Anyway

Anyway Artist: Amy Farris
Label: Yep Roc Records
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 634457207127
EAN: 0634457207127
ASIN: B0001WENGY


Release Date: 2004-05-04

Anyway


Related Categories:

General General
Categories | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Alt-Country & Americana Alt-Country & Americana
Categories | Country | Styles | Music
General General
Categories | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop Rock Pop Rock
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music

Tracks:

  1. Drivin' All Night Long
  2. Heading East
  3. Undecided
  4. Anyway
  5. Pretty Dresses
  6. My Heart's To Easy To Break
  7. Poor Girl
  8. Hard To Say
  9. No Exit
  10. Big Louise
  11. Let Go

Album Description

What her peers are saying: <P>"I have always loved playing and singing with Amy because her talent challenges me to rise to the occasion. She has an adventurous spirit about music and instruments that shines thru on her new record. I am certain that a portion of my audience comes just to listen to her and watch her perform which I came to realize was a very good thing but now a very bad thing for the guy that is replacing her since she left me for bigger and better things." --Kelly Willis <P>"Amy Farris is one of the most talented people I've ever had the pleasure to work with. A virtuoso musician, an inventive songwriter and a soulful vocalist, she is equal parts rock and roller, jazzer and honky-tonk queen. Imagine if Blossom Dearie, Wanda Jackson, Lotte Lenya, Dolly Parton, The Ronettes and Exene Cervenka ever got together and started a band. She's that good, believe me." --Dave Alvin <P>"Amy Farris' talents as a singer/songwriter/instrumentalist know no bounds. "Anyway" is a great debut album. Somehow she manages to pay homage to her diverse influences without losing one ounce of her personality. No easy feat to pull off but Amy does it effortlessly." --Ben Vaughn <P>Amy Farris invokes a congress of spirits, from Kitty to Patsy to old time X. With a fiery fiddle and a voice to raise the roof, Amy Farris has arrived! " --Grant-Lee Phillips

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars In Suspense.......2007-02-11

"Anyway" by Amy Farris is a good disc, particularly when she's in retro mode. Vocally, she may resemble Victoria Williams, Amy Rigby or Maria Muldaur, depending on the song. Some of the tracks here are standouts. "Hard to Say" has a swing emphasis that sounds like it came from Peggy Lee outtakes. "Undecided" mines the same western swing territory with Amy's voice a wry instrument, "I've been sitting on a fence & it doesn't make much sense 'cause you keep me in suspense." Bruce Robison's "Drivin' All Night Long" that opens the set keeps your toe tapping with its catchy road song chorus. John Doe & Exene Cervenka's "Poor Girl" is a strong track with Don Heffington's drums pounding relentlessly. Amy's own "No Exit" is probably my favorite track with Dave Alvin's electric guitar giving the arrangement bite & Tony Marsico's great bass line. Farris responds with sass & swagger, "Tomorrow gotta fake it, pretend I got some rest & kill anybody who says I must have slept." "Anyway" is a good set that pushes the boundaries with Dave Alvin's excellent production and Farris' violin and distinctive vocals. Enjoy!

5 out of 5 stars If Gracie Allen Sang Country.......2006-04-13

I was not surprised to learn that Amy Farris was a Gracie Allen fan, for her music is a deliberately retro sound that conjours up the late Mrs. George Burns. This cd is a fun and uptempo album, centered on teasingly heartbreaking material that is never light or stupid. Amy Farris get plenty of opportunities to turn her hand to the fiddle she made her name with. It also has a nice mix of original material, like the Title Track, and covers of everyone from Bruce Robison (Driving All Night Long) to X (a bouncy cover of "Poor Girl" which managed to perfecetly capture the character of the girl in the song). All in all a stand out performance from a stand out new talent.

4 out of 5 stars Nice, pleasantly eclectic rock-Americana mix.......2004-09-07

There are several swell, catchy songs that start this album off, with Austin scenester Amy Farris riding a fine line between indie and Americana tendencies. The country-ish stuff is the best, and while some of the more rock-oriented songs reveal some of her vocal limitations, on the whole this is a nice little record, with a cute DIY feel built around her off-kilter, mousy vocals, which bring Victoria Williams to mind, albeit with a more focussed musical vision. Nice record; worth checking out. I've enjoyed hearing Farris in the background of many Kelly Willis records; it's a treat to hear her taking center stage at last.

4 out of 5 stars Mixed bag of pop and Americana with fine high points.......2004-05-06

Farris is a singer-songwriter-fiddler from Austin who's augmented her classical training with an impressive crash-course in Americana. After wood-shedding on tour with Alejandro Escovedo, she had the opportunity to tour and record with Austin luminaries like Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison and The Derailers. She's graduated with this debut CD, produced by legendary guitarist-singer-songwriter Dave Alvin.

Farris' voice has a good measure of the "little girl" sound of Julie Miller and Victoria Williams, which can sound twee at times. Alvin does a good job of hiding this, especially on the stellar double-tracked vocal of the title song (augmented by a superb baritone guitar solo) and the twangy "Pretty Dresses." The former brings to mind 60s girlgroup sounds like The Shangri-Las or Shelley Fabares, the latter adds Farris' fiddle and Rick Shea's pedal steel to a song that's equal parts Wanda Jackson and Connie Francis.

The album's eclectic mix includes Drifters-styled bass, maracas and violin on "Let Go" and jazzy crooning on "Undecided" and "No Exit." Farris' voice is a bit girly to fully carry the latter two, but her fiddle solo on "No Exit" is swings in a wonderfully laconic way. Covers include Bruce Robison's "Drivin' All Night Long," Scott Walker's moody "Big Louise," and X's "Poor Girl." The latter, winningly, has more of a wistful jangle than X's typical angst.

Music Album:

  1. Flower King ~ Roine Stolt
  2. Battle Hymn
  3. Tales from Topographic Oceans ~ Yes
  4. Grooviest Hits Ever ~ Various Artists
  5. Weightless ~ Slow Roosevelt
  6. The Singles Collect ~ Skinny Puppy
  7. Boxing with God ~ El Vez
  8. Burn Burn ~ Lostprophets
  9. Battle Cry
  10. Last Adventures of Captain Dog ~ Blind Dog

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Compact Jazz: George Shearing ~ George Shearing

Sandy Nelson - King of the Drums: His Greatest Hits ~ Sandy Nelson

Live at the Village Vanguard a

The Blue Note Years ~ Hank Mobley

Motor City Scene ~ Donald & Pepper Adams Byrd

I Piu Grandi Successi ~ Alberto Camerini

L'indimenticabile Principe ~ Toto'

Caribbean Holiday ~ Caribbean Steel Band

Decisamente Loredana ~ Loredana Bert%C3%A8

Aloha Hawaii ~ Various Artists