THE SUGAR TREE (Koch)  •  Amy Rigby

Brainy and beautiful, funny and profound Pop from a superior songwriter. Amy's two other Koch records, Diary of a Mod Housewife and Middlescence, built a respectable following and she toured widely behind them.

This is our second Brad Jones production this issue, they make a lot of good records down there. This one is actually a year or two old, but no matter, good tunes are always new. The Jones gang spoken of in our Richard Julian "Good Life" review is notably augmented here by guitarist Will Kimbrough, who really turns it out. This is the Rock & Roll side of Pop, with the sophisticated exception of the Bill Demain cowrite, "Happy for You," which is my favorite. Amy's perhaps better known for humorous songs like "Wait Til I Get You Home," "Balls," or "Rode Hard (and Put Away Wet)." There's one more cowrite and it's great, "Stop Showing Up in My Dreams," written with Bill Lloyd, which has a great Smashmouth type groove going on, but more Psychedelic.

Amy's humor has also got so much romance built into it, and so much woman, that it's got an irresistibility. She makes you love her. She's also got sexy brains, I find that to be rare. She's what I'd call a a very pleasing character singer, but she's a real character. It's as a lyricist that she really stands out, all the songs are big sexy love stories that are funny or heartbreaking, all worth the trip. The record ends with the beautiful "Sleeping with the Moon," on a welcome poignant note:

But I'm sleeping with the moon
Cause you've gone away
Yeah I'm sleeping with the moon
But what'll I do during the day?

Really strong record, we like it a lot. Check it out on our Listen page, and pick it up.  • FG

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