Andy Northrup is first and foremost a songwriter. Over the span of the last ten years he has created a catalogue of songs that have been widely performed by musical theatre types and interpretive vocalists alike. Presently working in a wide variety of mediums, Andy has composed music and written lyrics for five musicals including works with noted Edmonton Fringe Festival favorites Gerald Osborn and Marty Chan (currently Citadel theatre playwright in residence) . Two of these musicals have been co-composed with Allan Gilliland, well-known for his award winning compositions as well as for his work as composer in residence for the Edmonton Symphony.

In addition to work in musical theatre, Andy has written or co-written a catalogue of 110 songs in the singer\songwriter tradition which culminated in the release of the CD "Slow Burn Avenue" in 2001. "Slow Burn Avenue", which was released independently on the "R New House Up North" label, has received critical acclaim for it's songwriting and musicianship across Canada, the United States, and Australia and was reviewed as "a sterling debut" by Larry Flick in Billboard Magazine in August of 2002. This has led to various live performances in Western Canada and also has resulted in a couple of engagements in New York City, the first being a house concert for OutMusic in January of 2003 and the second about to happen August 30, 2003 at noted former punk palace "CBGB" for the GLBT songwriter festival "Bearapalooza".

A number of public, private and university radio stations in Canada, the US and Australia have playlisted "Slow Burn Avenue". The disc has also been featured on "This Way Out's" 'AudioFile' which is a production of a syndicated radio network out of Los Angeles. The show was subsequently broadcast on 125 public radio stations around the world during the month of April 2002. The album has also been featured on CBC Alberta's "The Key of A" and CBC Nunavut's morning showcase as well as on Bill Richardson's CBC Radio one national program "Richardson's Roundup". Andy's next disc is to be recorded in the fall of 2003 with likely release happening in early 2004.

Other aspects of Andy's creative endeavors include being active in composition for theatrical productions and sound designing for 14 shows. Fave credits in the Western Canadian theatre scene include Shel Silverstein's "The Devil and Billy Markham" (directed by Kevin Sutley), HA! (written by Chris Craddock and Wes Borg, directed by Eileen Sproule), Morris Panych's Seven Stories (directed by Matt Kowalchuk), SuperED (written by Chris Craddock and directed by Steve Pirot), and Flowers (directed by Judy Unwin). A collaborative type by nature, Northrup credits musician\songwriters like Charles Maisonneuve, Darrin Hagen, Rob Clements and Maria Dunn as typical of the individuals he has written with. Two of Andy's favorite collaborators are his bandmates in "The Andy Northrup Trio", Pat Campbell and Ed Garrick, both of whom are accomplished songwriters, multi-instrumentalists and arrangers. Another new initiative in Andy's career is writing text for Allan Gilliland's "Blessed" a classical choral work commissioned by Pro Coro Canada and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. "Blessed" received it's world premiere on January 27, 2002 at the Francis Winspear Centre for music in a concert setting performed by Pro Coro Canada. The concert was recorded by CBC Stereo 2 and has been featured on "Choral Concert" across the country. "Blessed" has subsequently been added to Pro Coro's touring repetoire and will be featured during it's 2002 tour of choral festivals in Canada.

Northrup has also been known to tread the boards acting in such productions as Stewart Parker's "Pentecost" (Studio Theatre - University of Alberta), David L. Nugent's "The Dark Wood" (Theatre Network's NEXTFEST), Chris Craddock's "Indulgences" (Edmonton Fringe 97) and George F. Walker's "Better Living" (Walterdale Theatre). He has also been featured in films and commercials most notably in Ben Babchishin's "God's Taxi" and "Mary Loathes Tuna". In addition Northrup has written script and storylines for film and television with his most notable credit being Ken Brown's whacked out view of cafe life, "Cafe Utopia", which has played art houses across Canada.

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