Daily Inspiration: Meet Andy Babb

Hi Andy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Pueblo, Colorado at the nearest hospital to Westcliffe, CO where my family was living at the time. My father was the preacher at the United Methodist Church throughout my life and my mother was a teacher at the local elementary school, as well as the organist at the church. I grew up singing and playing music in the church. We moved around a lot growing up, from Westcliffe to Walsenburg, then up to Pine Bluffs, WY and eventually over to Burlington, CO on the eastern plains where I went to middle and high school. I was a multi-sport athlete (golf, baseball, basketball) and participated in just about everything I possibly could (drama club, choir, band, honor society, Spanish club, etc) graduating with the most Varsity letters in school history (25). What really pushed me down the path of music and songwriting was a major injury on the day of my sister’s 16th birthday. I ruptured my spleen in a baseball accident and was flown in a flight for life plane, and helicopter to St. Anthony’s hospital where I spent 10 days in ICU. During the 3-month recovery process I was unable to play sports, which I had done nearly every day since I could walk. This gave me a wonderful, albeit a bit morbid and painful, reason to get deeply into playing guitar and drums to keep me occupied. I eventually recorded my first 17 tracks album when I was 16, a year after the accident, which I recorded on a 2-track tape deck in my basement. I then started in on my 2nd album on a Tascam porta-studio in my college dorm which I released locally in 2005 as a freshmen at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana. While living in Montana I was able to be a part of a really positive group of people called College Age Movement, where I led worship and eventually worked as an intern after college at their mega-church affiliate, Faith Chapel. It really solidified my calling to be a professional musician and to do so with the intention of helping others through the music. After turning down an offer to be the full time High School Youth Pastor for over 200 students at age 23 I decided to sell my car and buy an old motor home, move to Los Angeles (which I said I’d never do) and attend the Musician’s Institute’s Independent Artist Program. Living in my RV on the street outside my school, just one block from Hollywood’s Avenue of the stars was a really fun and rewarding experience which culminated in a really uplifting and fun album, Re-Creation. It was the first of three professional studio albums I created under the title Andy Babb and the Big Beautiful Band. The band consisted of an interchangeable crew of some amazing musicians who also attended M.I. and we released the album on my 25th birthday. After 2 years of “mo-ho” living I sold the old beast and moved to Sweden with my girlfriend at the time. We ironically spend the summer traveling through northern Sweden and Norway in her father’s “husbil” (RV), singing at the local open mic nights and performing at a music festival together at one of the oldest conscious community in Europe, Ingsbacka. The darkness of winter in Sweden really got to me (3 hrs. of semi-sunlight per day) and I moved to Denver, CO where my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandma lived. I was dead set on touring and set out on a solo acoustic tour around the Midwest. It was a really revealing experience to see firsthand the reality of touring as a solo musician. I realized I missed having a band to back me up and more fully express the songs. Luckily for me one of my original bandmates and friends from LA, Pat Hanson, had moved back to Denver as well and we started recorded the Strange Existence album at our home studios. We had traveled to India together to study meditation and give ourselves perspective just a few months earlier and thus had a strong connection and focused energy for the new music. We enlisted the help of Pat’s musician friend’s, Andy Brown (bass) and Roland Majcan (drums) and my friend (whom I ironically met at an online dating site) Pamela Grace on vocals. After hundreds of hours of recording we had an album we were truly proud of that I feel is still one of my best works. For the album release party, we rented out Casa Bonita’s theater and had a costume party for about 100 people of our closest friends and family there. It was always a childhood dream of mine to perform there since we would go as kids and since my cousin Nick Rather was a diver there and my grandma lived blocks away my whole life. There is a video of it on our YouTube so you can relive the magic. We had a good run of shows as a band for a few years culminating with a tour to South Dakota where we played at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, a tour through Montana, North Dakota and New Mexico, an opening spot at Denver’s Bluebird Theater for A-Mac and the Height and a festival spot opening for Nahko and Medicine for the People at