SINGER-SONGWRITER TO APPEAR ON WUMB EARLIER THAT DAY
FAN PHOTO FROM THE SHOW WILL BE INCLUDED IN ALBUM ARTWORK
WITH SPECIAL GUEST ON VOCALS, WARD HAYDEN FROM BOSTON MUSIC
AWARD-WINNING BAND GIRLS GUNS & GLORY
Fresh from a national tour and performing at the Americana
Music Festival in Nashville, TN, singer-songwriter Amy Black will be recording
a live album at Johnny D's, around the corner from her Davis Square apartment,
on January 4 with her band. The Boston Globe has called her music "deeply
felt," continuing, "From steely murder ballads to tender love songs
that evoke bedrock country tropes, the record is Americana in its broadest
definition. It's rooted in folk and country but with tinges of Southern soul
and blues."
Ward Hayden from the Boston Music Award-winning band Girls
Guns & Glory will sit in on the set. The band is made up of top shelf
Boston-area musicians: Jim Scoppa (Duke Robillard), electric guitar, Russell
Chudnofsky (Lori McKenna, Sara Borges), rhythm guitar; Lorne Entress (producer
of Black's stellar album 'One Time' and drummer for Ronnie Earl), drums; John
Styklunas, bass. Tom Dube of Front Of House Sound, who has worked with Rosanne
Cash, Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson, and Kathleen Edwards, will engineer the
live album.
The audience will have the opportunity to advance purchase
the album (both CD and a download before it's even released) for $5. A group
photo of all who come out will be included in the artwork for the album. Black
plans to release it in the spring and mount a tour behind it.
Black will also appear live on WUMB 91.9FM at noon on
January 4.
BLACK COMES TO MUSIC CAREER BACKWARDS, LEAVES COMFORT OF THE
SUBURBS AND TAKES TO THE ROAD
Amy Black – the minister's daughter with storytelling and
Southern tradition in her blood – is launching a national tour including a
showcase during the Americana Music Festival in Nashville, TN. Black is an
acclaimed New England-based Americana artist with a compelling voice who has
been compared to Patty Griffin and has opened for stars including Chris Isaak,
Rodney Crowell, and Suzy Bogguss.
No Depression has written, "Amy Black has a smooth,
seductive sound that commands attention… [She] sings in a folk-styled country
voice that suggests bits of Patty Loveless, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Judy
Collins, edged by the blues of Bonnie Raitt and a hint of Jennifer Nettle’s
sass." Her hometown Boston Herald said, "Her album, 'One Time' [is a]
a stunning debut... the beautifully imagined sound and soul of her originals
make her a newcomer of note."
A latecomer to the craft of songwriting, Black spent more
than a decade in the business world as a professional marketer before
discovering her writing talents. She reflects, "I was always a singer. I
grew up singing in church and joined a few bands in college, but I didn't know
that I had it in me to write. I was sitting at my kitchen table one night and
thought, 'You know, you should do something with your voice.' Fast forward five
years and I'm a touring artist, singing my own music. I tell my audiences it's
not too late to go after your dreams!" Black sold her comfortable suburban
house and moved into an 800-square-foot rental in Somerville, MA, where she
began to dedicate her time to writing, recording, and touring.
Filmed along Boston harbor, the video for "Whiskey
& Wine" perfectly captures the song's contemplative nature as the
character reconciles how two people so different could still love one another:
Amy's live show varies from duo as seen in this clip to full band. Several of her tour dates are with
Girls Guns and Glory, about whom the Boston Globe called "Sublime… Buddy
Holly-meets-Buck Owens twang ‘n’ roll," continuing, "The constant
comparisons to crooners like Chris Isaak and Lyle Lovett are well-deserved —
and his band’s amber-soaked melodies, tight musicianship, and casual elegance
were a tonic."
Girls Guns and Glory is the brainchild of Lonesome Day
recording artist Ward Hayden. GGG is now an internationally touring band, a
two-time winner of both the Roots Act of Year (Boston Phoenix Awards), and
five-time winner of Americana Act of the Year (Boston Music Awards). GGG is
also the only band of its genre to ever take home the top honors of Act of the
Year (Boston Music Awards) and to win the legendary WBCN Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble.
