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<\/a>Nashville Singer\/ songwriter, Amy Black Mad a trip to Houston\u2019s Mucky Duck via Memphis last Thursday night to introduce her latest release, \u201cMemphis\u201d. She brought a band full of Memphis blues musicians to perform a late show on a school night before a scant group of devoted fans, but they played the show as if it were before an SRO crowd.<\/p>\nAmy started her career in Boston doing roots music and country. She moved to Nashville to further her career along the country lines. Her last two records, however, have leaned more to the blues side of pop and soul. The last one in the Memphis style and the one just previous to that \u201cThe Muscle Shoals Sessions\u201d tended more toward that style of roots blues. She generally mixes her versions of classic covers with her own compositions and delivers them with a full clear voice that exhibits a wide octave range.<\/p>\n
Amy and company leapt right into the blues with Ms. Black dancing throughout the instrumental segments of the songs. She followed her opening number with an expressive cover of Ann Peebles\u2019 \u201cI Pity the Fool\u201d. That was followed by covers of Bobby Blue Bland\u2019s \u201cI Wouldn\u2019t Treat a Dog the Way that You Treated Me\u201d and Albert King\u2019s \u201cWalking the Back Streets and Crying\u201d, the latter featuring Amy\u2019s strong full vocals and some pretty impressive guitar and saxophone solos.<\/p>\n
The band moved from covers to some of Ms. Black\u2019s original compositions, starting with \u201cIt\u2019s Hard to Love an Angry Man\u201d displaying some amazing vocals over a nice organ and saxophone fill. Then it was \u201cWithout You\u201d which had a bit of a country twang and a pinch of gospel sound. Next up was Amy\u2019s lively tune about depression and getting through \u201cThe Blackest Cloud\u201d. A heavy bass line carried the rhythm through \u201cWhat Makes a Man\u201d in a straight ahead blues fashion.<\/p>\n
The mood moved to a mellow blues, lounge music style, with Otis Redding\u2019s \u201cMy Lover\u2019s Prayer\u201d. Then came Black\u2019s own \u201cWe Got a Good Thing Going On\u201d with a very nice sax solo. Black and company moved on to Al Green\u2019s romantic lullaby, \u201cOld Time Lovin\u2019\u201d that featured some very nice background harmonies.<\/p>\n
Amy\u2019s band delivered a fantastic blues version of her folky composition, \u201cNineteen\u201d about young men being sent to the horrors of war in Viet Nam. This version included an exceptional guitar solo by Rusty Russell over a well composed keyboard orchestration. Then, the guitar style got jazzy for the gospel sounding, \u201cLet the Light In\u201d which Ms. Black wrote as a dedication to Mavis Staples.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The band lit into Mickey Tucker\u2019s \u201cThe Crawl\u201d instrumental while Amy left the stage for a costume change from her dangly chains outfit to her flourishing fringed blouse, effectively changing the effects of her constant dancing during instrumental parts of her songs. This was just one of the ways that we could see that the twenty or so of us that were in the room were getting the same show that a venue of 500 listeners would be getting. That, my friends, is professionalism.<\/p>\n