Americana singer/songwriter
Amy Black first emerged out of Boston's roots music scene in the late 2000s fronting her band the Red Clay Rascals. The daughter of a preacher,
Black grew up in Missouri and Alabama, eventually ending up with her family in the Boston area. While she enjoyed making music and played in a variety of bands over the years, she didn't pursue a music career in earnest until her late thirties. With the Red Clay Rascals, she released one largely acoustic album in 2009, returning two years later as a solo artist with a more robust sound that took influences from blues and R&B as well as folk and country. Released in 2014,
This Is Home continued to trend more toward a roots rock type of sound, while
The Muscle Shoals Sessions (2015) found
Black exploring her Southern roots with a set of vintage soul and R&B covers. Produced by Lex Price, the album featured guest performances from
Spooner Oldham and Regina and
Ann McCrary of
the McCrary Sisters. A move to Nashville found
Black collaborating with Scott Bomar of the Memphis soul-jazz group
the Bo-Keys. Like the
Muscle Shoals album before it, her 2017 release,
Memphis, drew deeply on her Southern soul heritage, but this time featured all original material. ~ Timothy Monger