STARKVILLE — For artist and musician Andrew Brister, inspiration could come from anywhere, at any moment. And sometimes, it comes from something small others don’t see.
“Sometimes, I’ll be playing a game or see a piece of art or hear a little motif in a song, and then just write a song using that little instance,” Brister said. “Sometimes a one second feeling can turn into something on the paper or on the guitar, whatever it is.
“It comes from everywhere,” Brister added. “It might be that a bottle of water might inspire one day.”
The Winona native is the latest artist-in-residence at the MacGown Art Retreat and Studio. Brister is a multidisciplinary artist who is currently working toward a fine arts degree at the Mississippi State University while also moonlighting as the frontman of the Andrew Brister Band.
Brister said he remembers loving music and video games from an early age. He first played video games as an escape from bullying in elementary school, he said, and he first picked up a guitar playing music with his uncle.
“I started playing music from the earliest I can remember, back with my uncle when I was four or five years old,” Brister said. “… He was a blues guitar player, and he just liked playing little simple stuff. I remember playing that. But my own individual journey started in 2015.”
Brister said his individual journey in music started after listening to John Mayer, the favorite artist of a girl he liked at the time. While he didn’t love the music initially, one day, as he listened to a melody, something clicked.
“It turned this gear that was kind of stuck in place,” Brister said. “And I started hearing music in a way I hadn’t ever before.”
Brister started listening to interviews of his favorite artists, along with watching other videos about guitar techniques. He took lessons his senior year of high school and started out playing other people’s songs, before starting to write his own.
While Brister wanted to pursue music and art after graduating high school, he said he had other people in his ear who convinced him to attend Holmes Community College and major in information technology. He went there briefly before transferring to an online university, and then took a break from higher education while looking for work.
“I felt like I was just kind of coasting through it,” Brister said. “Just doing it because I thought I needed to be doing something that wasn’t nothing at all. I tried to get a job after I graduated … and I couldn’t find a job anywhere in Mississippi. Couldn’t afford to move out of Mississippi. So I took a break, there.”
At the same time, Brister became friends with the owner of Rave House coffee in Grenada, who he said pushed him to get up on stage and perform publicly.
“I just had to kind of force myself to get up there,” Brister said. “I think it was a lot of him convincing me to go up there. He definitely tried a bunch of times before that specific day I got up there.”
After his friend passed away, Brister took a long break from public performance. Then, in 2022, he started performing at Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern, first at an open mic night. He formed a three-piece band with friends Jahrell Harris and Jason Blake, and the group has started performing more and more often together ever since, branching out to Grenada and Atlanta.
“We just kind of play whatever we feel,” Brister said. “At its core, it’s anywhere from pop, blues, folk. It’s just kind of a combination of everything. Sometimes we play a little bit of country here and there, but it’s not the main thing. I just kind of describe us as a nostalgic jam band.”
While Brister has been building his confidence on stage and with his song writings, he has also been working to finish his degree.
During his two-week stay at the residency, he plans to write a song every day, while also developing the concept for a video game to get ahead on his senior thesis. Brister said the theme of the project is chronophobia, and his fear of falling behind.
“I’m about to be 27, just now about to graduate, and I still struggle with ‘do I have enough time? Am I falling behind compared to everyone else?’” Brister said. “That’s going to be the big thing I work on out here, trying to find a way to design that world while using my chronophobia as the basis of it.”
Retreat owner and artist Joe MacGown said Brister’s multidisciplinary talents are part of why he invited him to the residency.
“I like people who are easy to get along with, doing cool things in the community, and if you’ve got multiple disciplines, that’s great. … And he’s a nice enough guy,” MacGown joked.
“We like people that are in the community, performing, doing things, getting along with people,” MacGown added. “Easy going, but a nice philosophy of doing art, music and different things.”
MacGown said there will be a meet and greet event for Brister at 2-5:30 p.m. Sunday at the retreat’s Sessums Road location. There will also be a reception displaying the art Brister creates at 5:30-7 p.m. June 12 at the Del Rendon Foundation’s headquarters, 100 GT Thames Drive, Suite C1.
For more information on Brister’s receptions or to schedule a visit with Brister during his residency, email [email protected].
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
