Musicians found all sorts of ways to keep going during the pandemic.
Andy Thorn found friendship with a fox.
Weeks into his unfamiliar routine of staying home, Thorn got into a new routine of playing his banjo outside. He and his wife, Cecelia, moved into their house in the foothills of Boulder in 2015, but the life of a touring musician meant Thorn was always coming and going.
Thorn, a member of Colorado’s beloved bluegrass jam band Leftover Salmon, had never been home long enough to really notice the foxes in the neighborhood. Or how one fox fleeted through their yard every single day.
Or how the fox didn’t flee when Thorn sat outside on the deck and softly strummed his banjo. The fox stopped. He sat down in the grass, watching the man and his instrument. The fox’s furry little ears even seemed to perk up, as if he liked what he heard.
The wildlife-loving couple got a kick out of the sight. It was something to text friends when they asked about what’s new.
“It started as something we enjoyed to ourselves,” Thorn said. “We were like, ‘Wow, this fox loves music.’”
When it happened again, Thorn’s wife pulled out her phone to record the interaction. It was the first of a dozen such videos they shared with friends or posted on YouTube. They didn’t expect the millions of views, which would come later.
“It was the pandemic and we were stuck at home and bored,” Thorn, 39, said, as a sort of disclaimer. “Nothing was really happening, but this was something fun and cool happening for us.”
As sometimes happens in music, the fox turned from fan to muse.
In Leftover Salmon, Thorn’s banjo-picking is high energy. But the fox didn’t like the sound of that. Thorn realized the fox, who he eventually named Foxy, preferred a slower, more delicate playing style called clawhammer.
“I never did clawhammer before,” he said. “And now I really love it.”
All of this inspired the couple to write an album together. They released “Fox Songs and Other Tales From the Pandemic” in March 2021.
If you wanted to catch up with the couple, the song titles would tell the short version of the story.
“Canceled all the shows” is the first tune on the record and “Got the Fox as Company” comes next.
“He’s the only friend we’re allowed to see,” Thorn sings. “And yes, I’d say that’s alright with me.”
Down the list is another song title: “Bun in the Oven.”
“That’s another thing we did during the pandemic,” Thorn said. “We had a kid.”
Their son was born just in time to witness Thorn’s moments of fame.
As the videos of Thorn and the fox circulated the internet more, they reached more and more of the right eyeballs.
“It started as a little thing,” Thorn said. “Then it went crazy.”
One video, featuring the fox’s sweet serenade with the sunset and mountain view in the background, reached more than 3 million views.
News outlets started calling and emailing. Thorn found his picture on the front page of Reddit and heard about his face being on TV screens around the world.
In January, he was on TV again.
“Yeah, I was on the freaking Kelly Clarkson show,” Thorn said. “That was a trip.”
He made sure to mention he’s in a band named Leftover Salmon.
“I’m just riding the wave,” he said. “If I can come out of it with more fans for the band, then why not?”
His tale has led to other bright sides.
Thorn’s music has inspired others to start playing the banjo. The videos have inspired others to chime in about their favorite musical encounters with animals. And they’ve simply inspired smiles.
YouTube comments offer a peek.
“It’s like he knows he’s supposed to be doing fox stuff, but just can’t tear himself away,” one reads.
Another?
“That’s about as pure as it gets, man.”
That’s how Thorn might describe some of his solo concerts for the fox.
“It’s been incredibly magical,” he said. “You’re so in the moment and enjoying the moment.”