Amy Black is a singer/songwriter from New England,with Southern roots. I'm pretty sure I found her when looking up versions of Angel From Montgomery on Youtube, but won't swear to it since I can no longer find the video. I was impressed with her lovely, laid back country vocals. She has many videos out there in Youtube world and I contented myself with watching/listening to them for quite some time. Amy finally motivated me to get some of her music for my Ipod by offering her first album, Amy Black and the Red Clay Rascals, as a free download last week. I'd been wanting to get her new album, One Time, for.several months after reviewing tracks on her website, so I took advantage of her offer and made it a twofer by ordering a hard copy of One Time and downloading Amy Black and the Red Clay Rascals. It took a few days for the cd to arrive so I listened to the first album regularly until it came. The first album is pretty good stuff, consisting of covers of songs special to Amy, among them the aformentioned Angel From Montgomery. The new album arrived in good time a few days later. As I've stated before, I prefer to buy cds because I can play them at work, Ipods not being allowed. When I finally got to play One Time I was really blown away. The quality of the album is quite a leap from the previous recording. I mentioned this on Amy's Facebook band page. She was kind enough to write an explanation for the disparity. The first album was cut in a day in a studio with her band at the time. The only producer was Amy herself. It's pretty good for a self produced effort, but employing some pros, including producer Lorne Entress (Lori McKenna, Bittertown), multi instrumentalist/back-up singer Mark Erelli, famed Nashville fiddler Stuart Duncan and other top flight musicians made a huge difference. Now I don't know if Lorne Entress was the cause or if Amy's become more relaxed in the genre, but I'd swear that her vocals are more fitted to the music on the new album. The first album sounded a bit forced. The new one feels more relaxed, right in the pocket. It may just be Amy's growth as an artist or the fact that 9 of the 12 tracks are her own and she's more comfortable singing her own stuff. Whatever, I'm highly recommending One Time. From the Bluegrass tinged Run Johnny thru the Bluesy Ain't No Grave, One Time offers 12 tracks of honest Americana. My favorite track may be the weepy Whiskey and Wine, although it's hard to pick just one. They're all that good! Not sure where it will go with the radio, but maybe that's not a big issue any more for most musicians. Internet buzz is probably a better way to promote music these days so if you read this, please help spread the word.
I'm giving One Time a strong 4.5 Stars.
Here's Amy talking about and singing Whiskey and Wine:
PS - I'm an active, church attending, teetotaling Mormon. I picked this clip because it has the best sound quality I could find and I enjoy hearing the story behind a song, even when it describes a life style different from my own.
