Amanda Pearcy Q-Bus Leiden, 18 April 2014

Amanda Pearcy. Photo: Wo.

As I already wrote in the previous post on this blog, the show in the Q-Bus this night was like listening to a representative of the sunny bright day brigade and one from the pitch dark moonless night. Rebecca Loebe belongs to the former, Amanda Pearcy to the latter. In many ways Amanda Pearcy has more mileage on her, which makes her more interesting in different ways also. Her voice is rougher, she has lived more and clearly encountered the blues in many ways; emotions that shine through in her songs.

At the house show of Beth Wimmer in Ter Aar last weekend host Peter had told me that I have to go and see Amanda Pearcy, Erwin Zijleman's blogpost tipped me over. (I even got to finally meet him, after all the e-mailing we have been doing over the past years for WoNo Magazine and this blog.) They were both proven right. I have not regretted going for a single moment. Listening to Amanda Pearcy sing is a treat and nothing but that.

Amanda Pearcy is not completely comfortable on stage. This adds to the experience. It also reminded me of seeing Lucinda Williams several years ago. Not only the unease in the appearance, but her voice and some songs as well. The unease shows more in the talks in between songs than in the singing and playing itself. Pearcy is clearly happy and comfortable with her songs. And quite rightly so. Her songs stand out and show life in all its facets. I could have done without some details in her stories though.

Matt Giles. Photo Wo.

On stage Amanda Pearcy was accompanied by Matt Giles, who sang some minor backing vocals, joined in the banter on the stage, but mostly played these nice electric guitar parts: slide, finger or plectrum picked. All songs got a nice shot of energy in the right places. A solo, intricate playing or just a sound boost. Where Amanda Pearcy got the strum going, keeping the beat. Also in her guitar sound there is great difference with Rebecca Loebe. It's deeper, darker, but still very clear. Together Pearcy and Giles made me forget that there could have been a bass player, drummer, keyboardist. They were just not required. The two of them were enough.

There was another difference between the two ladies. Amanda Pearcy's songs are much more varied. She steeps into the blues as well, creating a mix of blues and country/folk. Her show started with a footstompin' field holler, which was the last thing that I'd expected to hear. The variation was kept up during the show. One song was more of a ballad, another went off more into country, others into folk. All were Amanda Pearcy because of the quality of her voice.

Amanda & Matt. Photo: Wo.

And is everything pitch black? No, the moon returns regularly in her songs. Whether in crescent form or just in general. There are rays of light, so hope anyway. I'd almost forgotten that because the difference between the two singers was so huge in Q-Bus this evening.

The last difference I'll mention is that I got really curious to hear her album. Having heard three songs before the show, I had not planned on doing so. We talked for a while and I got to know her just a little bit when I bought her second album 'Royal street'. Expect a review in the coming weeks. I can already say that the album is as varied as the show, if not more so. Erwin Zijleman was right also. Amanda Pearcy is an artist that should and deserves to be heard more. So what is keeping you from doing so?

Wo.

You can listen to 'Better when I'm on my own' here.