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Growing up in SoCal, she was always surrounded by music. Her grandfather started out as a vaudevillian, moving to California and working as a musician and composer for CBS after vaudeville had run its course. Her mother studied opera and met her dad while he was playing guitar and fiddle in a Navy band during WWII. As the ninth of ten girls, musical siblings who all sang and played instruments surrounded her. Dad liked to sing cowboy songs; her older sisters were into the Beatles and sang folk in local coffeehouses. Add these influences to those you'd expect from now living near the intersection of Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas and where Blake is coming from musically becomes clear. Thoreau said, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." In the title track, Blake knows there must be more to life, but as she contemplates breaking from the status quo the realization that how to do this, even what needs to be different, isn't clear. In the end, like Thoreau's "mass of men," she continues living her life of quiet desperation. Sittin' in the kitchen my feet propped on a chair I want to be somebody, but I'm not up to the task Blake was aiming for a bare bones sound, playing acoustic guitar and sometimes mandolin herself, and enlisted fellow songwriter Mike Westbrook (lead acoustic guitar, mandolin) and Jerry Abrams of Houston Marchman's band (bass fiddle). Another songwriter friend, Ted Lindsay, plays electric bass in place of Abrams on some tracks. Overall the music has an organic, acoustic sound. Full enough, but always enhancing and supporting rather than detracting from Blake's beautiful voice that takes its rightful place at center stage. The roots of Americana music are largely rural. Celebrating the joys of simple small town life and the evils of the impersonal big city are almost cliché. Waylon sang about getting back to the basics in Luckenbach. Charlie Robison flees Dallas and Austin for Bandera, singing "I'll see you around in my hometown." Blake reverses the stereotype, starting in the big city and moving to small. Untainted by nostalgia, her view is more balanced. You won't hear her pining for the city, but in "News Travels Fast" she tackles one of the negatives of the rural life. Heard you're running around with someone new News travels fast in a small town You also won't hear Blake pining for past loves. In "Better Leave Him Alone," she warns a former lover's new lady about getting too involved, not out of jealousy, but because she knows he'll just break her heart. In "Let Go" she sings about moving on when a relationship isn't working, and she refuses to let a past lover hurt her in "Better than That." Through the trials of love she usually remains strong, especially in "Baby It's You," where she makes sure her man understands why the relationship isn't working. I'll stand my ground, you can't knock me down But don't you know, don't you know, that it's not me 'Cus I've already tried the tender night Blake's song titles sometimes lead you to expect one thing, but what you find is just the opposite. In "Baby It's You," I expected a tribute to a great love like the Shirelles' hit with the same title. Obviously I was wrong and the contradiction intensifies the impact of the real message. Disc closer "Heartbreaker" also isn't what you might expect. On this tune Blake is at her most vulnerable, no surprise there. But if you expect another man-that-done-me-wrong song, think again. She wants to be the heartbreaker, just not in the usual sense. Break your heart, I wanna break your heart You make it hard, you make it hard What ever happened to you to make you so hardhearted If I could be a heartbreaker Blake's crack band and smart lyrics are both good reasons to like this disc. But what keeps bringing me back is her voice, strong yet feminine with a relaxed bluesy quality. The kind of voice that will make you feel comfortable and relaxed too. I imagine her kids have fallen asleep to some great lullabies. * To order a copy of Nothing Else to Do online you'll
need to visit either www.villagerecords.com or www.cdbaby.com (where you can also listen
to some song samples). To learn more of Amelia Blake's story
or for an alternative purchase option visit www.ameliablake.com |
Amelia Blake's music
might lead you to assume she'd grown up near her current home
in northwestern Louisiana. Instead she came Straight Outta
Compton, growing up in the Los Angeles suburb best known,
at least musically, as the home of gangsta rap pioneers N.W.A.,
not exactly an Americana music stronghold.
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