Tour De Fat. We got a new drummer, Graham Mueller and a new singer started recording our 3rd Big Beautiful Band album, Rooted at KMG Studios and Violet Studios in Boulder, CO. During that time in 2014, I met Elijah Jarosh who boldly decided to come with me on a 3-week tour I had routed through the Midwest and down to the South after only meeting me 2 weeks before. Our friend, Brady, had a bus and was planning to perform with us throughout the tour’s entirety. However, on the morning of the 4th stop he found out his grandfather was on his death bed in South Dakota and we were forced to scramble for a new means of transportation. Luckily Elijah was in the market for a new vehicle and thus we ended up buying an old but sturdy GMC Jimmy in Ferguson, Missouri one day before the famous riots. We ended up having a blast and became good friends through it all, literally answering each other’s prayers and having Thanksgiving with his family down in Georgia. On the night we got back to Denver, we went to the Denver Art Society’s Open Mic Night to perform and we met local singer/songwriter Zea Stallings though our friend Taylor (who joined us for the last leg of the tour in Austin, TX). We jokingly told each other that we would be his band and lo and behold, 6 months later we were playing with him at the Gothic Theater under his band’s moniker, Zea and the Copper Children with drummer Christopher Morgan and Elias Garcia on electric guitar. I stepped into my new roles of bass player, harmony vocalist, bus driver, and record engineer. We took some wild and adventurous tours throughout the country that year and returned to Denver with loads of new material. My old friend, Pat rented us his studio in S Denver and we self-recorded and released our first album as a band, What We Are, under our new name, The Copper Children. Since then we have had many amazing opportunities to share our unique brand of genre bending psychedelic gospel at music festivals and venues in over 20 states, with some highlights being headlining Saturday Night of Arise Music Festival, opening for Everyone Orchestra for a sold out Cervantes, performing at NW String Summit, and headlining the Bluebird Theater with Handmade Moments. We have released a second album, Speaking in Spirits, with the help of our good friends and record engineers, Matt and Brent, at Catadawn Studios in Lakewood, CO. Our third record as the current band line-up (Zea produced the first record himself under the same name) will be released in early 2021. It has certainly not been easy to be in a band this long yet I have learned so much about myself and human behavior in general that I would do it all again in a heartbeat. With that being said, it is sometimes often easier to just do solo and duo gigs as there is less opinions, bodies to feed, move and sleep, and opportunities for disagreements. My current partner, Lara Ballon aka Lara Elle, and I have also been recording and performing together for over 4 years, first in the Big Beautiful Band and now as an acoustic duo. We recorded our first album at Vintage Studios in Bangkok, Thailand while on vacation in 2018 and released it last year at Denver’s Lost Lake Lounge on my 33rd birthday (I like to celebrate my birthday by releasing music). We continue to perform and record together as much as possible. You can learn more about us and hear our music at www.andyandlara.com. It is my life’s passion to play songs that uplift and inspire not only for my listeners but also for myself and my fellow performers as we sing and play these songs. The words and messages have a way of coming true over time, just like manifesting mantras, so I am super conscious of what I am saying and singing night in and night out. Regardless of what group I am playing with I want there to be a spirit of involvement and inclusiveness with everyone in the room. It is also my intention that people feel safe to be themselves when attending one of our performances. I am so grateful for all of the opportunities I have been given in this life to do what I love and I hope that live music will return in a good way in 2021 and beyond. Until then I will do what I can and focus on recording more great music and performing live streams for our people.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has definitely been full of bumps, twists, turns, potholes and reroutes. I do my best to not have expectations on outcomes in order to avoid disappointment and resentment and to remain surprised by the good things that come my way. Some of the major struggles in my early life came from physical injuries and ailments. Along with my ruptured spleen in High School I was also diagnosed with a cancerous mole at age 16 and had major surgery on my forehead and neck. My home life was very supporting and loving thanks to my amazing parents but my struggles with pain management and feeling normal led me to being super grateful to simply feel normal (not in dire pain). In my later life, from age 22 on, most of the