Andru Gomez brings jazz, blues, and style to PNW music scene with new EP release

LEAVENWORTH — A restaurant in Leavenworth on a Thursday night at the beginning tourist season is not an ideal spot for a crowd that’s truly engaged with the performance. If you’re a musician whose songs are primarily aimed at people actively listening and participating in the show — rather than treating it as ambience for the conversations they were already having, the dates they were already on, the meal they’d be eating whether you were there or not — it can be hard to feel appreciated.

Not so for Andru Gomez. The Moscow, ID–based musician is used to a dinner show. In fact, he says, he usually treats his first set as a dinner show, setting a tone and letting stragglers just coming in settle down and get used to the music, before ramping up the volume or intensity in a second set.

That explains the opening of Gomez’s night at Rhein Haus in Leavenworth on May 8. Jazz guitar with a suspiciously French vibe is soon confirmed as he reaches the chorus of “Ooh La La (I’m Not Here, Go Away),” a song that, through the creative use of a loop pedal, immediately shows off his fingerboard dexterity and allows him to use his voice as he will for the rest of the evening: As an instrument in this one-man-band.

He has a light touch that lets him control the volume of his playing without adjusting too many knobs or dials. Then, just as you get used to the pattern of him laying down rhythm guitar and playing harmony fills over the top, he begins to use vocal effects as well. Not with fancy electronics; Gomez has a variety of singing styles carried within his bass-baritone range, and has stretched it into even a higher-ranged head voice useful in parts of the songs.

During this show, and as we found out later during an interview, Gomez intersperses plenty of original music, playing only enough cover songs to make people feel at home with hints of things they recognize. And by “hints,” we mean that Gomez is playing a song that you eventually recognize, but only after he’s given it his own flavor. During one part of the show, he tells the crowd they’ll get a prize if they can guess who wrote the song he’s about to play. Launching into the song, it sounds a lot like Santana’s treatment of Fleetwood Mac’s “Black Magic Woman” until he comes in with lyrics. He’s blended the nearly-flamenco guitar into a purely Andru Gomez version of “Do It Again,” by Steely Dan.

And although the covers he elects to play are eclectic — from Atlanta Rhythm Section to Nancy Sinatra, Buffalo Springfield to Jim Croce — it’s the originals that really shine. That’s because they, too, sound familiar enough that you’re singing along by the second time through the chorus.

Throughout, he transitions seamlessly between a Tom Waits-style growl to an airy David Crosby sighing of sound, most especially on his cover of “Horse With No Name” by the band America. But when he switches over to one of his own songs, like “College Radio,” “Whiskey and Clovers” or “Get My Boots,” all that vocal styling has already prepared you to be as big a fan of the originals as the songs you know.

That’s the goal for any musician who’s made performing their full-time job, as Gomez has: To get the crowd to remember your music as much as they remember your cover of “Folsom Prison Blues,” a song that lots of bands and performers can play. And he’s a hard worker. We won’t enumerate each here, but there are well over 150 shows on his schedule right now, and he books more as they become available in advance. This really is full time work, and he tells us he’s doing reasonably well.

Gomez has already released a full length album and one other EP, and the reason for our visit is the release of another EP, “Drunk at Church.” Immediately following the show, Gomez orders a plate of Rhein Haus’ famous pork schnitzel and kraut and we sit down to talk.

When asked what he’s learned between the first EP and now about telling a story in a shorter format than a full length record, he tells us that he prefers it. “To me, it's less stressful than a full length album. I feel [for a full length] you have to have not only a broader style of songs, but they still have to be cohesive, right? An EP allows you to kind of have little quadrants of just four songs that can say a lot.”

Like his first EP, College Radio, there’s a title track from the name of the record for the upcoming release. So when can you hear “Drunk at Church”? Along with the rest of us, your first listen will be May 15, when the EP comes out.

Until then, you can hear him anytime on Spotify or follow him on Instagram at @andrugomezmusic. For upcoming shows, you can visit his website at andrugomezmusic.com. Some here in North Central Washington include a late afternoon show in Manson on May 22 at Tipsy Canyon Winery, an evening show at Wenatchee Valley Brewing in the Riverside District on May 24, and just down the road from there for another afternoon set at Pybus’ Off The Hill tasting room on May 25.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media