Speaker 1: I am all in again.
Speaker 2: I am all in again with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I am all in Podcast. One
Speaker 1: of them productions. iHeartRadio Media. iHeart Podcast. We are doing
Speaker 1: episode of Luke Steiner with the one and only Andy a'llo.
Speaker 1: She is a Cameroon born actres, singer, songwriter chef shines
Speaker 1: in Amazon's upload in NBC's Chicago Fire as a former guitarist,
Speaker 1: now here's the sentence that really got me as a
Speaker 1: former guitarist and vocalist for Prince. Not a lot of
Speaker 1: people get to say that. Her music includes the Billboard
Speaker 1: charting album Super Conductor and the acclaimed singles Angels, Make Love,
Speaker 1: Beyond Music and acting. Andy explores a Cameron and roots
Speaker 1: through fine dining, hosting pop ups which I think you
Speaker 1: got one coming up too, We'll talk about that, and
Speaker 1: directing her award winning short film Alice Dynamic Artist. She
Speaker 1: continues to inspire across music, film cuisine. Follow her journey
Speaker 1: on Spotify, Apple Music, and get on her mailing list
Speaker 1: because she is busy. Welcome Andy, Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3: Wow, Thanks Scott Man, I haven't heard that.
Speaker 1: Bio bio is that me? That's all right, that's you.
Speaker 1: So first of all, first of all, we have to
Speaker 1: talk about your songwriting. We gotta do it. I mean,
Speaker 1: we'll get into the food. We're going to get into food.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, tell us about the songwriting. How did
Speaker 1: you start? How'd you get into it?
Speaker 3: Well? I've always been a storyteller, whether it was through
Speaker 3: poetry or like coming up with soap operas as a
Speaker 3: kid and just entertaining myself for hours coming up with
Speaker 3: crazy stories. But I picked up the guitar kind of
Speaker 3: out of high school. My mom is a trained pianist,
Speaker 3: so we grew up with music and she taught me
Speaker 3: a little bit of piano that has not stuck at all.
Speaker 3: But I just grew up in a very musical, creative family,
Speaker 3: so I knew I wanted to sing. I loved performing
Speaker 3: and just bringing joy to people. So I when I
Speaker 3: moved to America at thirteen from Cameroon, I knew, Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm in the place where dreams come true. This is
Speaker 3: where Hollywood is. This is where and thankfully my mom
Speaker 3: is from Sacramento, up north, so not too far from
Speaker 3: LA and I just started doing the hustle, the grind
Speaker 3: and did open mics, recorded my first album, Put That
Speaker 3: out two thousand and nine, which got me on a
Speaker 3: program that featured African singer songwriters, and the network and
Speaker 3: people behind that ended up working with Prince a year
Speaker 3: or two later. And my phone rings and they're like, hey,
Speaker 3: you know, we love you, we think you're amazing, but
Speaker 3: we're working with Prince now we think there's some synergy.
Speaker 3: And I was like, okay, cool, sure, you know, you
Speaker 3: get these random calls and you're just like sure, sure, okay, Like, yeah,
Speaker 3: come on down to a concert he's putting on and
Speaker 3: we'll try to introduce you to and so in a
Speaker 3: nutshell that but you know, I I've always loved singing
Speaker 3: and telling stories in different mediums. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: And who are your primary influences as a songwriter?
Speaker 3: Oh, Bonnie Rait, I would say, Tracy Chapman and oh
Speaker 3: so many. Joni Mitchell.
Speaker 1: J Mitchell was just gonna say, yeah, one of the
Speaker 1: great storytellers. Oh yeah, uh wow, So you're steeped in
Speaker 1: all that like late sixties, early seventies folk rock, acoustics.
Speaker 3: Story, Yeah, just great story it is. J Taylor, Yeah,
Speaker 3: oh Man.
Speaker 1: Neil Stephen still's all this Crosby Stills, NA. Sure, the
Speaker 1: great storytelling. Yeah, well that's fantastic. So do you still perform?
