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Amy's
second solo release, Prom, available now!
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But I got this spark, I got to feed it something, or put
it out for good.
- Put It Out For Good |
Amy
Ray's second solo album, Prom, explores the dance between
gender and sexuality, man and woman, youth and adulthood,
authority and rebellion. The setting is the South, both suburban
and rural, where an undercurrent of whitewashed innocence
and destructive value systems often hold the hierarchy together.
These ten songs are full of characters from Amy's past and
present, including the disenfranchised kids from her high
school days, loves lost to addiction and abuse, and the teenagers
that now inhabit her southern rural neighborhood. She challenges
many institutions including the Christian Right, but does
not shrink from taking to task the alternative institutions
of rebellion. Her almost edible, growling voice and innate
storytelling renders an album that is pastoral but filled
with firecrackers; life giving, but never resting. Ray, one
half of the Indigo Girls, will release this album, like her
last, on her independent label, Daemon Records. |
I'm
just a calf with tender feet and sewn on horns, and love
is a prize waiting on her at the rodeo.
-Rodeo |
Prom
roams over the vast territory of love and gender as contained
in the physicality of nature. The subject matter spans a
delicate landscape (suicide, racism, gender identification,
political idealism, homophobia) but because she sees this
awkward journey as both a struggle and a celebration, Ray
comes across as curious and unafraid. From the Clash-meets-Phil
Spector anthem “Driver Education” to the speedy
and catchy social commentary “Blender,” Ray
again occupies the space between rock, old-school punk,
and folk, and claims this ground as her own. |
Much
of the exploration in Prom is done in the context of high
school life. “In high school I fell in love with a woman
for the first time, played my first gigs, learned about rebellion,
experienced the idea of community, and felt the innocence
of genderless childhood fading away into the reality of puberty,”
says Ray. This is a time worth revisiting says Ray because
we all see life through a special lens as we first are discovering
ourselves. “High school was a time when I really had
a grip on the idea of rebellion and what it meant to believe
in something enough to fight for it. When I see kids now,
I still see this happening with them and it is still infused
with the same passion, confusion, and hormonal angst that
I felt.” Even the love songs on Prom have a sense of
fragile self-righteousness, and a certain youthful tenderness
as if Ray is discovering love for the first time.
|
I
grow away from myself, with each passing bell. With all
these new accessories, I just stumble and bleed.
-Pennies On The Track
|
| I
am an overachiever of the wrong persuasion,
a pep rally kid, a New Gender Nation with a new desire.
-Put It Out For Good |
Lending
to the credibility of her argument that girls rock, too, is
the presence of what Ray calls “punk royalty”
on Prom. Former Team Dresch bassist and guitarist Jody Bleyle
and Donna Dresch sat in on several sessions, and added some
riot-grrl-style sturm und drang to the proceedings (the other
half of Team Dresch, The Butchies, figured prominently on
Stag). Former Beastie Boys and Luscious Jackson drummer Kate
Schellenbach brought her virtuosic sensibilities to many tracks,
as well. Ray says, “These players have influenced my
direction in life, as well as my music. Having a rhythm section
like Kate and Jody is the ultimate collaborative experience
for me.” |
We
got a punk rock problem; I'm tired of playing shirts and
skins here.How do we sing against the system, when we're
a main offender?
