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© 2003 Brian Hodges - Please do not remove the copyright from this essay AMY LOFTUS
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Amy found her way to L.A. in 1997 where she tried to juggle a mildly successful acting career with a day job, songwriting and the occasional music gig. Her real push to the latter two came out of a conversation with songwriting legend, Jerry Lieber ("Hound Dog", "Stand by Me"), who told her simply, "Do what you have to do." One year later, Amy sold most of her possessions, bought a van and took off on a summer-long tour, performing to grateful audiences in music clubs and coffee shops across the country. Soon after, Amy packed up (so to speak) and headed to the Mecca of U.S. music creation: Nashville, Tennessee. "I had met a couple while I was touring," says Amy. "They kept encouraging me to come to Tennessee and stay with them. I planned on six weeks and I'm still here." Paying the bills by teaching yoga and music classes, Amy quickly got herself into the local music scene. "Nashville is a friendly lovely place and there is a very cooperative vibe here. People function in service of the music and the songs themselves, not just their individual trip." Settled into a little house in the city, Amy continues the process of chasing her muse. She admits, "I have no idea how to write songs. I try all the time to have a routine. I think, 'I live in Nashville. I'm a songwriter. I better go to Starbucks, get a chai and go sit in my studio at 10am like the rest of them.' But it never works out that way. Writing is totally another vibration. Songs are like weather. They just come and you don't ask them to." The songs themselves are a little bit folk, a little bit rock, a little bit blues, sometimes even a little bit bluegrass. She plays her own acoustic guitar with a good degree of skill. Her lyrics tread well the line between poetry and conversation. Her thoughts and feelings flow, but you never feel as though they're gratuitously deep or pretentious. Whether she's breaking up with an immature man in "Ready to Fall", lamenting the hypocrisy between faith and religion in "Jesus Came to Church Today" or emboldening young women to never lose who they are in "Bluebeard", Amy speaks simply, yet speaks to your soul at the same time. Amy has that same ability to connect on stage. Always with a light banter or story between songs, she engages her audience, making the entire performance like a conversation between good friends. "I want to know how people are while they're there," she says. "The best kind of gig is when we're all there together in present time, when they're staying with me and allowing the songs to affect them." Amy recorded her first independently produced CD in 2000. Since moving to Nashville, she has been recording demos with musician and producer Will Kimbrough. "The acoustics in my house are incredible for recording," says Amy. "Originally the idea was to find the songs for the record and then go make it in one of the major studios. Now I'm wondering if we're not just making the record already." Amy is still seeking a label willing to produce the next record as well as assist her with a major tour and distribution. "I don't want to lose what we're doing here at the house though," says Amy. "The dream would be to find a label that loves these demos as they are." Currently, Amy is still living the independent singer/songwriter's life. By her own lyrics, she continues to "keep on keepin' on" with a passion for her music and a desire to combat what she views as the "anesthetizing" of radio. She says, "After 9/11, it was suggested to major radio that James Taylor's 'Fire and Rain' not be played, and they agreed! That makes me nuts! What an important time for us to hear that song! Real music and real rebels are becoming an endangered species. That frightens me. I am not here to sell mascara and shake my bare ass on MTV. Music is meant to shake us at our core and make us grow." Check Amy out at The Bitter End's monthly "Chick Singer Night" on Tuesday, September 30 and let her music shake you and you grow too. www.amyloftus.com |
t's
a rare thing in Los Angeles for a singer/songwriter to be on stage
and have a bar full of people actually shut up and listen. But when
that singer was Amy Loftus, the showbiz conversations stopped and
jaded Hollywood eyes became transfixed on her. With a sound and
lyrics on caliber with Aimee Mann or Lucinda Williams and a voice
as hauntingly soul-stirring as Alison Krauss, coupled with a visible
truth and passion for every word she sings, it's hard not
to give Amy your complete attention.