AMY LAVERE: This World Is Not My Home

Amy LaVere

This World Is Not My Home

© 2005 Archer Records (822533192423)

CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.

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"She has the whole package-the songs, the voice, the looks, and she can triple-slap the upright bass like Willie Dixon on steroids." (Jim Dickinson)

notes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 2005

CONTACT: Karen Leipziger/KL Productions
(615)297-4452, klpzgr@earthlink.net

AMY LAVERE'S SOLO DEBUT, "THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME"
NEW ARCHER RECORDS RELEASE JANUARY 17, 2006

"Amy LaVere is the most promising emerging artist I've seen in years. She
has the whole package -- the songs, the voice, the looks, and she can
triple-slap the upright bass like Willie Dixon on steroids. Move over. Amy
LaVere is coming through!" (Jim Dickinson)

Memphis, TN - Archer Records proudly announces the debut release of
singer/stand-up bass player/songwriter AMY LAVERE, "THIS WORLD IS NOT MY
HOME" on JANUARY 17, 2006.

Recorded in her adopted hometown of Memphis, TN and produced by PAUL TAYLOR,
"THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME" features Amy on vocals/stand-up bass, JIMBO
MATHUS (acoustic & electric guitar), JIM DICKINSON (piano), TOMMY "T-BONE"
BURROUGHS (fiddle/mandolin), PAUL BUCHIGNANI (drums), FORREST PARKER (pedal steel), TONY THOMAS (accordion), JASON FREEMAN (acoustic/electric guitar),PAUL TAYLOR (percussion/ukulele/acoustic & electric guitar/mellotron/
washtub bass). The 10 original tracks on the album, 5 written by Amy,
showcase her moody distillation of traditional country, artful rock and cool
jazz that shatters the expectations of the genres.

In addition to releasing her first solo recording, Amy LaVere has embarked
on an acting career. She appears as Wanda Jackson in the Johnny Cash biopic
"Walk The Line" (November 2005) and is cast in the supporting role of Jesse
in award-winning director Craig Brewer's ("Hustle & Flow") forthcoming
Paramount Pictures production "Black Snake Moan" featuring Samuel L.
Jackson, Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake.

Amy LaVere's musical journey began in a small Texas/Louisiana border town.
Nurtured on her parents' passion for the traditional and country music of
Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton & Willie Nelson (her mother played
guitar, her dad played drums), a favorite family pastime while she was
growing up was traveling to bluegrass festivals. Amy's family moved 13
times before she finished high school (wherever her father's GM job took
them), eventually landing in Detroit. During her Detroit teenage years, Amy
fronted a punk rock band called Last Minute. For a bunch of teenagers, the
group achieved much critical success. Knowing, however, that there was more
to her musical journey, Amy eventually moved on. After a few attempts of
relocating in various cities, the then-in-her-early-twenties Amy settled in
Nashville with a day job as a secretary/assistant on Music Row.

It was during this time that things really began to gel musically for Amy.
Falling into the then bourgeoning honky-tonk night life scene on Nashville's
Lower Broad, Amy shared a house with some members of Those Legendary Shack
Shakers and Hank III upright bassist Jason Brown who taught Amy how to play
slap-style rockabilly bass. She was a natural on the instrument. Hooking
up with another roots music devotee, Gabe Kudela, they formed the Gabe & Amy
Show. It was this duo's quest for the true roots of American music that
brought them to Memphis. As the Gabe and Amy Show ran its course, Amy
started writing more of her own songs and seriously pursuing her solo
career. Word quickly spread around the Memphis-area about "this pretty
little gal with the big voice playin' a bass that's bigger than she is" Amy
LaVere and the Tramps (Jason Freeman - guitar, Paul Buchignani - drums, Paul
Taylor - drums/guitar/lap steel) and in January 2005, Amy signed with
Memphis independent label Archer Records.

To quote renowned producer Jim Dickinson, "You WILL be hearing from this
girl."

http://www.archer-records.com/artists/amy_lavere/media.asp

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, REVIEW COPIES OR TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW
PLEASE CONTACT: Karen Leipziger/KL Productions
(615)297-4452, klpzgr@earthlink.net

RECORD CO: Archer Records, 88 Union Avenue, Suite 107,
Memphis, TN 3810, www.archer-records.com

reviews

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  • Amazing, Unique, Strong Lyrics!!
    author: Jennifer Lefler

    The singer has a very unique, sultry voice. Differen't from the everyday voices you hear out there. I loved the voice, music, and lyrics!!

