Rear-View Mirror Spotlight: Andrew Goldman

Rear-View Mirror Spotlight: Andrew Goldman March 22, 2012

About a year ago, I asked Ernie Haase who his picks would be if he were putting together a young all-stars male quartet. He chose Andrew Goldman for baritone, a kid who’s grown up in Ernie’s own town and “has really caught my attention.”
I made a mental note to keep an eye on young Andrew, and coincidentally he has been making recent waves with Ryan Seaton’s new group Union Street. It didn’t take more than a few Youtube clips to convince me that Andrew is a very, very serious talent. People are already comparing him to the young Doug Anderson, and he does have a similar smooth quality. But his more power-house stylings actually recall a young Ryan Seaton for me, though with a lighter timbre—at the moment I’m leaning towards a comparison to Riley Clarke. And Riley’s a tenor. Although Andrew sings baritone with Union Street, he can and has sung lead (for the Conquerors Quartet). His range is astonishing. There are virtually no baritones in southern gospel who can hit the notes he hits, and only a handful of leads. And through it all, he maintains an immensely satisfying purity and cleanness of tone. He’s just plain easy to listen to.
This young man has the complete package. He should already be numbered among the top ten baritones in the genre, at least. I’m going to go a step further and say he should be in the top five. Here are a couple samples of what he can do. First, watch him take a turn at the tenor part for the key change on “The Love of God”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSyJQuhqYPE&
Now, watch him own the classic “Who Am I.” (HT to Josh on this one):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDcZ8ZQflpk
Andrew Goldman, ladies and gentlemen! What do you think? I say all he needs to do is lose the dorky retro glasses and he’s good as gold.


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