-Blender |
| But
Prom is not just about individual transformation and the search
for self; it deals with maturation (and the frustrating lack
thereof) in culture and society at large. It is a slow dance
in the white rural South, that carries with it conflicts similar
to those of white suburbia in the 70's. She weaves her own
experience as a teenager with what she sees as the new challenges
for a younger generation. She also levels a critical eye at
the punk movement itself, of which she is a lifelong admirer
and convert. Punk is the ultimate folk music, breaking down
barriers and refusing to blithely follow rules set down by
an unaccountable “other.” Yet punk’s stars
are overwhelmingly white and male. Ray says she feels as though
she inhabits the male part of her psyche when she plays rock
or punk, but is unsure whether that's because of where the
music is coming from in her, or what is expected by a society
that expects rebellion from boys and propriety from girls. |
| On
the other half of Prom Ray is joined by Birmingham, Alabama
band Nineteen Forty-Five (also on Daemon Records), whom she
calls “one of the best garage bands around.” Drummer
Will Lochamy, bassist Katharine McElroy, and guitarist Hunter
Manasco are part of a scene that is infused with the values
of DIY music. They and their southern punk compatriots have
been known to make “one night records” in their
basements and are always ready to rumble. It was in one of
these basements that Ray laid down some of the first tracks
of Prom. “Some of the guys would be down there recording
with me, and then we needed handclaps or crowd sounds behind
us, so we'd shout upstairs to their friends or whoever was
up there watching TV.” The rag-tag orchestra was dubbed
“The Pep Rally Kids,” and is featured on the first
track, “Put it Out for Good.” |
 |
| And
the strife will make me stronger as my maker leads me onward.
I'll be marching in that number so let it ring.
-Let It Ring |
Ray's
solo punk debut, Stag was released to critical acclaim. And
like her first record, she sees Prom as
anything but a solo experience. Ray joined her newfound band
mates on their home turfs, working in Birmingham, Atlanta,
and L.A. throughout the year, in between Indigo Girls' tours.
The record ended up in Athens, Ga., where it was mixed by
David Barbe. Letting her musical comrades determine the journey
was an integral part of her process, and this, says Ray is
also the message of Prom - a sort of southern West Side Story
about coming of age, finding love, and fighting for your humanity
in the company of others. “Who was the producer on this?
Everyone was. It was a real community effort.” |
 |
Indigo
Girls fans will find an edgier, angrier, and yet more hopeful,
compassionate and playful Ray on this
record than ever before. It is something short of a proclamation
and more of an exploration; Ray asks the questions and leaves
the answer to the listener and for herself. As they find
their own meaning in Prom, listeners will undoubtedly find
some of their past, present, and future selves between the
lines.
Rub
up against it 'til it gets inside you, and let it burn for
good.
Let it burn for good. |
|
Amy
Ray - Didn't It Feel Kinder
- Birds
of a Feather
- She's
Got To Be
- Bus
Bus
- Cold
Shoulder
- Who
Sold The Gun
- Out
On The Farm
- SLC
Radio
- Blame
Is A Killer
- Stand
and Deliver
- Rabbit
Foot
|
|
Amy
Ray - Didn't It Feel Kinder LP
Special Limited Edition Vinyl with CD INCLUDED!
180 gram LP
Special cover and inner sleeve art!
Back Cover
Making the LP -
Photo 1
Making the LP -
Photo 2
- Birds
of a Feather
- She's
Got To Be
- Bus
Bus
- Cold
Shoulder
- Who
Sold The Gun
- Out
On The Farm
- SLC
Radio
- Blame
Is A Killer
- Stand
and Deliver
- Rabbit
Foot
|
|
Amy
Ray and the Volunteers - Live
in Knoxville
- Put
It Out For Good (MP3)
- Sober
Girl
- Driver
Education
- Rural
Faggot
- Black
Heart (MP3)
- Late
Bloom
- Let
It Ring
- Mountains
of Glory
- Blender
- Laramie
- Lucystoners
(Bonus track)
- Hey
Castrator (Bonus track)
|
| |
Amy
Ray - Prom
Tracks
- Lyrics here
- Put
It Out For Good (MP3)
- Driver
Education (MP3)
- Rural
Faggot
- Give
In
- Covered
For You
- Blender
- Sober
Girl
- Pennies
On The Track
- Rodeo
- Let
It Ring
|
7"
Only $5.00
SOLD OUT
|
|
Amy
Ray - Careless Youth/Mountains of Glory (live with The Butchies)
7"
$5
Back cover
|
|
|
Amy
Ray - Stag
Lyrics here
- Johnny
Rottentail
- Laramie
- Lucystoners
(MP3)
- Hey
Castrator
- Late
Bloom (MP3)
- Measure
of Me
- Black
Heart Today
- Mountains
of Glory
- Lazyboy
- On
Your Honor
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