Amelia White spends a lot of time considering the other side on her latest album effort, ‘Beautiful and Wild’. Her words travel through the unknown and try to find meaning in the loss of love, life and relationships. ‘Beautiful and Wild’ is Amelia’s fifth studio effort. The album’s title and the song that bears its name were the result of her friendship with Duane Jarvis, the words born as Duane was preparing for his untimely death in 2009. Amelia met Duane in East Nashville when she planted her roots there in 2001. Though Duane Jarvis has gone, he a piece of himself in Amelia, “He became a mentor and good friend. We wrote together, he backed me up at times, and even when he was out on the road playing with everyone from Frank Black to John Prine, I could always call him if I felt down or discouraged about the business”.
‘Beautiful and Wild’ digs deep into how we take the next step, weighing the facts against our hopes and desires to find a balance. Stepping into the album with confidence, “Skeleton Key” struts into life, fueled as much by the persistent rhythms as the drive of the narrator’s determination to get the love she desires. Amelia White is a master songwriter and the heavy topics in ‘Beautiful and Wild’ lighten with the way her words cushion the blows and point the ways out of dead ends. The steps we take to muddle our way through the daily challenges that seem to have morning, afternoon and evening shows in our life are clearly marked on the album. Traveling on a snaking guitar distortion, Amelia White journeys with “St. Christopher” as she tries to find her place on 
an emotional map, sings a lullaby promise in tune with “Saxophone Trains”, drinks the “Molten Fire” sent over from the woman on the other side of the bar and shuffles down the “Sidewalks” to a scratchy boulevard beat. “Mercy” is call and call duet for two lives that need what the title promises and Amelia White takes a slight turn from her own songs and glides along in a heartbeat dreamscape for beautiful version the Roxy Music song of living in the moment, “More Than This”. Musically, ‘Beautiful and Wild’ makes it own journey through influences and makes
use of the singer/songwriter’s ability to hear music without borders, “”I’ve pretty much been writing songs and playing them for people ever since I can remember, it comes naturally to me, and I imagine I will do it until the day I die. I could claim a southern musical pedigree if I wanted, my Grandpa played banjo on the porch every night, but in reality my roots came from sneaking down to the basement to listen to my older brother’s records while Mom thought I was doing homework. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters and early Elton John were my faves, and I was completely obsessed. I loved the songs where I couldn’t figure out exactly what it meant for a while, and slowly a mystery was revealed: it blew my mind”.
Maybe we should self-teach and give ourselves homework assignments like the ones Amelia stole in her basement. Listening to her brothers records led to begging him to teach her guitar. She was a natural and bought her brother guitar in 1968 for $20. The Martin D-18 is still main guitar today, and lady and instrument have chased and corralled songs from the Boston subways to world stages. Like all journeys, “Beautiful and Wild’ must reach an end at some point and on the album it is “Ghost Rider”. The song is darkness lit by a lone banjo pluck and steady groove. The song was born of Amelia’s attempt to leave the business of music, “I wrote ‘Rider Ghost” after trying to give up music, cause I felt so dark about the difficulty of getting it out into the cold hard world. I think the Rider Ghost’s that come and go in and outta my space are why I HAVE to write songs”.
‘Beautiful and Wild’ was produced by Marco Giovino (Band Of Joy) in his studio, Dagotown Recorders, in East Nashville. Marco drummed with Amelia regionally on his time off from touring and recording with Band of Joy, Norah Jones, and Rodney Crowell. He offered to produce an album for her and the pair hunkered down in the studio when their favorite players were off the road and available to record.
For more on Amelia White including tour plans, lyrics, music, photos and more follow the path to her website. Danny McCloskey
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