Brooklyn, NY — Nashville singer-songwriter Amelia White is set to release her fifth full-length studio album, Beautiful and Wild, on February 28. Filled with tales of loss and hope, demons and saints, and the lure of star-crossed love, White has made what is sure to be declared one of the first great albums of 2012.
Working with drummer/producer, Marco Giovino (Robert Plant, Buddy Miller, Norah Jones), Amelia White selected a handful of players from Nashville’s deep musician pool to accompany her in the studio, including guitarists Doug Lancio (John Hiatt, Patty Griffin) and John Jackson (Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams) and bassist Frank Swart (Norah Jones, Patty Griffin). The results range from the terse minor key come-on of the album opener “Skeleton Key” to the lilting, alt country ode to lost love, “Lonely Sound.” On “Saxophone Trains,” a kind of hard time’s lullaby, White finds light amid the darkness to comfort her lover: “There’s not much that we have, but we’re together, something ’bout the sound of these trains, they growl like the blues through the rain, and you’ve always said blues make you feel better.” She easily shifts gears for a gospel-tinged duet with A.J. Croce on “Mercy” and then re-imagines Bryan Ferry’s “More Than This” as a dream-like dirge reflecting the deepest corners of her own psyche. On the title track, “Beautiful & Wild,” White gracefully pays homage with a gentle send off to her long time friend and famed songwriter, the late, Duane Jarvis.
White states, “The songs on, Beautiful and Wild, touch on everything from losing a close friend to an untimely death, to being lost and heartbroken on the road and praying to the muse to save your soul from darkness. The songs were written in that nether light between dark and dawn, when the ghosts watch you from the window.”
As with previous records, there’s no doubt the seemingly obligatory comparisons to Lucinda Williams will be cast. However, upon peeling back the surface layers, one finds that Amelia White is an artist with her own one-of-a-kind voice set inside songs that explore her own compelling life’s story. Her producer Marco Giovino explains, “How Van Gogh used canvas and paint to make his timeless masterpieces, Amelia uses lyric and melody to create songs that will touch and leave a lasting impression on every mood you’ve ever felt.” White is a prolific writer, a relentless performer and a true artist who will continue the journey regardless of musical trends, gas prices or the millions of other obstacles that stand in the way of an artist committed to following their own path. She might as well be singing directly to you when she purrs, “You’re so bad that you’re perfect, like a two dollar bottle of wine, I’m gonna drink you all up baby ’til I know you’re mine.” Don’t resist the ride, it promises to be Beautiful and Wild.
Amelia White Beautiful and Wild is available February 28 on White-Wolf Records
Sidewalks | Amelia White by Calabro Music Media
