Looking to get out of the house and have some fun? Come out and see me and the band on December 6 at J.P. O’Hanlon’s in Ayer, Mass. It’s a great venue, everyone gets a good seat and you’ll love the food. Please call 978-772-9282 to reserve your seats. Seating is limited (only 60 seats). I look forward to seeing you there.

If you’ve been to one of my shows, you’ve heard Fred Bement go to town on the harmonica. The guy can play! Well Fred recently connected me with a friend of his who was interested in collaborating. His name is Jeff Purchon. He’s the nicest guy and is an incredibly talented guitar player with some heavy duty experience under his belt. Here’s a little blurb from his resume…

Jeff moved to London to become professional guitarist at age 21. He toured with Noel Redding (ex Jimi Hendrix), Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull) and in his career has jammed / gigged with Robert Palmer, Ginger Baker, Buddy Miles, Steve Holly (Wings) and many others.

Jeff has recorded in major studios including Abbey Road, Sun Studios (London), De Lane Lea, Roundhouse, Trident, Air London etc. In the 80’s in the US he founded and toured with Memphis Train, a Boston-based blues band playing at the Crossroads music festival in Nashville, House of Blues and other prestigious gigs.

These days Jeff still jams in three continents with various bands depending where he is. At the last Austin NAMM show in 2007, Jeff played with Buddy Miles and Vernon Reid of Living Color.

Pretty impressive.

This past Thursday night I joined Jeff and four guys that he pulled together-Ron Pastore on bass, Glenn Watkins on keys, Stanley Swan on drums, and another guy (name escapes me) on the organ-and over an hour we worked on four songs. We headed over to the Acton Jazz Cafe’s blues jam and rocked the house.

I was honored to play with these guys. It was a great experience for me and a change from the usual acoustic band. One of the guys recorded a few of the songs and sent them around today. While the mix isn’t great (and I was struggling to hear myself in the monitor), you can get a good sense of how we sounded.

Here’s Love Me Like a Man written by Chris Smither…

I should have more recordings to share (from the practice soon). I will post them here as well.

I hope to do something with these guys again at some point and will let you know when I do!

One thing I’ve learned about musicians is that they usually have several different “projects” going on at the same time. This means that they play in a number of bands. I’ve become one of those people and I have to admit, it’s kind of fun. You have your main focus, which for me is Amy Black and the Red Clay Rascals, and then you get involved with other projects as you get to know different musicians.

A perfect example of this is what’s happening on November 15. Andy Sicard and Bob Sevigny play in my band, the Red Clay Rascals, but they also have their own band, The Goodtime Stringband (formerly the Goodtime Charlies) and have been playing with that group for the past few years. They play A LOT.  A few weeks ago they invited me and my sister Corrie to sing with them at a bluegrass church service and just this past week. Andy asked us to join them for a show on November 15 in Milford, NH at the library.

It’s going to be a fun night. Andy and Bob along with Al Stapleford and fiddle player, Rich Hamilton, both of the Stillhouse Jammers, will start the night with their music and then the second set will be made up of my songs. Corrie and I will sing together on most and she will take a few solos as well.

The best part (for you) is the event is FREE. So, come on out to hear Andy, Bob, Rich, Al and me and Corrie make some beautiful music! I promise you will be glad you did : )

I’ve been a bad blogger. I haven’t written since September 25. I do have some good excuses though. I just started a new job (I’m a marketer by day and some times by night too) and have been pretty focused on that. AND I’ve been waiting to get the audio from the Bull Run show so I can share it with you. I’m keeping the faith that I’m going to get it. Also, I’ve got some good video from the night, but am experiencing some technical difficulties. I will spare you the details.

Thanks to one of the people in the audience (Hans Nuecke from Germany) on the night of September 26, I do have some photos to share. I’m not looking my supermodel best : ), although I think Bob Sevigny might be. The photos did a great job of capturing the night. My personal favorite is of Jon Cumming (banjo and dobro). I love it so much, I’m putting it on the site. I’m sure Jon will love me for that.

I’m not giving up hope that I will have video and audio to post. Also, many have been asking me when we are playing again. I’m working on that and hope to have a few dates to pass on soon. In the meantime, I’m still doing some singing. Andy Sicard (bass and mando) pulled me into a bluegrass gig at a church in Medford, MA today and I got to sing with my sister Corrie–always a treat. Andy did promise us a complimentary BBQ dinner, but I ended up eating a burrito in Davis Square instead. Still yummy. : )

Oh, I didn’t mention that the Bull Run show on September 26 was great! It was a rainy night and the first of the presidential debates was on. We still had 110 people out. If you were one of them, thanks so much for coming.

