We leave you this weekend dear reader with news that ascendant California-based Americana singer-songwriter Amber Cross has announced her debut Ireland & UK tour dates in April, in support of her widely praised third album ‘Savage on the Downhill’. It is a brave person that chooses to cross that channel next month too.
On the new record, the press release describes her as making “music as beholden to the landscapes of Northern and Pacific California, where she lives and travels, as to the songwriting she crafts around it. Her songs hang heavy with the yellow dust of dirt roads, plunge deep into the soft loam of the forest. As a hunter, a fisherman, and a woman of the backcountry, she knows the countryside well, and has a deep respect for the honest work that makes you a steward of the land. It’s something she shares with other roots musicians, a community she found attending her first Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. Her contacts from the gathering helped her connect with Savage on the Downhill’s producer, Canadian blues and roots musician Ray Bonneville.
Travelling to Austin to record the album with Bonneville, Cross connected with other great American songwriters, Gurf Morlix and Tim O’Brien, who both came onboard for the album, with O’Brien complimenting her “no bullshit style of singing.” If there’s a rawness to Cross’ voice, a plainness to the words, it comes from the fact that Cross knows the roots of this music aren’t fancy. They’re built by hand and filled with honest words and hard-won truths.”
So basically she sounds ace, and the video below confirms that. Here are those dates, where she’ll be accompanied by James Moore on guitar and mandolin. You can also find them in our lovely gig guide. Have a good one.
Amber Cross UK Dates 2019
Thu 11 April – Mullingar, Co. Westmeath – The Stables at Smiddy’s
Fri 12 April – Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim – The Glens Centre
Sat 13 April – Roscommon – J.J. Harlows
Sun 14 April – High Wycombe – Ramblin’ Roots Revue, Bucks Students’ Union Venue
Mon 15 April – High Wycombe – Kingsmead House Concert
Tue 16 April – London – Green Note
Wed 17 April – Hebden Bridge – The Trades Club
Thu 18 April – Birmingham – Kitchen Garden Café
Tue 23 April – Liverpool – Grateful Fred’s House Concert
Thu 25 April – Aberdeen – The Blue Lamp
Fri 26 April – Edinburgh – Sneaky Pete’s
Tue 30 April – Newport – Le Pub
Thu 2 May – Otterton, Devon – Otterton Mill
