Shawn Amos ­ Harlem Unbreakable Records ­ U2 08881

By William Michael Smith

	Shawn Amos, son of cookie mogul Wally "Famous" Amos, grew up "in the flats of Beverly Hills." He ironically describes his musical life as "I was looking to be the black Bob Dylan but now I think I'm more of a white Marvin Gaye." Listening to his wonderfully emotive album "Harlem," I'd say he's more like Rick Danko or Robbie Robertson of The Band than like Bob or Marvin. Working with his ace band Uncle Tom and with former Jayhawk's front man Mark Olson and Crazy Horse guitarist Poncho Sampedro, Amos has crafted as fine and delicate a piece of Americana as we may ever hear. And while the lyrical content speaks pointedly and unblinkingly to issues of history and racism, don't expect rote ideas, simplistic answers or commonplace stereotypes from the brainy Mr. Amos. Growing up an affluent black child, he's seen racism and stereotyping from all sides of the coin and makes plain in this record that he doesn't favor one kind over another. A graduate of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts and a producer at Rhino Records by day, the 31 year-old Amos wrote screenplays before taking up songwriting in 1991. He has written songs in a number of genres: a country song for Christopher Walken's movie, "The Prophecy;" a pop song for Ben Stiller's Disney production, "Heavyweights;" a rocker for Janeane Garofolo's "I Shot a Man in Vegas;" and he wrote and performed the theme for the children's TV show "Uncle Wally's General Store." Amos also composed and performed a piece of performance art called "Colorblind: Songs and Stills in Black and White" with artist/photographer Roderick Sykes. He followed up "Colorblind" with a rock album in 1996 titled "Whitey McFearsun" and subsequently did an acoustic singer/songwriter record called "Be Real." But in 1998 he formed a band, Uncle Tom, consisting of Robert Jolly on drums, Patrick Milligan on guitars and banjo, Ben Peeler on dobro, lap steel and mandolin, and Roger Len Smith on bass and began compiling material for what would become "Harlem." "Harlem" is the story, told in ten songs (all composed by Amos except for Neil Young's 'Southern Man') of the Millers, a family of sharecroppers, and their journey from the sharecropper plot to Harlem. Amos has recently produced a compilation disc for Rhino entitled "Rhapsodies in Black: Music and Words from the Harlem Renaissance," which, along with the traveling exhibition, Rhapsodies In Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance, served as an overarching influence on his songs for "Harlem." The album begins with the lilting, deceptively gentle 'Independence Day.' Mr. Amos and his band have a finely honed sense of Southern pace to their music, never rushing, just letting the songs come out very naturally. Amos has obviously done his homework well, no doubt reading widely in the history of the period, because even though he was raised in wealth and comfort, it is uncanny how well he can climb inside the head of Miller, the sharecropper looking for a better life. It's 1921 in the record's opening scene, and Miller is picking cotton. But Miller's back is broken and he is giving up the sharecropping life, heading north with his wife, Mattie, part of the great migration during the 1920's. We're going up to the Promised Land, going up to the Promised Land America, just a dream to me, America don't belong to me We're goin' up to Harlem Miller has had enough of the promise of the South. A lifetime has passed since the Civil War and "the southern star has fallen by a firecracker fuse/never did believe when they told us to our face those days were over/we're strangers in this land still/we're strangers in this land still." Amos even conjures up the noted African-American intellectual and one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance, poet Langston Hughes, whom Miller paraphrases in explaining his feelings: "America has never been America to me/And yet I swear this oath/As long as I can breathe/America will be a seed/that grows deep in the heart of me." While there are no weak tracks on "Harlem," 'Vicksburg' certainly qualifies as one of the strongest. Beginning with Amos's simple banjo licks and a sparse acoustic guitar, the sound is very rural and antique. As the frustration of evil and injustice build in the lyric, Amos and co-producer Patrick Milligan's voices come together with some wonderful harmony as the intensity of the song grows. No hard rain, Mule's been dead 40 days I would die, pray