Andy Reiss

Guitarist Andy Reiss has been playing on hundreds of records with artists including Miranda Lambert, John Oates, Amy Grant, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, and Leon Russell. Returning to his early jazz influences, he has also recorded with many jazz greats, including Pete Christlieb, Beegee Adair, Benny Golson, and as a member of “Bad Rhythm,” an exciting trio with drummer Danny Coots and pianist Brian Holland.

Reiss has been an active Nashville community member for more than 35 years. He was raised in a household that mainly listened to traditional classical music. Andy began his formal music education with the piano at age 7, moving to the guitar at 10. Some of the many concerts that were complete eye-opening experiences were B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and, of course, psychedelic luminaries such as The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane. This was also when he discovered jazz, and his guitar work became heavily influenced by greats such as Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, and Kenny Burrell.

After arriving in Nashville, he was fortunate enough to have two influential A-Team advocates, the legendary producer and steel guitarist Pete Drake and the visionary Harold Bradley, the guitarist who, along with his brother Owen, built the first recording studio on Nashville’s Music Row, and served as a long time President of the local Musician’s Union. Andy’s first recording session was for the actor Slim Pickens. This session was an overwhelming initiation, involving many A-Team pickers such as Drake, Charlie McCoy, Bob Moore, Pete Wade, Pig Robbins, and the Jordanaires, (Elvis Presley and the Jordanaires).
Since then, he has become a studio mainstay.

He has also toured extensively with the legendary Slim Whitman and Reba McEntire and is a member of the Time Jumpers, a Western Swing Supergroup on Rounder Records. The Time Jumpers have enjoyed a 20-year Monday night residency at various nightclubs in Nashville and have been nominated for six Grammy awards, winning one in 2017 for Roots Song of the Year. The band has toured internationally playing venues as diverse as Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa and Carnegie Hall.

Andy Reiss discovered BENADO while playing alongside Paul Franklin with the Time Jumpers. Together, they worked on a signature unit called "The Jazzy Blues," which Sage Benado customized especially for Andy's needs.