A Velo Video Warmup for Suwanee

"Girl, I thought what we had could never turn bad/So your leavin' caught me unaware/But the fact is you've run ... girl, that can't be undone/
So here's a quarter, call someone who cares." 

Travis Tritt, also performed by Andy Velo on Oct. 26, 2011

The air was thick with Andy Velo stories Wednesday night at 37 Main-A Rock Cafe in Buford.

Velo, the Suwanee native and North Gwinnett High grad whose star is rising in country music, was telling some of the stories himself while he and his band were recording a video for Country Music Television.

"I used to lock myself up in my grandmother's house and watch videos on CMT," Velo told the crowd at 37 Main, which had come to hear Velo and be a part of filming the video (his first) for "Southern Thing," his latest single. "I hope that somewhere some young person will watch this video and get some inspiration from it."

Velo's grandmother, Agnes Wesse of Lawrenceville, was at the show but said she didn't remember that. However, Velo's sister, Tonya Velo of Lawrenceville, backed Andy Velo up. "We didn't have cable," Tonya Velo said during the gig.

Obviously, friends and family turned out big time for the shoot and concert by Andy Velo, which lasted about two hours.

That included his mother, Cathy, his father, Leo, and his brother, Tony, a student at North Gwinnett Middle.

"It was like raising a wild stallion," Cathy Velo said of Andy's childhood years.

These days the stallion roams a lot. Home is either a stage or a big bus with the markings of Jim Beam, his sponsor for regional touring. That touring will bring Andy Velo to Town Center Park in Suwanee on Saturday, Nov. 5, to headline Parker's Parks Party.

"He was in his house (in Sugar Hill) six nights last month," Tonya Velo said.

Danny Hunter and Nathan Lippert also came for the show; they remember Andy Velo from Sugar Hill United Methodist Church.

"(Andy) liked to have fun," Hunter said. "We'd go out after church, see movies, and hang out at Starbucks. ... He had a good singing voice."

Lippert said he is good friends with the Velo family, which lives near Suwanee Elementary, and noted that Velo's father plays guitar. He noted that Andy Velo worked on the security ministry at Sugar Hill UMC.

But the best juice on Andy Velo came from Christy Wrape of Monroe, who attended with husband Jason. Seems Velo dropped in on them in September during the Georgia-Boise State football game, and went uplugged for some tunes. (Jason Wrape even has a video of the event on his smartphone.)

Asked what Velo played, Christy Wrape responded with "Southern Thing," some "new demos" and ... "he did play some Justin Bieber."