in the World, Paul McCartney in Red Square, The Space Within US, Good Evening New York City, and Good Evening Europe.

In 2003, after crafting his own solo material, Anderson went into the studio to record his debut album, Undressing Underwater.  A few friends helped out, including McCartney and the rest of the Paul McCartney Band on lead track “Hurt Myself,” and Stewart Copeland on “Catbox Beach.”  He produced the album himself, with help from Kahne, Mudrock, and Parthenon Huxley, and self-released the album on his own Oxide Records late that year; it was officially released in stores by Surfdog Records in 2005.