Andi Starr in her New Warm World

Andi Starr is a classically trained pianist who picked up a $100 guitar after college and approached it much like she would a piano. Over a decade and five albums later, the resulting music reflects not only the ambiance and dynamics of her classical upbringing but also her mission, which from the start has been to write music that is unafraid to address political, religious and social issues. Hailed at times as a stunning cross between early Jewell, Azure Ray and Tori Amos, Starr's gift is in turning difficult subject matter into heartfelt, sometimes haunting, and always beautiful compositions. A recent review in Culturespill Magazine states: "Andi Starr hits the right notes: the notes that hurt, the notes that know you, the notes that make you meet yourself."

After several years of working a "professional job" by day, Starr decided in 2006 to pursue her music full time, and with immediate impact. In 2007, Starr and her band collaborated with seasoned engineer Larry Crane (Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney, Cat Power) for the making of Leaving the White Line (Starr's fourth release), which garnered immediate regional and national attention (see Fact Sheet).

After a summer tour in support of Leaving the White Line in 2007, Starr packed up all her belongings in her van (with a partner and a cat) and headed to southern California where she has spent the last year creating, arranging and producing her fifth album, New Warm World. About this move from Portland, Oregon to California, Barbara Mitchell, staff writer for The Portland Tribune, wrote: "While L.A. might be overrun by aspiring hopefuls and Midwestern refugees, Starr should have no problem quickly distancing herself from the competition--her clear, lovely voice and clean, lean folk-pop instincts mark her as a career artist and not just another flash in the pan."

For the first time without a back-up band in three albums, Starr plays keyboard, organ, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, and percussion on New Warm World, which in many ways is a return to her roots, particularly her classical upbringing (see songs "Go to the Ocean," "Stardust," "Crow," and "Lavender and Cinnamon," for example). The title, however, also suggests a new opening for Starr. Characteristically haunting and beautiful as her vocals and music have been described in the past, this album also radiates warmth and light, and is more personal in nature. Herein is the voice of a mature woman in a different place, a new warm world, truly in her element.