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Justin Townes Earle
NPR STORY - LINK
With inspirations as diverse as Townes Van Zandt (he was named in honor of the elder Earle’s hero), Jimmy Reed, Kurt Cobain, The Replacements, Ray Charles and The Pogues, Justin forged his own brand of American roots music. Going through life with a namesake of Van Zandt’s stature cannot be easy for a young songwriter, but Earle takes it in stride,” saying, “Anyone who tries to live up to Van Zandt is a fool. I’m honored to carry the name, but if I spent my life trying to live up to it, I’d have a pretty miserable life.” Likewise, his father’s incredibly acclaimed, prolific career casts a huge shadow, but Justin Townes Earle makes a name for himself by focusing his writing on the personal rather than the political, narrative tales instead of protest. The Good Life melds the qualities of a short story with the lyrical acuity of excellent songs, celebrating grand southern traditions and blowing a fresh breeze across the musical gardens and dive bars of Nashville.
Amy Lavere
WEBSITE - LINK
For the singer/songwriter that The Chicago Tribune describes as "a Southern girl thumping a doghouse bass bigger than she is and singing in a woozy, whispery voice that casts an intoxicating spell," Anchors & Anvils refuses to be weighed down by easy expectations. "I felt comfortable in doing whatever I wanted to do on this record," Amy says. "I wasn't scared of anything because I don't really have anything to lose." And though it may be Amy's bass - which is indeed bigger than she is - that many will first notice, it is her voice - simultaneously coy and seductive, able to communicate hurt, strength or even menace in a single breathy bound - that remains unforgettable. "Truthfully, my voice isn't very big," she admits, "which is why I always looked up to singers like Billie Holiday. I figured out early on that if anybody was going to pay attention to what I was singing about, I was going to have to be pretty expressive about it." Add to this a nascent acting career that began with her cameo as Rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson in WALK THE LINE and now includes a featured role in fan and fellow Memphian Craig Brewer's BLACK SNAKE MOAN, and you find a woman who refutes any attempt at demure restraint. "I've always really tried," Amy says with wry understatement, "to live life largely."
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