Amy LaVere has been creating music of a consistently high quality since her debut, This World Is Not My Home,appeared back in 2006. With the recent release of her sixth album, Painting Blue, she has confirmed her position as one of the leading talents in the Americana/Roots genre, with her eclectic mix of Country, Gypsy Jazz and Soul expression. Currently living in Memphis, Tennessee and facing the same uncertainty that we are all experiencing during the Corona Virus pandemic, Amy sat down to answer our questions in connection with her latest project and her overall career, in the face of the everything that is changing our world right now.
Congratulations on the release of your sixth album. How long has it been in preparation?
This record took me several years to pull together. Being newly in love and in a more stable and healthy situation was uncharted territory and I didn’t really have much I needed to say for a while.
There is a very streamlined production across the nine tracks. Was this a conscious decision before you started the recording process?
I have something of my own ‘wrecking crew’ in Memphis. They are a seriously talented group of people whose aesthetics suit me so well and with whom I’ve made several records. I knew what I would be getting from them.
Your previous release, Hallelujah I’m A Dreamer, was recorded live in the studio over a single day and it had a stripped back, beautifully bare and bright sound. Was this approach something that you have been channelling over the years since it was released?
This stripped-down version was happening first in my live shows, initially because of my budget and eventually more often because it happened to suit many of the songs so well live. We made that record to be something for people wanting to take home with them something most representative of the show they had just witnessed.
Your husband, Will Sexton, produced the new album and his light touch and superb guitar parts add lots of colour to the sound. The album has a sweet Jazz groove with elements of brooding, atmospheric tones laid across the songs. How did the decision to have Will produce come about?
It was an obvious decision. I knew what I wanted, for the most part, for the record and there is no one I trust more than Will. He ‘gets’ me and was a natural collaborator of mine even prior to becoming my love. He is also more knowledgeable speaking on matters of the more technical side of recording as well as in music theory. We make a superb team.
There are three cover songs on the album. You regularly feature cover songs in both your live sets and on your albums and I wanted to ask what your process is for choosing specific songs to fit into the overall feel of a project?
Cover songs find me. I sometimes hear a tune and if it’s something I feel really compelled by and/or feel owned by, I usually sit down and learn it. I find them useful to complete a thought for me in a batch of tunes for a record.
You always bring your own unique interpretation to the cover songs that you choose. Do you hear them in your head in a certain way before you track them in a studio environment?
I can only be myself. They get filtered through my own unique voice and preferences. It’s unavoidable.
You played upright bass as your instrument of choice right from the start of your musical journey. Did you develop your slapping technique over time or was it a natural rhythm you had from the early days?
The slap technique was immediate and natural. Mastering intonation and versatility is something I’m always working to improve.
Is it the same instrument that you originally owned - an Englehart from the 1970’s, I think?
Yes!
Has your song-writing process changed much over the years?
I don’t believe so. It’s as undisciplined and random as it’s always been and completing any song still feels like a minor miracle.
How difficult is it to be a full-time artist in these days of downloads and streaming with no decent royalty payments available anymore?
Answering this question today amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic is almost too much to bear. The magnitude of all the many mountains facing musicians who are trying to make a living as artists is unfathomable now.
Do you enjoy touring or would you prefer stay home and focus on studio work?
Touring and playing music for listening audiences is the highlight. That said, here in quarantine in the spring in Memphis is proving to be only healthy for my creativity- and my baking skills.
Did you first encounter Will Sexton back in 2014 when he played on the Runaway’s Diary album?
Will and I met the year prior when working on a project called ‘Chasing The Ghost’ with singer Shannon McNally and my long-time drummer Shawn Zorn.
I notice that some of the other musicians who played on that album also returned for the new release - Shawn Zorn (drums) and Tim Regan (piano) on a number of tracks. Also, from the 2011 release, Stranger Me, David Cousar (guitars), Rick Steff (keyboards and accordion) are included on Painting Blue. Were these trusted players you had wanted to hand pick for the new record?
A very BIG yes.
As a singer-songwriter you have such eclectic taste across a number of genres. This always has stood to you in terms of an ability to comfortably fit into whatever style and direction that you choose to take. On the new album were you conscious of a specific aspiration regarding the sound you were chasing?
I was not.
Whether you are playing a murder ballad, the Blues, a Bossa nova beat, a smoky gypsy groove, Tejano or a light jazz waltz, the integrity in the playing and the writing shines through. Do you like taking risks across the different musical styles that you employ?
Eh, what is the risk, really? The song and the story dictate what the music it lives in sound like.
The Stranger Me release was a departure from the first two records and had a bigger sound, more up-tempo tracks and a Rock oriented drive, with horns and keys appearing for the first time. Was that a direction you consciously decided not to pursue on subsequent releases?
I think more often than not I’m compelled regarding the nature of any production of any given song more than conscious of what it needs to sound like.
I am drawn back more often to the sad and melancholic songs. With so many songs, they cannot all be character based and there are elements of both your strengths and vulnerabilities sprinkled across your body of work. Are you comfortable opening up a fragile and sensitive side for others to see?
I am, mostly. Maybe I can’t help it. Sure, I didn’t think I would put No Room For Baby on the record but this was mostly because I didn’t think it would be appreciated. It was cathartic for ME. I didn’t think it was necessarily meant for an audience. I did want to record as I was hearing it in my head, however but was reluctant to put it on this record. Ultimately, I’m glad I did.
The loneliness of the song, Snowflake, from Runaway’s Diary, with a young girl looking for a place in the world seems to lead into the relative distance and separation of another song, Self Made Orphan, from the same record, with a reluctance to commit selflessly to another. The fear of opening up is something that also comes across on the new album in tracks like Love I’ve Missed. Are you hinting at the sophisticated woman that questions everything and continues to wrestles with new insights?
I think I often dwell on my past as if I were my own analyst. I’m always trying to unravel why I behaved certain ways.
The joy of creating something unique and never being afraid to take chances in experimenting with your sound, leads to interesting collaborations, whether with other female artists (Shannon McNally, The Wandering) or Country/Rockabilly based male contemporaries like John Paul Keith… Is there a restless spirit within you that gets bored and needs to shape shift?
I’m not always extremely prolific as a solo artist. I have a strong need to stay in motion musically speaking and collaborations and side projects keep me moving and creating peripherally.
This attraction to the creative urge within has led you to explore acting, which is something that you have successfully navigated. What are the main differences that you find between the discipline required in acting and that of song-writing and performing?
For me, very little. Acting well feels very much like successfully losing yourself in a story just like singing an immersive song does. It’s been a while since I’ve had an acting project, however.
Maybe all life is a play and we, as actors, are rarely true to ourselves, let alone another. It could be all tongue in cheek and you are gently laughing at the absurdity of it all?
That would be a luxury that I do not have...
Is the glass half full or half empty?
It’s half full, but damnit, it’s ALWAYS ONLY half full.
Can we expect a tour to Europe at any stage into the future?
YES, I sure hope so. Till then, please stay safe over there and hold each other close. Sending love from Memphis.
Interview by Paul McGee