Amy Bleu

Bio:

Amy Bleu is a singer/songwriter/guitarist/ukulele player based in Portland, Ore. Born in Eastern WA and raised primarily in Hawaii, Bleu grew up on the road , hearing relentless melodies and accompanying stories in her head. She fiddled around with the ukulele as a child in Hawaii, but didn't discover her true love – the guitar – until she was 19. She became a regular at several open mics in Portland just one year later. At 22, she was living in Spokane and had several regular gigs and enough songs for her first album, "Renegade Angel". She relocated to Denver the following year in order to promote herself in a new region. While there, she took a ukulele workshop at Swallow Hill Music School to get in touch with her folk roots, but instead ended up getting more interested in the blues. Along with her partner in music and love, Matt Cornett, Amy headed to Tucson next, where she finished writing her second album, “Snake Charmer”, which was released in 2007.



A versatile performer, Bleu has enjoyed entertaining at diverse venues such as book stores, a bank, the zoo, an amusement park, and a grocery store, as well as more traditional venues such as bars, coffeehouses, restaurants and festivals. In January 2009 she released her third album, "Geek Love", featuring her husband Matt on bass guitar, and Adam Sullivan (aka Bellows Bot) – who also recorded and produced the album – on several instruments including the accordion and xylophone. They have toured several cities and performed at many festivals over the past year. During the summer of 2009 they began to work with drummer Gabriel Edge, and they recently recorded several songs which will be released as an EP later this year. Amy is currently gearing up for her summer solo tour.

Amy Bleu in Dutch.

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Member Since:

February 04, 2005

Members:

Amy: baritone ukulele, guitar, vocals.

Frequent collaborators: Annie Laurie - violin, mandolin, back-up vocals. Matt Cornett - bass.
Adam Sullivan - accordion, xylophone, keys, drum machine, harmonica, melodica, back-up vocals.
Gabriel Edge - percussion/drums.

Influences:

Kristin Hersh, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith, John Vanderslice, the Mountain Goats, Tom Waits, Leadbelly, Edith Piaf, whiskey, city life, insomnia, trains, lust, love.

Sounds Like:

"Her voice is mesmerizing." -- Margaret Coble, Curve Magazine

"Honest, raw, melodic, yet seething." -- Sherri Boggs, NW Inlander, Spokane

"...Sultry vocals and acoustic hymns...Bleu presents a paradoxical style that seems at odds with her delicate demeanor." -- Clint Burgess, NW Inlander

"(Bleu) fires off original songs and covers with a voice like Grace Slick unaccompanied by psychedelics." -- Go! Magazine, Wenatchee

"Like a single female version of the Mountain Goats, with bounteous acidity and brutal honesty to match the pleasantries of the instrumentation." -- Jeff Echardt, NW Inlander

"(Bleu's voice is) possibly... even menacing in the way of an evil pixie... it seems to have an eensy bit of insanity behind it. It definitely is darker and more interesting than the vast armies of singer-songwriters that flank her." -- Kelly Brown, the Statesman Journal

Record Label:

Bad Girls Records

Label Type:

Indie