Speaker 1: Are you still out there playing out?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Once in a while, you know, I'll put on
Speaker 3: a show. I you know, I still play. And I've
Speaker 3: recorded a new album last year. We finished mixing it
Speaker 3: and so it's in the wings. It's uh, you know,
Speaker 3: it's simmering. And right now I'm focusing on being a chef.
Speaker 3: But I know that new music is gonna come out. Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, when when the time is ready, it's gonna
Speaker 3: be released to the basses.
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about the the album or the symphonies
Speaker 1: of your culinary expertise here.
Speaker 3: Oh that was nice.
Speaker 1: You know our listeners are people here, this incredible fan base.
Speaker 1: They love the foods of Gilmore girls. Have you ever
Speaker 1: experimented with dishes like you know, let's say something like
Speaker 1: stuffed fried squash bottoms and uh, you know, things like that,
Speaker 1: but you know, put your own spin on them. Have
Speaker 1: you ever done stuff like that?
Speaker 3: I haven't, but I need to because I love eating
Speaker 3: stub squash blossoms. It's one of my favorite things to eat,
Speaker 3: especially like when it's stuff with like some ricotta and
Speaker 3: like and then you like dip it in the tomato sauce. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's I need to start playing with it.
Speaker 1: So tell us more about your getting into the food
Speaker 1: world and how that all happened.
Speaker 3: Well, the way I grew up, we were surrounded by
Speaker 3: just such rich flavors and Cameron, and food is very
Speaker 3: community based. You know, you're around the table as many
Speaker 3: cultures are. You're you know, we're eating with our hands.
Speaker 3: You're in it, you're feeling it. It's very role and
Speaker 3: almost an immersive experience to eat. And it feels like
Speaker 3: for me watching my mom my grandmother make food over
Speaker 3: a fire. It's very and the different family members in
Speaker 3: the village and at home, you just there's such a
Speaker 3: connection and it's like love an heart on a plate.
Speaker 3: And I just grew up with such a love and
Speaker 3: appreciation for especially making things from scratch. So like my
Speaker 3: mom would make tortillas from scratch. My mom's American, so
Speaker 3: she would brought in the more like different dishes that
Speaker 3: aren't traditional to Cameroon, and that was really cool. She's
Speaker 3: grinding her own flower, you know, she's just learning how
Speaker 3: to make things in Africa that aren't readily available, so
Speaker 3: it was really amazing to watch that happen. And I
Speaker 3: love food. I love to eat, so I've always had
Speaker 3: this appreciation and dream of being a chef, but life
Speaker 3: took me in other directions of I'm just a creative
Speaker 3: so I grew up you know, singing, dancing, acting, eating
Speaker 3: and I actually used to bake cakes in exchange for
Speaker 3: song beats and that was like a deal that I
Speaker 3: had with a producer in Sacramento. Is like he would
Speaker 3: give me beats and I'd like bake a cake for him.
Speaker 3: That was my payment. Because I was like a teen,
Speaker 3: I didn't have any money, and so food has always
Speaker 3: been a through line for me.
Speaker 1: So okay, what would you recommend? Because Laura, l I
Speaker 1: and Rory they're you know, they're about takeout. You know,
Speaker 1: they like their takeout stuff and their dinero. Would you
Speaker 1: if you could introduce them to one Cameroonian dish that
Speaker 1: might rival, you know, like their pizza, their Chinese food obsession.
Speaker 1: What would that dish be?
Speaker 3: Oh? Oh that is good. And I'm a big I
Speaker 3: love takeout. I'm not gonna lie, and pizza is my
Speaker 3: go to as well. I think I would do a
Speaker 3: play on burger and fries. But in in Cameroon, in
Speaker 3: West African countries, there's a spice called soya and it's
Speaker 3: a bit it's it's spicy, but it's it's nutty. And
Speaker 3: typically it's kind of meat that's been roasted and grilled
Speaker 3: very very well and very well done. And you eat
Speaker 3: that with you can eat that with the yams, with plantains,
Speaker 3: different different things like that a rice if you want.
