Canadian bluesman Matt Andersen.
"I'm six-feet-two, 400 pounds, of a man that's full of love," sang the mountainous Matt Andersen, last weekend at Glenn Gould Studio. "I might look like a guy on the Ten Most Wanted, but you know I'm nothing to be scared of."
On the jaunty, forthright parlour blues of One Size Never Fits All, the New Brunswick strongman was gay about his girth, believing that a woman can never have enough of him. "I'll do more for you than those other guys could," he pledges heartily, "I'm gonna love you pound for pound."
Andersen, a gust of fresh air on the blues and folk scene who returns to Glenn Gould on Monday, wryly described the tune as the closest thing he has to a protest song. True enough, his set featured no agitated music - what he does is rootsy singer-songwriter fare, towering acoustic soul, and three-chord blues that are finger-picked mostly, but sometimes thumped and other times played with a glass slide.
His songwriting is nothing spectacular, so he enlivens the material with big-hearted vocals, mischievous guitar virtuosity and a firm understanding of dynamics. He's a one-man show, sure thing.
Andersen's cover of Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine was an eclipse in itself - his sorrow so profound as to black out the theatre.
Squeezed in among in his 200 or so dates a year, the young artist recently won a trophy and applause at the annual International Blues Challenge in Memphis. You see, Andersen, the most thrilling thing in Canadian blues since Jeff Healey, is not only big - he's a big deal. Brad Wheeler
Matt Andersen, with Calgary singer-songwriter Wil as guest, plays Glenn Gould Studio, March 8 (8 p.m. $29.50, 250 Front St. W., 416-872-4255).
Other dates: March 10, Studio Theatre, Hamilton; March 11, Sean O' Sulllivan Theatre, St. Catharines, Ont.; March 12, Gibson Cultural Centre, Alliston, Ont.
Brad Wheeler