NEW ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Amanda Shaw
NEW ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Amanda ShawBy Bob Doerschuk
© 2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association,® Inc.
Fiddler/singer/songwriter/actress Amanda Shaw’s New Orleans roots display proudly throughout her Rounder Records debut album, Pretty Runs Out, in her street-strut pas de deux with Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews on “Brick Wall,” the low-down jazzy blues of her solo on “What’s Wrong with You?” and the foot-stomp Cajun feel “French Jig” and “McGee’s Medley.”
Shaw wrote five of these 13 tracks and recorded all of them while in her mid teens. Now 17, she projects an appeal through her music that combines elements of humor and youthful verve with the precocity that earned her the distinction at age 7 of being the youngest artist to guest with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.
Shaw was in elementary school when she made her national television debut on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show.” She was 14 when she won Best Female Entertainer honors at the annual Big Easy Entertainment Awards. In 2004, she and producer Scott Billington worked diligently on repertoire for Pretty Runs Out and recorded demos at the legendary Ultrasonic Studio, which was subsequently lost to Hurricane Katrina. They recorded Pretty Runs Out at the Piety Street Studio in the Upper Ninth Ward at the end of 2006.
Like her hometown, Shaw’s music covers a wide range — all the way to crunchy, guitar-amped rock on “Woulda Coulda Shoulda.” The Crescent City is all about roots, and the rock/Cajun/Irish blend of her “Reels: The Gaspé Reel/Sam’s Slammer/ Imogen’s Ridge” medley makes clear where Shaw’s heart is, no matter how far her explorations take her from this point — even onto the sprawling IMAX screen as star of “Hurricane on the Bayou.” IN HER OWN WORDS:
MUSICAL HERO: “There are so many: Denis McGee, Billie Holiday, Etta James, Chrissie Hynde, Loretta Lynn … Mostly, though, I have to say the wonderful musicians of New Orleans.”
SONG YOU SING IN THE SHOWER: “The song I’m currently trying to write.”
FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORATION: “The one that gets me there on time — which, for me, would be 10 minutes late.”
TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY: “Amanda Shaw: Pretty Runs Out.”
LEGACY: “I hope people say, ‘She lived a happy life and was a well respected artist … even though she is a bit klutzy at times.'"
On the Web: www.amandashaw.com