October 2023

Brought up with the traditions of his musical family, drummer Glen Finister Andrews is equally at home playing in the French Quarter streets and iconic venues like Preservation Hall.

– by Karen Lozinski

There’s an enduring tradition in the French Quarter – a musical one – where young musicians perform on its streets to hone their chops and build their hustle, helping them grow into accomplished professionals.

Much of this happens under the careful stewardship and guidance of older musicians, making sure the next generation is protected, nurtured culturally, and learns to play their instruments and the songs as a cohesive unit, as a band. It’s a practice that shapes aesthetics, worldviews, and even careers – one that is rich with stories and keeps the culture of New Orleans thriving.

Glen Finister Andrews is one such musician. Husband, father, and member of the legendary Andrews family, he’s proud of the experience that has transformed him from a fledgling musician into a powerhouse drummer.

Glen goes hard – for his craft, his family, his culture, and his city. A Quarter regular, music fans can catch him performing almost every morning with some equally dedicated brass band members right outside Café du Monde’s iconic, white-and-green striped awning. People treating themselves to café au lait and beignets heaped with powdered sugar enjoy the ebullient tones of the band while they eat. But anyone passing by is lucky to hear the music too, music redolent with the city of New Orleans itself in every strike of the drum or blow of the trumpet.

Glen’s reasons for playing on the street are authentic to who he is as a musician and a person:

“Any time I can roll on my snare drum, it makes me feel awesome. I put my drum on and I know I’m alright. That just makes me happy. That just keeps me happy.”

“Another reason is to take care of my family. And go hang out with the guys, you know. ”

Glen’s music heritage runs deep, going back to family patriarch Jesse Hill, whose big hit “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” (1960) charted impressively when it was released, and it’s been covered by a host of artists such as Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, Taj Mahal, and The Who, in their original incarnation as The High Numbers.

Like so many other New Orleans musicians, Glen has been performing since he was very young. In Glen’s case, he started as a six-year-old. He first went out into the Quarter under the watchful eyes and careful tutelage of men who are not only giants in his family, but in music itself: trumpet player James “Twelve” Andrews, and trombonists Glen David Andrews and Revert Andrews.

But Glen credits his entire career to James, to whom he refers as “the father figure of music for the Andrews family.” James got everyone started, took them to gigs, trained them, took them out into the Quarter to play (James himself is a veteran of this practice), and has continued to make sure they have work.

“Without James Andrews, a lot of us wouldn’t be playing music and wouldn’t be where we are. I can’t really name too many musicians in our family that didn’t go through him or work with him. James put everyone on their first gig: me, Troy [“Trombone Shorty” Andrews], Revert/“Peanut” [Andrews], Travis [“Trumpet Black” Hill], and my father.”

Glen has been playing the snare drum for over twenty years with brass bands, and his past and present roster includes ToBeContinued Brass Band, Kinfolk Brass Band, Young Fellas, Kings of Brass, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, with whom he tours and plays a full kit.

He’s also had the good fortune to meet and work with quite a few luminaries while on the streets of the Quarter, including impromptu sessions with legendary drummer Herlin Riley, who jumped in one day while walking through the Quarter and started playing Glen’s cymbals with the band. Another stellar encounter for Glen was when he was on set with Rebirth Brass Band while shooting a sequence for the 2017 feature film Girls Trip:

“…I met Queen Latifah…she was very cool, very cool. She answered all [our] questions. She was very open with us. You know she wasn’t just a regular star. She was very, very outgoing and she come playing on my drum, which made me know she wasn’t one of [those celebrities] who don’t want to talk to you and things like that.”

Though he has fond memories of his celebrity encounters, what matters most to Glen is playing music with his family and the musicians in that family who came before him in the Quarter and showed him the way. That love of playing with family moves generationally in both directions, however, as Glen frequently brings his young son, Glen Jr., to the Quarter with him to play. He brings a trumpet for his son, though he believes his kid is a drummer at heart.

Another of his favorite aspects of playing live on the streets of the Quarter is interacting with the fans and tourists who pause to listen to the band play: “Somebody’s gotta step up and talk to the crowd, learn all the words to the songs, and learn how to entertain.” Glen appreciates how fun it is to talk with people from all over the world as they listen, dance, and take photos and videos of him and the band as they play.

Glen’s devotion to his craft and the pursuit of greater levels of expertise as a drummer are evident in the regularity of his French Quarter gig – people who would like to catch some authentic New Orleans music can find him and the band outside Café du Monde almost every day, starting at around 7:30 in the morning and running until approximately 11am. He also plays at Preservation Hall, contact them for which nights he’ll be performing.