Cincy Groove

Amy LaVere

Interview by Scott Preston

Amy LaVere was born in a small Texas/Louisiana border town, nurtured by musical parents with a passion for traditional country. Her family moved 13 times by the time she entered high school, ultimately landing in Detroit where Amy fronted the infamous punk band Last Minute while still in her teens. From there, her musical journey became a wild ride of impetuous travels, sudden elopements,and itinerant vinyl siding sales. The early ’90s found her in Nashville as part of the burgeoning Lower Broadway scene, where she began to play upright bass as half of the popular roots duo The Gabe & Amy Show. By 1999, she’d moved to Memphis where the city’s diverse music community quickly embraced her unique style. “Memphis doesn’t allow you to be trite,” she explains. “It not only forces you to be original, it’s an accepting and supportive place for that which may seem unusual anyplace else. There’s very little music ‘industry’ here, but plenty of musical freedom. ”

Two years, hundreds of gigs, and a whole lot of liven’ later, Amy went into the studio with Jim Dickinson to craft her much-anticipated new album, Anchor & Anvils, released in 2007. “She has the whole package,” the Memphis music legend says. “You run across artists all the time that have part of it, but Amy has it all. And it just keeps growing.” Dickinson – whose celebrated work as a musician includes classic records with Ry Cooder, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones (Sticky Fingers) and Bob Dylan (a 40-year relationship that’s extended from Blonde on Blonde to Time Out Of Mind), and whose landmark role as producer includes such eclectic classics as Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers, The Replacements’ Pleased To Meet Me and his sons’ seminal The North Mississippi Allstars – captured Amy and band at his Zebra Ranch recording barn/’art project’ in rural Mississippi. “As a producer, you take the artist out to the edge of the cliff, where they have to learn to trust you,” Dickinson explains. “And of course, you push ‘em off. A lot of them fall. But Amy has the wings to fly. In fact, I think it’s one of the best records I’ve ever made. There’s an underlying darkness that’s kind of ‘Twin Peaks’-ish to me. Plus she can triple-slap the upright bass like Willie Dixon on steroids.” (from amylavere.com) Read more