"Hey Mate" came out of text messages I was sending to a mate I was about to visit who was unwell at the time. It reminded me of how precious life is and that nothing but ourselves and our experiences can be taken with us when we leave this beautiful, heavenly place."
Andrew McSweeney has built a solid reputation as a live performer, writing sweet and moving, rootsy Australian country rock. With a discography which includes collaborations with Susanna Espie, Kutcha Edwards, Paul Hester, Mundaway Yunapingu and more, Andrew is a prolific and powerful songwriter, singer and guitarist with a loyal and hungry following of listeners, currently promoting his EP, Hiding In Plain Sight.
Daryl Braithwaite, Kutcha Edwards and Matt Hetherington have recorded Andrew’s songs.
As Andrew says about this EP: "It was 4.00pm in 31.12.2020, we were visiting our daughter, living and working in Nimbin, who we hadn’t seen since Feb and we had just found out that we had 8 hours to drive the 18 hours it would take to get us to the Victorian border and then on to Melbourne, with 24 hours isolation waiting for us. This turned out to be 14 days home isolation! The thought of more lock down filled us with dread so Jacqui and I asked me sister to pick up some mung bean for us and we started the 14 days with a 3 day mung bean cleanse. This is something we had discovered and used successfully during 2020 lock down to help lift our spirits and adjust our attitude. Once again, it worked beautifully. We found ourselves arriving tired, stressed and angry and 3 days later being filled with a joy and calm. I then found the inspiration to record this EP."
"The songs are of love, friendship and loss and are also a lot to do with my work with Gathering Men and healthy masculinity, which is a constant challenge, for myself included."
"Hiding in Pain Sight is about Gathering Men’s target audience, men, and how they are present and also not present. 7 out 9 suicides in Australia every day are men and they are hard to communicate with, hiding in plain sight."
"It is also a reference to my own behaviours that don’t serve me anymore and how what I need to deal with or work on is also hiding in plain sight. Unfortunately, at times, hiding in my blind spot."
"I Will Hold You is a lullaby I wrote for my wife."
"Radiant Love is a song I wrote for a dying friend, telling him how I felt about him and all that was going on for him, sending him love for his journey."
"Hey Mate came out of text messages I was sending to a mate I was about to visit who was unwell at the time. It reminded me of how precious life is and that nothing but ourselves and our experiences can be taken with us when we leave this beautiful, heavenly place."
"Fallen is a song I write almost 30 years ago. I have always loved it and recorded it for no other reason than that. It is about love and growth."
"I encourage all people to find a place to shed a layer, to express a feeling, to sing a lullaby. And also to try a mung bean soup cleanse."
Facebook: www.facebook.com/andrewjames.mcsweeney
Apple Music: music.apple.com/au/artist/andrew-mcsweeney