Amy Black & the red clay rascals » live music

New gig: Village Smokehouse in Lowell May 7

Amy — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:06:55 +0000

I went to dinner at the new Village Smokehouse restaurant in Lowell this past weekend. It’s the sister restaurant of the well-known Village Smokehouse in Brookline.

I noticed they have live music on Thursday nights and I thought, “Hey! My band goes perfect with BBQ” and chatted with the manager.

The long and short of it — we are playing there on Thursday, May 7 from 9 p.m. to close. There is no cover and it’s a really cool space (with great BBQ!). So come on out!

More info about the venue

New gig: Benefit BBQ for children with autism

Amy — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:19:46 +0000

The band and I will be playing at a great event coming up on April 26 at Romaine’s Restaurant in Northboro, MA. Richard Romaine and friends are a throwing a big party to raise moneyÂ to helpÂ children with autism. While I would like to say that they best part is the band, I have to admit that all-you-can-eat BBQ sounds pretty darn good!

Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children.

For more details on BarbeCure, check out www.barbecure.org

New show, December 6 at J.P. O’Hanlon’s

Amy — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:24:10 +0000

Looking to get out of the house and have some fun? Come out and see me and the band on December 6 at J.P. O’Hanlon’s in Ayer, Mass. It’s a great venue, everyone gets a good seat and you’ll love the food. Please call 978-772-9282 to reserve your seats. Seating is limited (only 60 seats). I look forward to seeing you there.

Going electric at the Acton Jazz Cafe blues jam

Amy — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:22:22 +0000

If you’ve been to one of my shows, you’ve heard Fred Bement go to town on the harmonica. The guy can play! Well Fred recently connected me with a friend of his who was interested in collaborating. His name is Jeff Purchon. He’s the nicest guy and is an incredibly talented guitar player with some heavy duty experience under his belt. Here’s a little blurb from his resume…

Jeff moved to London to become professional guitarist at age 21. He toured with Noel Redding (ex Jimi Hendrix), Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull) and in his career has jammed / gigged with Robert Palmer, Ginger Baker, Buddy Miles, Steve Holly (Wings) and many others.

Jeff has recorded in major studios including Abbey Road, Sun Studios (London), De Lane Lea, Roundhouse, Trident, Air London etc. In the 80â€™s in the US he founded and toured with Memphis Train, a Boston-based blues band playing at the Crossroads music festival in Nashville, House of Blues and other prestigious gigs.

These days Jeff still jams in three continents with various bands depending where he is. At the last Austin NAMM show in 2007, Jeff played with Buddy Miles and Vernon Reid of Living Color.

Pretty impressive.

This past Thursday night I joined Jeff and four guys that he pulled together-Ron Pastore on bass, Glenn Watkins on keys, Stanley Swan on drums, and another guy (name escapes me) on the organ-and over an hour we worked on four songs. We headed over to the Acton Jazz Cafe’s blues jam and rocked the house.

One of the guys recorded a few of the songs and sent them around today. While the mix isn’t great (and I was struggling to hear myself in the monitor), you can get a good sense of how we sounded.

Here’s Love Me Like a Man written by Chris Smither…

I should have more recordings to share (from the practice soon). I will post them here as well.

I hope to do something with these guys again at some point and will let you know when I do!

Bull Run show a success. What’s next?

Amy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:47:41 +0000

I’ve been a bad blogger. I haven’t written since September 25. I do have some good excuses though. I just started a new job (I’m a marketer by day and some times by night too) and have been pretty focused on that. AND I’ve been waiting to get the audio from the Bull Run show so I can share it with you. I’m keeping the faith that I’m going to get it. Also, I’ve got some good video from the night, but am experiencing some technical difficulties. I will spare you the details.

Thanks to one of the people in the audience (Hans Nuecke from Germany) on the night of September 26, I do have some photos to share. I’m not looking my supermodel best : ), although I think Bob Sevigny might be. The photos did a great job of capturing the night. My personal favorite is of Jon Cumming (banjo and dobro). I love it so much, I’m putting it on the site. I’m sure Jon will love me for that.

I’m not giving up hope that I will have video and audio to post. Also, many have been asking me when we are playing again. I’m working on that and hope to have a few dates to pass on soon. In the meantime, I’m still doing some singing. Andy Sicard (bass and mando) pulled me into a bluegrass gig at a church in Medford, MA today and I got to sing with my sister Corrie–always a treat. Andy did promise us a complimentary BBQ dinner, but I ended up eating a burrito in Davis Square instead. Still yummy. : )

Oh, I didn’t mention that the Bull Run show on September 26 was great! It was a rainy night and the first of the presidential debates was on. We still had 110 people out. If you were one of them, thanks so much for coming.

Stay tuned for show dates (video and audio).

Amy