Andrea Staten took piano lessons from former Ole Miss Beauty, Louanne Cossar of Charleston, at age 6.
She moved on to play the sax in middle school and junior high then picked up a guitar which, mostly, sat in a corner after a couple of years. She had almost given up music before moving to Oxford but today she is an up and coming performer of what she calls “boogie blues,” better known as North Mississippi Hill Country Blues.
She plays the guitar, sings a little solo and in duets, and is a wannabe songwriter.
“I just love to play North Mississippi Hill Country Blues because it makes you want to get up and move and dance more than Delta Blues which often tends to be sad,” she said.
Saturday night, July 13, at 6 p.m. Andrea will take the stage as a lead performer with friend and mentor, Kenny Brown, at Kings Steakhouse in Oxford.
She plans to rock the house.
Andrea Staten plays at a recent event
Andrea is a speech pathologist with Panola County Schools in Batesville where she lived for 10 years before moving to Oxford, more than 7 years ago. She is a graduate of Delta State University and has a master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. She played “a couple of pep rallies and for my students a few times, but an evening of good music at Proud Larry’s In Oxford inspired me to give music another try,” she said.
“I heard about this guitar workshop at North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic in Waterford and took lessons from several people that day in 2012. Teachers included North Mississippi music legends Kenny Brown, Duwayne Burnside, Garry Burnside and the late David Kimbrough, Jr.
“Now the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic held annually in Waterford is a reunion of good friends and good music. I ran into Garry Burnside at the Mississippi Allstars at the Lyric in Oxford one evening and he invited me to join him on stage at the Blue Canoe in Tupelo,” she said.
Andrea’s moonlighting music career was launched after that set at the Blue Canoe.
“It was great fun and I guess I was hooked,” she said.
After playing rhythm guitar with Garry Burnside frequently since 2013, she began singing and performing solos and duos in 2018. Now she has performed across North Mississippi and at the Women In Blues Showcase in Memphis. Mississippi Fred McDowell and Jessie Mae Hemphill’s songs are some of my favorite to play. “I’m inspired by Bonnie Raitt and Susan Tedeschi and enjoy playing some of their songs as well,” she said.
She “tries to write a little but the lyrics just don’t come easily, but her greatest love is hill country blues which “just has that grove that is hypnotic,” she said.
Originally from Paynes, a little community south of Charleston, Andrea’s sister Cindy owns a trucking company called “Free State Trucking,” after the well-known nickname "Free State Of Tallahatchie" (County), in which the community is located. Dad, Donald Wayne Staten, a noted area entrepreneur, helps out with the trucking company.
Louanne Cossar
“Andrea practiced her piano and was certainly dedicated,” recalls Louanne Cossar. "I would teach children in their free time during school hours at Charleston Elementary. I am very proud of her success.”
Swing by Kings Steakhouse Restaurant, located just off Country Road 314, Saturday night to hear Andrea. Or hear her music at AndreaStaten_ reverbnation.com .
