Amelia White — Old Postcard (2014)

 

           Amelia White — Old Postcard
♣   Struggles to find its own voice.
Location: Nashville, TN
Album release: March 10th, 2014
Record Label: White Wolf Records (WW005)
Duration:     37:19
Tracks:
01 Big Blue Sun (feat. Sallly Barris, Sergio Webb)     3:29
02 Goodbye Today (feat. Pete Finney, Sally Barris)     3:05
03 Old Postcard (feat. John Jackson, Jon Byrd, Sergio Webb)     3:49
04 Brothers (feat. Anne McCue, John Jackson)     3:45
05 Mary's Gettin' Married  (feat. John Jackson)     2:58
06 Hollow Heart (feat. Billy Earheart, John Jackson)     3:38
07 Get Your Cowboy On (feat. John Jackson, Pete Finey)     2:59
08 Daddy Run (feat. Tim Carroll)     3:14
09 Ghetto (feat. Anne McCue, Julie Christensen)     3:29
10 Old Stone (feat. Melissa Wolf, Sergio Webb)     3:27
11 River Of My Dreams (feat. John Jackson, Pete Finney)     3:26
℗ 2014 White-Wolf Records
CREDITS:
♣   Produced by Grammy winning Mike Poole (Patty Griffin) Old Postcard features Amelia's distinctive writing and voice and a cast of Top Shelf Nashville musicians, including John Jackson, guitars (Dylan), Bryan Owings, drums (Emmylou Harris), Brian Harrison, bass (Shelby Lynn), Julie Christensen, vox (Leonard Cohen), Tim Carroll, guitar (Elizabeth Cook) and Pete Finney, pedal steel (Patty Loveless) .
♣   Home, history and family take different shapes on 'Old Postcard'. Over steadily propulsive drums and echoing guitars, the album's title track finds White looking back at the ghosts of her family, realizing that dreams that don't come true are still dreams after all.
♣   "Big Blue Sun" is told from the perspective of a homeless man who dreads the daylight and the masses that flood in with their daily routines of normalcy. It features ethereal backing vocals from Sally Barris and gorgeous nylon-string guitar from Sergio Webb. With a haunting, noir-ish sound, "Hollow Heart" is the dark tale of a motherless child and the deep sense of longing that develops within. "River Of My Dreams" features snarling guitars, as White sings of all the crazy, mysterious, otherworldly things ? Flying, breathing underwater, being pulled back from Hell — which one can astonishingly accomplish in their dreams. With lines pulled straight from her father's memoirs, "Daddy Run" is a rousing anthem with a sing-along chorus.
♣   There's a grit to the record, not just in some of the louder guitars or the world-weariness of lyrics, but also in the way the East Nashville-based singer and songwriter finds hope despite life's travails and shortcomings.
REVIEW
If Lucinda ever fronted Fleetwood Mac, this might be the outcome
♣   At 10 years old Amelia White bought the 1968 Martin D-18 that she still uses today, from her brother and subsequently battled her parents for the next 8 years because she said she wanted to have a career in music; eventually leaving home to  to pursue her dream.
♣   Several albums later and a career largely in the shadows of Nashville and beyond brings us to OLD POSTCARD which is something of a ‘game changer’ for the singer-songwriter.
♣   From the opening bars of Big Blue Sun through to the fade on River of Dreams you know you’re listening to someone who has lived the life featured throughout the album but somehow she still manages to sing her songs with effortless cool and grace.
♣   Just about every song sticks in the brain like a musical virus; but Mary’s Getting Married, the title track Old Postcard and possibly the song with the best chorus I’ve heard in years; Get Your Cowboy On all stand up there with the very best Americana songs since the term was invented.
♣   There is a cinematic quality to every track; and even if they aren’t autobiographical they are all ‘believable’ and coupled with some exquisite melodies and choruses White has delivered her finest album to date by a Country mile.
♣   Amelia White has assembled a great bunch of friends and musicians to record OLD POSTCARD and she has brought the very best out of every single one of them, with some amazing guitar playing (often snarling, sometimes tender) on every track and what I can only describe as ‘punchy’ drumming and rock-solid bass holding the whole ensemble together to produce a sound that genuinely sounds uncannily like Fleetwood Mac but with a sweet voiced Lucinda Williams on vocals. (http://www.nodepression.com/)
Website: http://www.ameliawhite.com/
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/ameliawhite
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ameliawhitemusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ameliatunes
REVIEW
Written by Emily Maxwell; November 12th, 2013 at 5:11 pm
♣   We’re excited to premiere “Old Postcard,” the title track off of singer-songwriter Amelia White’s upcoming album. The song delivers more of the clever and wonderfully dense lyrics White has become known for, set to a melody that inspires a touch of nostalgia.
♣   “‘Old Postcard’ came tumbling out of me on multiple trips back and forth between my home in East Nashville, and my folks home in Virginia last year as they went through some hard times with their health,” White tells us. “Cleaning out their house to help them move to assisted living, I was moved by memories of all we’ve been through as a family, and how intimate I’ve become with them as time has passed.”
♣   “I brought all that to John Hadley, one of my favorite co-writers in town, and together we formed it. The line ‘dreams that never will come true are still dreams after all’ really hits me in the gut, and sums up the whole of the parts.”
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REVIEW
♣   “Born to run and bound to fall, dreams that never will come true are still dreams after all”. Amelia White sees her family home in her mind as an “Old Postcard”, and sings her inner-visions as the title track to her recent release. Amelia has always had a knack for peeling back the onion layers in her tales, self-analyzing without being the obvious lead character in her audio-biographies. On Old Postcard, the onion leaves are opening like spring blossoms. She drives streets where life makes tougher turns, (“Ghetto”), faces change (“Mary’s Getting Married”) and journeys through a mind of memories (“River of My Dreams”). Amelia White has a voice that weaves itself into the tapestry of your mind with warm curving notes. Musically, Old Postcard sharpens the edge of the songs to accent the stories with a reality that balances the nurturing textures of her vocal.
♣   When Amelia White left home at eighteen years old, she packed her songs with her. Amelia and her music established an early relationship that soon became at odds with parental guidelines; ‘I knew what I wanted at an early age and their disapproval lit a fire. I listened over and over to my brother's records: Neil Young, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters, and I wanted to know them all, I wanted to be them.’ ♣   Amelia drifted through the folk scene in Boston that generated artists such as Lori McKenna and Mary Gauthier. A move to Nashville brought traveling to an end a dozen years ago and Amelia White found a sense of family in her East Nashville digs; friends, outcasts, lovers who share the same musical drive, and sensitivity to heartache. The ghosts that take shape on Old Postcard all know Amelia by name, though some of the tunes share the thoughts of others. “Hollow Heart” is wisps of smoke that clear to show the longing of a motherless child, and “Big Blue Sun” rises over an ever-growing tide of incoming normalcy. (http://www.thealternateroot.com/)
Also:
Rudie Humphrey; Sunday, 02 March 2014; Score: 6
:: http://www.americana-uk.com/cd-reviews/item/amelia-white-old-postcard
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Amelia White — Old Postcard (2014)

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