Jerry Andrews, founding member and long-time leader of West Virginia bluegrass band Crandall Creek has died. He passed away peacefully on May 21 around 12:30 p.m. Jerry was 70 years of age.
Andrews served as the band’s guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter, but as a big part of his mission with Crandall Creek was to put worthy young artists forward, he mostly contributed to the group’s harmony singing on live performances.
A native West Virginian, born in 1956 as Gerard S. Andrews, Jerry graduated from from West Liberty University with a degree in Education. He was the owner and operator of Ohio Valley Gymnastics, had run a successful logging company for many years, and had also been an investigator for the West Virginia State Police. He owned and managed L.C Smith and Gun Works in Moundsville, WV, where he specialized in restoration and sales of double-barrel shotguns. In particular, his expertise in the antique L.C. Smith shotguns was well known in the shooting and collecting community.
Crandall Creek also had a charitable mission from its founding. It was another of Jerry’s visions for the band to set aside some of the income from live shows and recordings to fund a foundation he created to give back to the music he so dearly loved. The Bluegrass Music Endeavors Foundation has funded the Steve Gulley Memorial Scholarship for the past three years, given to young bluegrass artists to help them with college costs. The Foundation has also made donations to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Miracles Happen, and the Helping Heroes veterans group. Even before the Foundation existed, Crandall Creek collected non-perishable food items through its concerts, which were donated to local food banks.
This was very much the sort of man Jerry Andrews was. He formed a band because he loved the music, but it wasn’t about glory or prestige. He was always more excited to introduce a new young member of the band, or the latest Gulley Scholarship winner, than talk about his own musical contributions.
Crandall Creek will continue on, at least through this year, as will the Steve Gulley Memorial Scholarship. A new band record was being completed when Jerry got sick again from a recurrence of colon cancer, and his passing has inspired lead vocalist Megan Paullet to compose a song in his honor. It will be included on the album, which will be dedicated to his memory.
Penni McDaniel of Hope River Entertainment, Jerry’s publicist for many years, shared this remembrance, which encapsulates Andrews’ personality perfectly.
“On a personal note, I want to share how much Jerry meant to me, not just as a client, but as a true friend. In all my years in this business, I have never met anyone more devoted to his band, his songwriting, or the music he loved than Jerry. He was incredibly generous, always putting others first, and always trying to make things better for everyone around him.
Jerry loved to talk, he dreamed big, and he never stopped working toward his goals.
I will truly miss our conversations, the laughter we shared, and his constant passion for bluegrass music.”
Visitation with the Andrews family is scheduled for Tuesday, May 26, from 2:00-4:00 p.m., and again from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Grisell Funeral Home & Crematory in Moundsville. Funeral services will be held the following day, May 27, at the funeral home at 11:00 a.m.
The family requests, in lieu of flowers, that memorial donations be made to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, or the Bluegrass Music Endeavors Foundation to fund the Steve Gulley Memorial Scholarship.
R.I.P., Jerry Andrews.
