A Conversation with Andy Frasco

In divisive times like these, music is one of the few things that can bring everyone together, and one of the musicians who most beautifully exemplifies this magical musical concept is Andy Frasco.

The 35-year-old blues/rocker, whose band “Andy Frasco & The U.N.” will be appearing at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta this Saturday, November 4th, plays “Hava Nagila” at every one of his concerts and encourages everyone in attendance to join together and take part in dancing the horah. “I did one last week during the ‘Day of Jihad’ [October 13, 2023],” he told me. “And I had a Palestinian fan come to the middle of the room and told me 'I'm Palestinian.' I said, ‘Well, let's do this together!’ I felt that was a beautiful moment.”

Andy comes across as relaxed, happy and incredibly funny. While he’s proud to be Jewish and a part of the great Jewish tradition in American music, being Jewish wasn’t always easy for Andy. In fact, as a youngster it was incredibly difficult, and it was during that challenging period that music became Andy’s emotional outlet.

“My whole life I've had to hide that I was a Jew. I grew up in Los Angeles with a bunch of people who didn't really like Jews. I was always kind of hiding my Jewish part of me until my hair started growing  and I couldn't...I'd always kept my hair real short, I didn't want people to make fun of my afro. I got shitted on a lot when I was a kid. I started writing music and playing music to try to not suppress all the feelings I had and the angst I had when I was a kid.”      

For many, their faith becomes the outlet with which one can express their feelings. For Andy, the bullying he received for being Jewish was a catalyst for his creativity: “I feel music is a religion in itself as well,” he said, before continuing: “Maybe we found the idea of religion through what our parents taught us, and then as we get older, we realize we could pick our own religion.”

Surprisingly, as I listened to Andy share his Jewish story with me, I couldn’t help but think of the Jewish story of famed swing-era clarinetist, Artie Shaw. Shaw, born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, grew up in New Haven, Connecticut and was often called a ‘kike’ or ‘Christ-killer’ by his schoolmates; this totally changed Shaw and he later said that everything he did in his life was a result of being made fun of for being Jewish.       

Sadness and Hope. Minor to Major. Oy to Joy. Judaism is all about embracing life and being alive. So is Andy Frasco. “I like the balance of showing that there's been darkness and there's also been light,” he told me.

He explained how, as both he and his hair grew, he came into his own and became proud of who he is. “I’m not going to fake anything in this life,” he explained, before continuing: “As I got older I realized, why am I faking who I am? Then I started doing the horah at every show, and even in Germany, I did it at Hitler's gravesite. We had 10,000 Germans do the horah in Nuremberg…I’m proud of being Jewish.”

“I never learned anything about the Old Testament until I got older in life, and I started thinking about my roots and stuff and like, ‘Oh, I really don't know anything about what Passover is or anything.’ I started learning about it [and realized] this is some heavy shit the Jewish culture had to deal with…Eventually you realize, ‘Okay, so what's the bare bones religion?’ Having hope that there's going to be a better tomorrow maybe or understanding what other people have gone through, so we could be better people today and stuff and I feel like music does that same thing as any religion, and I think when people say that, I resonate with that as well, because music got me through the darkness. It wasn't religion that got me through the darkness, but religion taught me that there was darkness, and how we could cope with it…I think both sides helped me understand that what the beauty of religion can bring to a soul and that you don't have to be forced to be put into a religion if you believe in something else. Make anything your religion.”

I asked him about his concert in Nuremberg, Germany, and performing and dancing the horah in the same location Hitler gave one of his famed speeches. “I was crying. That was the heaviest. I did it for my parents, my mom and my grandparents, my great-grandparents. They're all Eastern European Jews, so they had to deal with World War II. I thought it was important for me to do that. To have the German people have my back about it was pretty heartfelt.”

I shared with Andy that I was absolutely dreading my first performance following the terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7th but was pleasantly surprised to see and feel just how healing it was for both me and the audience; every show since has honestly felt like a big and much-needed hug, and I truly believe that music is perhaps more important now than it ever was.

He stated emphatically: "You need to play music! Music's a universal language. Music heals everyone. It doesn't matter what culture you're in or color of your skin. You go to a concert and there's all these different people listening to that same song. That's going to build community more than just silencing it. Let's…play music. Let's jam. Let's have fun, and hopefully, show people that we could all be together in this thing. Try to figure some shit out. You know? Especially right now when everything's all fucked up out there, so it's like we need to counter-balance it with people understanding what life is about too. It's like we've got to play music, we've got to heal, and we've got to listen to each other."

With antisemitism seriously on the rise and Andy celebrating his Judaism so publicly at all of his concerts, I asked him if he ever experiences antisemitism these days. “Yeah,” he said. “When I get deep into Poland or if I get deep into Alabama where they don't got a lot of Jews, I'll get the gas station antisemitism a lot, but it is what it is. It's not as bad as I thought it'd be. I get worse chuckles when I’m wearing Laker jerseys in Boston than I do being a Jew in the south.”

Here’s hoping it stays that way.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that "Without music, life would be a mistake." I've always interpreted this as "Music is proof that life is not a mistake," and Andy's story illuminates just how powerful and magical music can be.  Not only did Andy Frasco find light in all the darkness he experienced, but the music, the joy and togetherness that he spreads as a result makes him a true bright light as well. In this crazy world, I’m thankful that Andy Frasco exists.

Andy Frasco & The U.N. + Doom Flamingo will be at the Variety Playhouse this Saturday, November 4 at 8:30 or tickets,
please click here.