Speaker 3: But I would do a suya spiced burger and and
Speaker 3: I would do some fried root fries instead. Wow of
Speaker 3: some you know, like dip. I love dips. I'll just
Speaker 3: get me a dip and I'm happy.
Speaker 1: Okay. So you have your first ever pop up at
Speaker 1: Do Bistro, right, yeah, and it's just around the corner.
Speaker 1: What can diners expect from the experience. What's been the
Speaker 1: most exciting or challenging part of putting together? By the way,
Speaker 1: Annie pop up is February six, Okay, yes, and give
Speaker 1: us a location.
Speaker 3: It's at the Bistro and it's this French bistro in
Speaker 3: Woodland Hills, Okay. And I'll be there one night, one
Speaker 3: night only pop up and it's it's filling, it pretty quickly,
Speaker 3: which is amazing and really exciting to see. So I'm
Speaker 3: really excited just inviting people into Cameron and food and culture,
Speaker 3: and so you'll be taken on a journey. It's five
Speaker 3: courses preset menu, and I'm introducing different things but in
Speaker 3: a package that's familiar. So one of the dishes looks
Speaker 3: kind of like donuts or like donut holes, but we
Speaker 3: call them puff puff And then I've got a bunch
Speaker 3: of dips. So just introducing everyone in a in a
Speaker 3: package that's like, oh, yeah, wait, I think that's what
Speaker 3: that is, but the when you taste it, you're like, oh,
Speaker 3: that's she's a little different. And I think what's been
Speaker 3: fun is because there's so many dishes I could have,
Speaker 3: you know, picked from, and I'm already thinking of, oh
Speaker 3: what am I going to put on the next menu
Speaker 3: for the next pop up, but for this one, really
Speaker 3: coming up with dishes that also feel like heart warming.
Speaker 3: And so one of them is this lamb pepper soup
Speaker 3: that it's a little bit chilly here in La and
Speaker 3: and it's a soup that I just it always makes
Speaker 3: me feel at home and and it's like a cozy hug.
Speaker 3: So I'm there's some great like shredded lamb in there
Speaker 3: and a potato rose just to fancy it up a
Speaker 3: little bit. But it's one of my favorite things to
Speaker 3: make fantastic.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I can. All right, here we go.
Speaker 3: And you know what in in the in the episode,
Speaker 3: it was an osu buco. Is that how you pronounced it? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 3: And and I was like, oh my gosh. One of
Speaker 3: the dishes on my menu is like a Guinness braised
Speaker 3: short rib. And when I was like looking up, ohsu
Speaker 3: buco and I haven't wasn't really familiar with it, but
Speaker 3: I love Italian food, and and it was it's braised
Speaker 3: beal and and I was like, oh okay, yes, I
Speaker 3: love the similarities, you know, just like raising meat for
Speaker 3: a long time and just when it falls off the bone,
Speaker 3: it's just oh yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, Annie Allo go see her. Woodland Hills to Bistro,
Speaker 1: February sixth, Woodland Hills, California. Continued success. You've got got
Speaker 1: to come back and fill us in more about about
Speaker 1: your journey. You're fascinating, delightful journey. Share more of it
Speaker 1: with us. It was great talking to you, and good
Speaker 1: luck with the show. Good luck with the pop up,
Speaker 1: good luck with the album. What else? I mean, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have a cookbook coming out. I'm now right here
Speaker 1: we go, continued success and we'll talk soon. Okay, thanks so.
Speaker 3: Much, Scott. This was amazing. I'm such a big fan,
Speaker 3: so this was a dream.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Peace and love, take care. Hey, everybody, don't forget.
Speaker 1: Follow us on Instagram at I Am all In podcast
Speaker 1: and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.