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Review: Amy Lavere
There’s something downright diverting about the sight of a diminutive woman playing a big ol’ upright bass, but that’s the least of Amy Lavere’s appeal. Lavere, who performed Friday night as part of the Memphis showcase at Opal Divine’s Freehouse (and seemingly all over town in addition) is also the possessor of a chirping, malleable voice and a songwriter’s sensibility that can range from sunny to downright mordant. The combination can be arresting or even jarring.
Her two albums (the most recent having been produced by Jim Dickinson) don’t really prepare the listener for Lavere’s stage show. There is a patina of stylistic similarity between the album tracks that Lavere and her group mostly set aside onstage.
Her live set varied from crunchy punk/pop (“Washing Machine”) to Americana wistfulness (“Nightingale”) to rockabilly shuffles (her left-of-center cover of Michelle Shocked’s “If Love Was A Train”) and country with a pop sheen (“Take ‘Em or Leave ‘Em”).
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