  • Amy LaVere: BASS-THUMPIN' MEMPHIS MAMA
    author: The Bulletin --by Mark Williams

    After a foray into punk rock and emo in her teen years, LaVere moved to Nashville and got an office job on Music Row -- where she met rockabilly rebel Gabe Kudela, whom she wed after only three weeks; she learned how to slap a stand-up bass -- her instrument of choice these days -- and got back in touch with her deep south musical roots. Soon, the newlyweds moved to Memphis, rocking the blues on Beale Street. Four years later, the couple split -- leaving LaVere to find solace in classic country and to form a roadhouse band with former Todd Snider drummer Paul Buchignani and guitar man Jason Freeman, playing 150 shows in 2004. The band’s growing rep not only led LaVere to Archer Records but also back to Nashville, where she was cast as rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson in the recent Johnny Cash biopic “Walk The Line.” Adding to her acting resume, LaVere also has a role in the forthcoming “Black Snake Moan.” starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and popster Justin Timberlake. With help from southern heavyweights like Memphis piano man Jim Dickinson and former Squirrel Nut Zippers leader Jimbo Mathus (who contributes a good ol’ country blues number, “Nightingale,“ to the proceedings), LaVere spent part of last year recording her debut album in Memphis -- including tracks recorded at the famed Phillips Recording Service, home of the legendary Sun Records label, which introduced the world to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and late Texas rock & roll hipster Roy Orbison. "This World Is Not My Home" benefits from that vibe, as Amy LaVere's charmingly girlish voice serves her backwoods balladry, a celebration of the South and its diverse musical styles -- with songs that mix it up: from dusty roadhouse honky-tonk to front porch jazz to countrified torch songs; and while LaVere and her two-man band benefit from the presence of players like Mathus and Dickinson, the trio seems at its best on tunes that showcase their own unique talents, as on “Never Been Sadder,” “Last Night” and the beautifully sparse “We Went Sailing.” “This World Is Not My Home” is an uplifting charmer of an indie album -- a captivatingly class act and could be a favorite of ’06 for fans of good old-fashioned pickin’ and playin’ and decidedly lovely lyrics; it’ll also definitely be a keeper for fans of the “Sounds of Texas” concert series and listeners of KPFT. If you have no time to rummage through a music store in the coming weeks, check out www.archer-records.com for song samples and to order your autographed copy -- you’ll be glad you did...

  • Smoky, sultry, swingy and sweet
    author: Houston Chronicle--by Andrew Dansby

    Often carrying seven or eight instrumentalists (including herself on doghouse bass) on this album, LeVere strips down to a trio on the album's best cut, Never Been Sadder, with its persistent beat by Paul Taylor; and on the ballad Innocent Girl, a tune that plays to her quivering vocals masterfully. The poppiest cut, Last Night, doesn't quite jive with the rest of the album, but a coy, confident vocal puts it over. Tastefully picked and expressively sung, This World Is Not My Home isn't going to shake you into believerdom, but it's still one of those pleasant, genreless records that sounds like it was recorded in a dusty room with old-fashioned microphones. It's decidedly Southern music that enchantingly celebrates disparate sounds and styles.

  • "One of the best albums of 2006" by Roger Holland
    author: PopMatters

    Or to put it another way, Amy LaVere's a little bit Jolie Holland -- but more indie and less precious -- and a little bit Kasey Chambers -- but less Australian. And her debut album is good enough to merit a track-by-track description. The song that opens This World Is Not My Home, "Day Like Any", could be LaVere's audition for Tarantino. Marinaded in a slowly sauntering Latin dance rhythm, gilded with Jim Mathus' guitar, and sung in a quite beautiful smoky style, "Day Like Any" is the number that will be playing in a rundown badlands bar as Steve Buscemi stares into a bottle before shooting the breeze with an out-of-place, over-dressed Lucy Liu; and Amy LaVere will be the pale-skinned beauty singing out her heart in the corner as she caresses her stand-up bass and conceals an automatic weapon taped to its reverse. The songs that follow slowly stretch LaVere and her colleagues. "Nightingale", written by ex-Squirrel Nut Zipper, Mathus, adds the irresistible plaintive moan of pedal steel. "Leaving" takes that pedal steel and runs with it, accentuating the positively country elements in LaVere's background into a classic old school song of honky tonk heartbreak. And then "Never Been Sadder" turns the same gothic sorrow into something entirely more syncopated and jazzy. At this stage of my relationship with Amy LaVere, "Innocent Girl" is my favorite of all her songs. Built on a steady foundation of persistent but never pressing strumming, it showcases the little girl lost fragility in her voice; and those few moments when her voice all but breaks just so across the gaps in the rhythm reveal she has the ability to take away the breath of even the strongest men. "Take 'Em Or Leave 'Em" recalls Lucinda William's "Crescent City" in exactly the same way that "Innocent Girl" whispers Mazzy Star. The actual similarities are few, and yet the connection is made and neither party is insulted or flattered by the comparison. "Last Night" returns to a more explicitly country vibe -- "I'm not much of a fighter, but I'll fight her for what's mine" -- but throws in just enough musical variety to keep you guessing, while "Set It Down" adopts a melodramatic blues theme. The title track, "This World Is Not My Home", is LaVere's most Jolie-esque moment; its melodies and rhythms, and LaVere's performance all strongly recall the best of Ms Holland's "Escondida". The final piece, "We Went Sailing", has a casual, almost throwaway, sparse country blues thing going on, with extra added ukulele, that brings this noteworthy album to a pleasantly relaxed closure. By spurning the big finish, LaVere contrives to make less achieve more. At just over 35 minutes, This World Is Not My Home is slight, but never insubstantial. Amy LaVere has an intriguing and undeniable talent, and with the new year barely upon us, she's already released one of the best albums of 2006. No, honestly. — 12 January 2006

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