He is a guitarist and singer-songwriter nicknamed "Big
Al" born in Windsor, Connecticut, whose father was a bass player and mother
a pianist.Largely learning to
play by ear, he did have a few lessons and by the age of 10 was already
starting to record under the name "Little Al".The following year he became a member of The Visuals and
the next couple of years saw him with The Altones, the Blues Messengers,
The Six Packs and a jazz trio.In 1966 the Six Packs evolved into The Wildweeds and were soon heard
at local gigs and in 1967 they got their chance when Al's song "No Good to
Cry" became a regional hit, was spotted by Cadet which was a subsidiary of
Chess, and suddenly hit the charts at No. 88.Not repeating that success, he and a changed line-up moved
to Vanguard and released The Wildweeds.Matthews
Southern Comfort later covered two of the songs
on the album.In 1971 he and
the band were asked to perform at a gig with NRBQ (New Rhythm & Blues
Quartet) and this resulted in his joining them as a member in December that
year.He remained with them for 22 years as well releasing his own
solo material with John Sebastian, Elvis Costello, Glenn
Worf
, Delbert McClinton and others appearing on various
of his albums.His writing and co-writing of songs has seen him working
with/writing for acts such as Alabama
,
Duane Eddy, John Hiatt, The Mavericks, LeAnn Rimes, Hank Williams Jr., Trisha
Yearwood and the co-written "Every Little Thing" is Carlene Carter's
biggest hit to date.As a musician he has also worked
with many acts including Jimmy
Buffett, Nanci
Griffith
, The Highwaymen, John Martin, David Sanborn and Randy Travis to
name a few.Albums he features
on include his own Little Al, Party Favors, Pay Before You Pump, Got
Myself in Trouble Again, After Hours and Pawn Shop Guitars as
well as License to Chill by Jimmy
Buffett , Yound Blood by Jerry
Lee Lewis, All Hopped Up, Kick Me Hard,Scraps and Workshop
by NBRQ, Supernatural by Santana, No Good to Cry: The Best Of...
by The Wildweed among many others.Recognised in the music business, Musician Magazine named him
one of the "top 100 guitarists of the 20th century" in 1993.He currently appears with his group
Big Al Anderson & The Balls and shares his time between Santa Fe and Nashville.