I was cursed See you burn, old Vicksburg Land's gone dry, I am not unafraid, I will not bow down in shame Dig my heart in this earth Trade my life for yours, Vicksburg Stole my name, my daddy's land Tied my hands, feel no pain They don't know a good man's worth Go to hell, old Vicksburg Amos shows his innovative producer's skills on Neil Young's 'Southern Man.' True to his film background, Amos creates a lot of drama with the way he has constructed this track. He begins by sampling an old prison chant, 'Eighteen Hammers,' sung by Johnny Lee Moore and 12 Mississippi Penitentiary convicts, complete with clanking chains. Sampedro picks some sinister electric guitar, and Amos keeps adding samples of the convict song at intervals. Amos's vocal interpretation gives the song more authenticity than Neil Young was able to give it. This is an absolutely stellar arrangement and performance. 'Blackface' shows just how deep and penetrating a songwriter Mr. Amos is and how anti-stereotypical his views are. The lyrics speak for themselves. Brother, brother won't come toward me Not in this neighborhood Talking peace won't do no good Brother, brother do you hate me more Than the folks on up the road Brother, brother you don't own me Though I wear my blackface too I wear my blackface too Amos again comes very close to The Band with the soulful and expressive 'Mean As You.' Amos's voice strikes that Rick Danko vibe, and the music is lazy but perfect. I never met anyone Who could mean so much to me And be as mean as you Amos describes the music on "Harlem" as "pure hillbilly soul." 'Inside/Out' probably represents that concept as well as any tune on the album. A laconic, mid-tempo electric guitar-driven track with some soulful organ playing by John Thomas, Amos gives this one an Otis Redding feel even though the instrumental backing is not so rhythmic as most of Redding's Stax recordings. This is more like Redding in his 'Dock of the Bay' mode. Instrumentally, this track again brings to mind The Band. This cut is straight down the center of mainstream Americana. Amos shifts to straight up country on 'Vicious Circle,' where he is joined on vocals by Mark Olson. Another fine example of both Americana and "pure hillbilly soul," there is some fine dobro and steel guitar playing on this lilting track as Amos again flashes his arranger/producer brilliance. Amos turns up the volume and the funk on 'Fire Down Below,' but even though this is a more electrified track than most, it still has that country/rural vibe that unifies the whole record. This house gets cold when no is home And supper's almost over The road from Raleigh up to Harlem Is filled with KK's sons and daughters 'Goin' East' is shades of Bob Dylan. The track opens with an acoustic guitar strum and some very sad and Dylanish harmonica. But true to the rest of the record, Amos shifts gears and the track progresses in another Band-like arrangement, complete with gospel piano, Dixie horns, accordion and some very subtle slide guitar. The track comes together in rich layers, ebbing and flowing. It represents another fine example of how Amos thinks like a film writer when he's constructing his songs in the studio. His vocal is exceptional. The finale, 'Angel in Black,' is filled with echoing, other-worldly electric slide guitar by Jeremy Parzen. Amos sings in an understated, purposely restrained style in projecting the dream state that the song portrays. Amos hasn't sought radio hits or MTV stardom with "Harlem." In fact, that would seem to have been the farthest thing from his mind. Like the Harlem Renaissance art exhibit that influenced him in writing and producing "Harlem," Amos' album is a work of art, an obvious labor of love, not a cheap commercial ploy. "Harlem" doesn't have a "single" or a radio hit. That would be antithetical to the purpose and to the aesthetic. What Shawn Amos has produced is a warm, intelligent, satisfying album of Americana. "Harlem" is one of those records that, because of the lack of a single or a flashy radio-friendly hit, will fool you. But give it a few listens and you'll find that it is an album that will penetrate both your heart and your head and lodge itself deep in your pure hillbilly soul. * Picassos and Monets too expensive for your pocketbook? Trip on over to www.shawnamos.com and buy a quiet Americana masterpiece for just $15. And you won't have to make any nail holes in the wall to hang it. Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

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