Amelia White at Iota: Proving She's Got What It Takes
Washington Post, Saturday, January 15, 2005; Page C03
It's no wonder that Amelia White is being touted as the next Lucinda Williams. At Iota on Thursday, the Nashville resident, who was born in Arlington, revealed a slightly nasal, knife-edged voice that fans of Williams couldn't help loving.
But White has her own strong songs and strong style. There were only three people in her ensemble -- White on vocals and rhythm guitar, Larry Ferguson on percussion and Shawn Byrne on electric guitar -- but they spread across the small stage as if to make room for White's expansive, gripping tales of sin and deceit on both personal and global levels.
She could do alt-country: "Windowpane," off her just-released EP, "Candy Heart," married a snappy rhythm to melancholy lyrics about rain, a train and a graveyard without producing a hint of cliche. She could rock: "Sugar Man," a song she described as brand-new, yearned its way through mantra-like lyrics as desperate as those of Williams's "Essence." But many of her strongest numbers could be deemed protest songs: "Snakes & Pushers," with a veritable electrical storm from Byrne; "Black Doves," about families left behind by the Iraq war machine; and "Said It Like a King," a very recent song written with Lori McKenna that compellingly questions authority.
Introducing a plaintive cover of Hank Williams's "Tennessee Border," White described his music as "pure pop." If it fits Hank, it fits her.
-- Pamela Murray Winters
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