(RAHWAY, NJ) -- The Union County Performing Arts Center presents Boston-based singer-songwriter Amy Black in an intimate performance on May 2 at 8 p.m. on UCPAC's Mainstage. Black has shared stages with artists including Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Delbert McClinton, Chris Isaak, Suzy Bogguss, Joe Ely and the Courtyard Hounds. Her seamless blend of all things Americana, coupled with her soulful, smooth vocals and gift for bringing characters to life through song make her an artist that pleases lovers of blues, folk, soul and country.
This special performance, part of UCPAC's Split Level Concert Series, will take place on UCPAC's Mainstage, with the audience seated onstage with the performer. Tickets are $20 in advance and $22 on the day of the show. UCPAC's Mainstage is located at 1601 Irving Street in the heart of Rahway's Arts District and is easily accessible to major roads and public transportation. To purchase tickets, call the box office at 732-499-8226 or visit the website at www.ucpac.org
Amy grew up singing hymns from the pews in church, but it wasn’t until her family moved to Alabama from Missouri that she got her first dose of real southern gospel. She eventually made her way to Boston, Massachusetts, where she went to college, got a job in the corporate world, got married, bought a house in the burbs, and was content singing at weddings and at church. But one night, sitting at her kitchen table, “I had this thought that came out of nowhere, that I’d never really done anything of consequence with my voice. I’d never tried. And if I was going to, now was the time.” In the years that followed, Amy discovered her talent for songwriting and in April 2011 released her first album of original music, One Time.
She’s been playing, touring and writing ever since, and with the release of her newest album, This Is Home (February 2014), Amy has fully committed herself to a career in music. “I’ve stepped away from corporate life because doing music feels like the most natural thing. I see that there’s some maturity that’s come as I have more years under my belt.”
This Is Home was produced by Lex Price (Mindy Smith, Peter Bradley Adams) and recorded in Nashville, Tennessee at Ben’s Studio on Music Row (formerly historic RCA STUDIO A).
Joining Amy in the studio for the album was an all-star cast of musicians, including Will Kimbrough (Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell) on acoustic and electric guitars, Oliver Wood (Wood Brothers) on electric guitars, Josh Range (KD Lang, Sheryl Crow) on pedal and lap steel and piano, Ian Fitchuk (Caitlin Rose, Amy Grant) on the Hammond B-3 organ, Wurlitzer piano, drums and percussion and producer Lex Price on electric and acoustic bass and the tenor guitar.
This Is Home features 11 original songs and two covers, plus one hidden track. Together, the songs paint a picture of the different experiences of home — the sweet, the bitter and all things in between. “My family and history are very much a part of this project. This is especially felt in the song ‘Alabama’ a cornerstone on the album. I wrote this for my family, but specifically for my granddad, a very special person in my life who passed away a few years ago. He rarely left his small town in the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama and when he did, he couldn’t wait to get back home. He didn’t feel the need to see the world like his grandchildren did. He couldn’t have been happier than when he was rocking on his back porch drinking a glass of sweet tea. And I felt incredible comfort when I joined him.”
The ballad, “Alabama,” along with the slow burner “I’m Home” make up the “sweet” of the album. In the smoky and sultry, “Old Hurt,” a woman struggles to accept her demons, and in the sleepy retro rocker “Nobody Knows You” a lover reminds her other that the “other side’s in view.” Songs including “Make Me an Angel” told from a child’s perspective, “Hello”, “Stronger” and “We Had a Life” address the more difficult topics of abuse, dementia, suicide and divorce, while “These Walls Are Falling Down” offers a glimmer of hope that a dying relationship could still be revived. And for those who just want to dance, the upbeat and playful, “Cat’s in The Kitchen” is the ticket.
“There’s certainly a mix of emotion going on when you put these songs together. But that’s what life is like. The good stuff and the painful stuff are all mixed in together. Music has always helped me to celebrate as well as connect, express and deal with the difficult things I’m facing. I hope my songs on this album can do the same for others.”
The album also includes Amy’s soulful re-imaginings of John Prine’s classic, “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” as well as Rodney Crowell’s “Still Learning How to Fly,” a favorite of Amy’s. “The first time I heard Rodney sing ‘Still Learning How to Fly’ live was in a little club in Maine. It was just him and his guitar on stage, no band. I was moved. I connected with the idea of being broken, but believing that you can still become something great. On my better days, I like to think the line, ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet’ is true about me.”
