Amy LaVere is an American singer, songwriter, upright bass player and actress. Based in Memphis, TN, LaVere's music is usually classified as Americana, combining a blend of classic country, gypsy jazz, and southern soul. She has released three albums on Memphis label Archer Records, and has multiple acting credits in major motion pictures.
According to her Facebook page, LaVere "routinely gets antsy" [impatient, or restless] after she’s been off the road awhile. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana and a native of Bethany, Texas, she’s really more a child of America - a self-described “General Motors brat” whose father’s jobs kept her small family frequently on the move. Her life as a touring musician seems tailor-made for a woman who is seemingly one part upright bassist and another part gypsy.
More recently LaVere says she’s been surprised at how much she’s enjoyed “nesting” in the Midtown Memphis home she shares with Paul Taylor, her boyfriend and collaborator. Typical afternoons have found her in between bursts of household chores, sips of warm tea, back-scratches for her lab mix, Charlie, and living-room band practice with Paul and guitarist Steve Selvidge. In the early evening, with the temperature hovering in the teens outside, there’s dinner as classical music plays underneath.
Welcome to the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, right? But like the music on Amy’s stereo, this relative calm is merely a rest between movements.
LaVere’s music jumps genres as a mix of rockabilly, jazz and bluesy balladry. She doesn’t like categorizing it anyhow, and feels boxed in even by the notion. As in “Killing Him,” she sometimes lets the specter of death or consequences of murder inform her thoughts on love.
Elizabeth CookView profileBobby Bare Jr.View profile
Tim EastonView profile