Amanda Pearcy
Album: Royal Street
Label: Continental
Tracks: 13
Website: http://amandapearcy.com/

When I received this album to review I thought that it might be just another new female country singer of which there seems to be a plethora at the moment. However, I was [a] wrong and [b] most pleasantly surprised by this superb collection of heartfelt songs which is named after the second-most famous street in the French Quarter of New Orleans [the best-known is, of course, Bourbon Street].

Amanda has a distinctive voice, a Texas twang with jazz and soul inflections and she employs a range of Southern roots styles [Tex-Mex, Cajun, Gospel and Blues as well as Country] in which to set her deeply personal songs of love, loss and regret.

Following the death of her first husband, Amanda "picked up his pawn shop guitar and got to the work of finally feeding her soul".

The album gets off to a great start with "Bring You Home", an achingly sad song of loss, set to a beautiful string arrangement. "Barking Dogs" takes us South of the Border with a lovely Mariachi-style arrangement featuring evocative Spanish guitar and violins. Despite the up-tempo nature of the music, the mood is still one of regret as Amanda lists the things that remind her of her departed lover : "Old freight trains in the middle of the night, Sweet little birds in the early morning and barking dogs when things ain't right".

"Story Of My Heart" is an upbeat country rocker with excellent pedal steel and accordion, which leads us to the centrepiece of the album, the title track, "Royal Street". This is a stunningly atmospheric piece in which Amanda transports us to said street in New Orleans "to look for antique garnets" and to the river to "drown our precious regrets". Amanda's voice really shines on this song, tender yet soulful and sultry, accompanied by a sympathetic string arrangement. Beautiful.

The atmosphere of New Orleans is also evoked in the superbly authentic-sounding acoustic blues "Better On My Own" on which Amanda channels the spirits of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith whilst delivering a vocal tour de force. The heartbroken lyrics are echoed in the mournful slide guitar.

Continuing Amanda's journey through the musical roots of the Southern States, we take in Gospel music on the revelatory "A Thousand Tender Recollections" on which Amanda's voice is at its soulful best, backed by an organist and gospel choir who sound as though they have just stepped out of church. Brilliant stuff!

If the predominant theme of the songs on this album is loss and regret, it is nowhere more apparent than on "No Expectations", one of only two non-original songs on this album. "No Expectations" was, of course, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and appears on the Stones' 1968 album "Beggars Banquet" [it was one of the last major contributions of Brian Jones to the music of the Stones]. Amanda's version of this song quite superb, her voice full of soulful resignation, reflected in the melancholic pedal steel guitar which accompanies her.

The other non-original is the traditional Spiritual "Wish I's Heaven Settin' Down" which has been recorded to sound like an old 78 rpm record, complete with crackles and surface noise. Chris Gage adds suitably authentic dobro accompaniment.

Apparently, Amanda had to work really hard to raise the funding for this album through a "Kickstarter" campaign. What I would say is that it was worth all of the effort because this is a superb album by a gifted singer and songwriter. Amanda's songs have great depth and she deals with real life issues in a poetic and sensitive manner. Highly recommended.

Peter Cowley