Stay tuned for show dates (video and audio).

Amy

The big show is one day away and we are “rejoicing” that we’ve gotten some excellent press about it! Community Newspapers ran a story in dozens of their (Massachusetts) regional publications (thank you Margaret Smith for writing the article and Ashling Keating for reaching out to Margaret!). You can read the article here. Also, the Lowell Sun ran a photo in their Stepping Out section today. Excellent!

The band practiced on Tuesday night and everyone is sounding great. We decided to record one of the songs (a living room recording) to share with you as a “sneak preview” for Friday. This song is from the first set which is comprised of bluegrass, classic country and some folk. The song, The Angels Rejoiced was written by the Louvin Brothers 50 years or so ago. Dolly Parton recently recorded it. We do her version. That sweet high harmony you hear is my sister’s voice (Corrie Jones). She will be singing with me this weekend. It’s always a treat to have her!

Listen to the the song here. Enjoy and I hope to see you soon (tomorrow would be ideal!).

Andy Sicard did it again. Andy’s the bass and mandolin player for the Red Clay Rascals, but he’s also the creator of this website and now the creator of these nifty banners for the upcoming show. If you want to take one and put in on your Facebook, MySpace or elsewhere, please feel free. I’ll take all the help I can get. The links to the images are below. Please link the image to www.amyblacklive.com. Thank you! Amy

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Today’s adventure started with a need. I needed a new promotional photo for the papers for the upcoming show on September 26 at the Bull Run. My husband, Ryan, and I headed down to a super cool abandoned building not far from our house.

We live in the small New England town of Groton and more specifically West Groton. Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Groton. It’s a very quaint little town with many old, well-preserved buildings and very little flash. Also, it has beautiful public places (Groton Place) and wide open spaces. Yep, I’m a country girl at heart. : )

When we got down to the building we realized that the little shop on the corner–Clover Farm Market an adorable little market that was recently purchased and refurbished–was having a big outdoor party complete with music. We took the photos (the best posted here) and then headed home. But I wasn’t done with the Clover Farm Market!

I’ve been looking for opportunities to promote my show and it hit me that the store’s all day music fest was just that. The people there like music and they live close to the Bull Run…perfecto!! So, I got a stack of my small flyers and headed back down. I’m friends with the owner and checked in to see if I could talk with folks. The answer was yes–so I had some excellent conversations with music lovers and found some who wanted to go to my show.

A bit later, blues guitarist Ronnie Earl (we got a lot of cool folks living in Groton) got up to play a few songs. Man, I love the slide guitar. He drew a good size crowd of attentive listeners. When Ronnie was done tearing it up and the next band was ready to set up, I asked one of the owners if I could sing a song and invite people to come to my show in two weeks. He handed me the mic. : )

I sang one of my favorite songs sans guitar–Shadow of Doubt sung by Bonnie Raitt (click the player below to hear my version) and then invited people to the show. The response was a good one. And the best part was Ronnie. He came up to meet me, shook my hand and said, “You are going to do very well.” That meant a lot coming from him. I hope he’s right. : )

Long story, long, I’m on a mission to spread the word about my biggest show yet in hopes that we have at least 200 people in attendence. And some times spreading the word also means singing it!

I just got the word today from Ashling Keating, a local musician and promoter who has been a great support, that we got September 26 at the Bull Run in Shirley, Mass. I’m fired up about this news! I have a ton of respect for all of the other acts on the calendar at this venue–some are even legends–and I am honored to get to play here with my band and some other special guests.

The Red Clay Rascals, Andy Sicard (on bass and mando), Bob Sevigny (on guitar) and Eric Pohl (on drums) will be there along with my sister, Corrie Jones, who will sing back up vocals, Fred Bement on harp, Jon Cumming on banjo and dobro and Rich Hamilton on fiddle.

If you are in the Boston area and are reading this please come to the show! We are going to have a great time.

Amy will be appearing with a leaner-acoustic version of the Red Clay Rascals at this special Groton appearance.  The show starts at 7pm and there is a $7 cover charge.