Nels Andrews

Nels Andrews is an American folk singer currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Known primarily as a folk singer, he served his apprenticeship with obscure but cult blues icon Washboard Williams. In 2002, Andrews was selected as a winner in the prestigious New Folk Competition at the annual Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas. In 2006, won the Telluride Bluegrass Festival's Troubadour Competition; later that same year he won the Mountain Stage New Song Competition. Andrews frequently appears in concert with A.J. Roach.

Andrews' music draws on years of hard living on New Mexico's historic Route 66. Crafting songs inspired by the high desert climate, and the unique individuals he's met along the way, Andrews' style has been described as "music as landscape, timeless tales that instantly take root in your mind as though they've been there forever."

Andrews' debut full-length recording, Sunday Shoes, rose to #1 on the UK Americana Chart, and finished the year ranked #4 on the Euro Americana Chart's Top 20 albums of 2004. The album is sometimes credited to Nels Andrews & The El Paso Eyepatch. BBC 2 DJ Bob Harris tagged Sunday Shoes as "one of the best albums of the year".

Andrews' second album, Off track betting, came out in 2008. In 2012 he released his third full-length, Scrimshaw.