John McAndrew is on a roll.

He has a new CD, “Good Enough.”

He has a new manager, WBA Entertainment.

Later this year, Hollywood will release two movies — “Jake’s Corner” and “Welcome Back, Miss Mary” — featuring his music.

His new management has plans for a European tour and Broadway is interested in his song-stories, too.

Life is sweet.

Paramount Theatre will be a stop on an Upper Midwest tour.

McAndrew will appear in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Paramount Theatre.

McAndrew has been touring the country for 25 years.

His piano virtuosity and vocal styles are merely the medium for the message woven in the stories he tells.

Think Billy Joel, Harry Chapin, Paul Simon and Jimmy Webb. A little bit from influences, but all McAndrew.

In a telephone interview from his home in Nashville, McAndrew talked about his music and his career.

“After 25 years of doing this, I better be getting better,” he answered a clumsy question. “There’s more blues and jazz in my music today than ever before.

“Audiences will hear a lot of Hoagy Carmichael. It’s quite a mixture really,” he said.

His showmanship comes as no surprise to those who knew him as a child, when, by his own admission, “I was quite popular and quite a showman when I was young.”

His father, who played clarinet in Stan Kenton’s orchestra, was a big influence on the young McAndrew, but there were others in the family.

“My older brother, Emil, played in the North Country Band, which was quite popular years ago in Minnesota,” he said.

Gigs took the McAndrews to Austin and the Freeborn Country Fair among other Land of 10,000 Lakes stop-overs.

The latest road trip will require only a van for McAndrew and time to listen to Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and Bruce Hornsby, his current on-the-road favorites.

WBA Entertainment plans to videotape the Friday performance, so the audience’s response will be critical to the success of the video.

But audience members shouldn’t forget, McAndrew writes his own music, tells his own stories and does it in his singular style at the piano.

Advance tickets may be purchased at the Paramount Theatre box office (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday); B&J Bar and Grill, Hy-Vee Food Store of Austin customer service counter and Hardy Geranium, all in Austin, and Tone Music, Albert Lea.

All seats are $15.

For more information about the Friday concert, call 434-0934 or toll-free (866) 434-0934.