Songwriter Andrew Belle works from a fan’s view Modern Music

Songwriter Andrew Belle works from a fan’s view

Written by Leah Gillies on March 20, 2011 – 3:34 pm

If you go

What: Singer-songwriter Andrew Belle in concert, with Cody Carnes and Paul Matta

Where: Monks Coffee Shop, 233 Cypress St.

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Cost: $8

Information: Monks, 437-2984

While he’s carved out his own modest success as a songwriter, Andrew Belle has never stopped approaching his work from the perspective of a music fan.

His peers even rib him for it. Take the story of how Belle got into Ten out of Tenn, a consortium of songwriters and performers out of Nashville.

The group formed with its original 10 members in 2008 and was touring through Chicago, where Belle lived at the time. A friend practically had to drag Belle to the show. He heard “Nashville” and immediately thought of cowboy hats and rhinestones.

“Well, I’m not a fan of country, but I’ll go,” Belle told his friend.

As he stood in the audience, watching singers like cofounder Trent Dabbs, Katie Herzig and Andy Davis deliver gem after gem of smart, acoustic pop, Belle realized how mistaken he’d been.

And he wanted in.

“I was blown away,” Belle remembers. “I immediately wanted to be a part of it, from like a jealous standpoint.”

So when Ten out of Tenn decided to expand its roster, and with Belle now working out of Nashville himself, guess who was first in line?

Belle eventually proved himself worthy of joining the group. His songs of romance won and lost, delivered in a folksy hush, fit right in with the group’s established style.

But he also earned the nickname “Mark Wahlberg,” as a reference to the 2001 movie “Rock Star.” In it, Wahlberg’s character plays a tribute singer and super-fan who eventually becomes a member of his favorite band, Steel Dragon.

So while that anecdote might suggest kid-brother status for Belle in the group, his 2010 full-length debut “The Ladder” proved he was right up there with the others in terms of talent.

While Belle admits he didn’t really know what he was doing on his earlier recordings, the songs on “The Ladder” showcased a newly emboldened musician just hitting his stride. Featuring an expanded selection of instrumentation, from strings to glockenspiel parts, “The Ladder” fleshed out the acoustic sketches of Belle’s older songs.

That was promising enough, but then Belle experienced the “Grey’s Anatomy” bump. Long known for featuring unheralded artists on its soundtrack, the hit show gave Belle’s single “In My Veins” a prominent showcase on its sixth season finale.

“It was great to get that exposure,” Belle says. “Financially, it enables me to do what I do.”

Belle is a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to music. Growing up in a Chicago suburb, Belle (born Drew Fortson) lived in a household where his parents forbade secular music. He would record pop radio stations during the day and secretly listen to them in his bed at night.

While Belle says writers tend to overstate this period of his life, it nevertheless spurred him to love pop music all the more. Even today, he draws the bulk of his inspiration from listening to new songs.

“When I hear other artists’ work, it reminds me how awesome creating a melody can be,” Belle says.

As it turns out, the line between being an artist and being a fan isn’t all that thick.

“I don’t have to wait tables anymore,” Belle says. “But I still want to go back to listening to music the way I did then.”

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