East Nashville singer-songwriter Amelia White will be spending July in the UK for a tour that includes the Maverick Festival. The dates are in support of her recent 'Home Sweet Hotel' album and she will be accompanied on the dates by English singer-songwriter Dan Webster.
The road is a harsh mistress, and East Nashville's Amelia White knows that all too well. “Sleeplessness and miles pile on the soul. It can bring you down, or it can bring you 'round,” she sings on ‘Rainbow Over the East-Side’, from her dark, moody new record, Home Sweet Hotel.
Like many singer-songwriters, Amelia travels to scratch out a living and the endless parade of coffee houses, bars and house concerts can overshadow any attempts to have a life at home with somebody you love. That tension is at the heart of her new record, produced by Marco Giovino (Band of Joy, Buddy Miller), with appearances from a wealth of stellar players backing Amelia, including multi-instrumentalist Sergio Webb (David Olney), Stuart Mathis (Lucinda Williams) on guitar, Ron Eoff (The Band) on bass, Paul Gordon (the B52’s) on keys and Julie Christensen (Leonard Cohen) adding some guest vocals.
Journalist and Music City Roots host Craig Havighurst says Amelia comes from “that classic place between singer/songwriter, jangle pop and country that comes for the beating heart of the Americana format. Her voice is plaintive and real, and her songs each have some fascinating crystalline shape that invites close attention and touch.”
Seductive and smoky, dark and woody like a road stop in the midwest somewhere, Home Sweet Hotel bounces acoustic and electric guitars against backdrops by turns delicate or rocking, framing Amelia's voice and it's quiet urgency. ‘Dangerous Angel’ is taut with a subtle but undeniable sensual tension, while ‘Dogs Bark’ is a bluesy sardonic punch at people who talk too much about other people and ‘Rainbow Over The East-Side’ is a defiantly optimistic salute to her adopted home town of East Nashville.
Amelia’s previous album Old Postcard was met with a slew of praise from outlets like USA Today, American Songwriter, The Bluegrass Situation and more. No Depression said “if Lucinda ever fronted Fleetwood Mac, this might be the outcome,” with the Bluegrass Situation adding that "I think we're entering a great new era of alternative country music. If you need an example, look no further than Amelia White."
Born in Virginia and raised in Boston, Amelia graduated from staging plays in her back yard to writing songs as soon as she acquired an acoustic guitar. The writing came quickly and hasn't stopped since - “I like to think of myself as a writer-song singer instead of a singer-songwriter.” she says.
Writing all the time, Amelia has had nearly a dozen cuts and placements in television shows. And Home Sweet Hotel looks to be the release that puts things over the top. As she sings in ‘Leaving In My Blood’, “I'm like a riddle riding in the wind, singing my songs for strangers in every town I'm in.”
Amelia White • July 2016 UK Tour
Accompanied by Dan Webster
Sat 2 Easton, Suffolk Maverick Festival 2016
Sun 3 Easton, Suffolk Maverick Festival 2016 NB. Morning show: 11am
Sun 3 Leicester The Musician with Edwina Hayes
Mon 4 Tunbridge Wells The Grey Lady
Wed 6 London What’s Cookin’, Leytonstone Ex-Servicemens Club
Sat 9 Youlgreave, Derbyshire The Bulls Head Hotel
Sun 10 Troutbeck, Cumbria The Mortal Man Cider & Music Festival
Wed 13 Bedford The Curfew Club, 44 Harpur Street, in the round with Danni Nicholls
Thu 14 Corby The Hut
Fri 15 Whitby The Station Inn
Sat 16 Pocklington, East Yorkshire Platform Festival
Sun 17 York City Screen
Mon 18 Leeds Gaslight Club, Oporto Bar
Thu 21 Edinburgh The Voodoo Rooms
Sun 24 Gateshead SummerTyne Americana Festival