struggle have been interpersonal. As you know, no one person is an island unto themselves. I am no different. I didn’t fully understand how much we affect one another until I played with so many different types of people throughout the years and felt how each person can really change the vibe of the room, the mood, the music and the group dynamic. Learning to work together with others in the creation process is usually the fun part in my experience. The true struggles come when people’s personal habits (drugs, food, lifestyle) directly oppose my own. I am a very principled person and am not afraid to share my feelings with others, especially if I love and respect you as a person and am living and working with you. Having the hard talks is not always comfortable but it is certainly needed, especially when we are creating such deep and personal music and living together for weeks at a time in small spaces (vans, buses, music studios, green rooms). I have learned over the years that I can’t change anyone but myself. To live by example and walk the walk, not just talk the talk. To stay humble and listen compassionately to what others are going through; doing my best to understand why they do what they do. As with many stories in rock and roll history, drug abuse has caused major riffs and problems for us. We have had to remove members from both of our bands due to drug abuse and unhealthy habits. It is a fine line, one which I am still learning, between compassion and enabling. It came to a point where I realized I was enabling their behavior by allowing them to continue to perform with us while heavily using and we simply had to part ways. It’s like breaking up with a girlfriend or something since music making is such an intimate sharing of oneself, not to mention the hundreds of hours we all spent together on the road, in rehearsal and in performance. Also, something that has been very challenging for me is the struggle to maintain and put energy into multiple musical projects at once. At one point I was rehearsing, recording and performing with 3 projects (Andy Babb and the Big Beautiful Band, The Copper Children, and Andy Babb and Lara Elle duo). Human nature rears its ugly head and many of my closest friends, family and lovers shared with me their very diverse opinions on how I should be directing my time and energy and which project was the best for me. This challenge allowed me the opportunity to increase my time management skills, solidify my emotional and spiritual balance and well-being and also my ability to say no with zero regrets. Managing so many aspects of the music business as an independent artist is a lot like juggling while uni-cycling. If you can do it well you are gonna crush the game, but if you can’t even juggle then you better find some help. I am still looking for help with my career as a musician, as I think most of us are. It’s a blessing and a curse to be able to have so many tools at our disposal to help ourselves. I honestly feel very overwhelmed at times and get stuck not knowing what to do next to help my career. I try and stay positive and take it day by day, one step at a time. Letting love guide the way and hope fuel my mind. (yes, those are some of my lyrics ;p )

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about you’re your work?
I wear many hats on many different occasions. One day you may witness me as an inspirational and deeply moving singer/songwriter taking you on a ride through the country with all of your emotional baggage flying out the back of the old hippie van on a dirt road. The next day you will find me head banging, and dancing in multi colored sarongs on huge festival stages with a big smile on my face while playing bass. The next day you will find me working on the band van getting it ready for the next tour while driving uber that night to make enough money to pay my bills that month. And then the next day I am recording and engineering new music (myself and others) in the solace of my basement studio. It is my desired intention to be remembered as a good person first and foremost. Humble, full of love, gratitude and positivity. I feel my musical creations are deeply set in that same intention and energy. The music that I create is intended to help remind me every time I sing it to be grateful, have a broad perspective and an open mind while remembering what really matters in life, and the afterlife. I do not care to be defined by musical genre but to simply create what feels good to me and what I am inspired by. I am truly proud of how I’ve handled myself in the face of very adverse conditions on the road, maintaining my composure and dignity and asking for forgiveness when I haven’t done so well in those areas. I am also proud that I have helped release 6, going on 8, beautiful albums full of music in the past 10 years that will literally help people heal and feel better in nearly any situation imaginable. The music is my legacy in many ways. If you want to know what kind of a person I am and what I’m about just listen to those albums and you will get a very good idea of who I am.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
As an individual, and as a musician my parents are the first I need to thank. They continually encouraged me to learn music by buying me musical instruments for Christmas from the time I was 12 and giving me a stable home environment to access my higher levels of learning. They also encouraged me to perform in church and gave me a platform to share my music in those safe and accepting places. They pushed me to archive and document my songs so I wouldn’t lose them, which ultimately led me to recording my first album at age 16. I am forever indebted to them and love them more than words could describe. My family in general has been extremely supportive of my music career. From a young age I would go to family reunions and learn new musical skills from my cousins, who had bands in the Denver area growing up. They never told me I sucked or were mean in that way. Always just leaving me bread crumbs to follow and learn more. Specifically, Aunt Connie has always shown up for me and my musical career and I want to give her, her husband Dave, and her kids a huge THANK YOU! They have come to so many shows, helped me fund raise for so many musical projects, and just been generally loving throughout the whole process. To be very clear, none of the Big Beautiful Band albums would exist without the help, skills and talents of the men and women in the Big Beautiful Band over the years. Pat Hanson produced, recorded and performed on all three of the BBB albums, spending countless hours with me over the years. I am deeply grateful for him and his work and pray he can keep fighting the good fight for himself and his family and never stop creating music! The specific members of the BBB over the years that I want to thank for all the work they put into the recordings and performances on the albums and at the shows are (in chronological order): Benjamin Hinkeldey (bass), Alex Lugwa (drums), Ian Norris (drums), Matt Salmons (keys), Blair Schotts (drums), Will Risbourg (guitar, banjo), Sean Rzewnicki (bass), Sara Broman (vocals), Randy J Knox (drums), Pamela Grace Okeke (vocals), Roland Majcan (drums), Andy Brown (bass), Graham Mueller (drums), Doug Wingert (mixing engineer), Lara Ballon (vocals), Elijah Jarosh (percussion), Brady Douglas (percussion/vocals), Ashley Willfire (vocals), Alison Amarnick (vocals), Stephen Bowen (mixing engineer), Christopher Morgan (drums), Anna Ballon (vocals), Bruce Baumman (vocals/promotion), Scott Clements (trombone/trumpet), Jake Zimmerman (guitar), Jordan Colbert (guitar), Brent Kaufman (vocals), and Pat Hanson (guitar/bass/drums/engineer/production). It feels great to actually see the names of all the beautiful and talented people that have been a part of that project over the years. Super grateful for each and every one of you and your help making the vision of the Big Beautiful band come to life. For the Copper Children project I’d like to thank my band mates, both past and present: Christopher Morgan, Zea Stallings, Elijah Jarosh, Jordan Colbert, Erique Johnson and Nyki Flyin for their dedication to creating great art even through tough times. I love you all and appreciate you more than I can express. Also, our manager Angela Jensen has stuck with us through thick and thin and worked tirelessly to help us succeed. We would certainly not be as far as we are without you! May you make back all the energy you’ve put in tenfold in joy, love and financial abundance! A special thanks to all of my music teacher throughout the years that pushed me to be better than I knew I could be while helping me appreciate and understand the power and pleasure of music. My mom (Mrs Kathy Babb), Mr. Halligan, Mr. Salvador, Mr. Sharpe, Mr. Warbe, and Mr. Hart. A deep bow of gratitude and respect to each of you for your years of service to mother music and the lives you’ve touched. Last, but not least I would like to thank my fiance and life partner, Lara Ballon, for being my constant companion, my muse, and my love. As Steve Perry once said “Lovin’ a music man ain’t always what it’s supposed to be. Oh girl you stand by me. I’m forever yours, faithfully.” (Why try to say it any better than that?!) Looking forward to spending a life of love, music, travel and growth with you. Thank you for always believing in me and singing my songs back to me when I forget them. I love you.

Contact Info:

• Email: andybabbmusic@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.andyandlara.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andybabbmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andyandlaramusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andybabbsmusic
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/andy-babb
• Other: https://www.thecopperchildren.com

Image Credits
Danielle Walsh Shaunti Lalliam (Still Focus Media) Anthony Beregual Photography Anna Ballon Bruce Baumann