AMY RAY

Didn’t It Feel Kinder

Fall 2008 Tour Dates Announced

Indie-psych band Arizona and Jennifer O’Connor to join Ray

 

“Don’t let Kinder’s name fool you—the grit of her previous albums, with their fuzzed guitars and angry lyrics, is still present. “– Paste

 

“No matter who’s at Ray’s side, her wonderfully melodic songs sound entirely their own.” – Time Out NY

 

“Ray adopts the guise of taut new wave rocker, spewing lyrics brimming with sexual tension and aggressive edge that may surprise all but knowing devotees”

– Performing Songwriter

 

“Her third solo outing finds the Indigo Girl bringing plenty of passion to the music and the message on songs like “Who Sold the Gun,” about Virginia Tech, and “She’s Got to Be,” a soulful look at loving the woman inside.”

– People Magazine

 

New York, NY:  Songwriter, icon and erstwhile Indigo Girl Amy Ray is set to tour the Midwest and East Coast in October /November 2008 for her critically lauded solo release, Didn’t It Feel Kinder.  (Look for Amy to hit the West Coast in early 2008!) She’ll be joined by Brooklyn/Asheville NC folk-psych band Arizona for her Midwest dates and Brooklyn-based songwriter Jennifer O’Connor for her East Coast run.  Ray’s core band will include former Butchies Melissa York on drums and Kaia Wilson on guitar.

 

Her third solo release and her most ambitious to date, Didn’t It Feel Kinder  finds Ray again trading in her acoustic guitar for a Les Paul, cranking her amp and reaffirming her position as one of the truest, most striking voices in contemporary music. 

 

For the first time in her solo career, Ray enlisted a producer.  Greg Griffith (The Butchies, Le Tigre, Loudspeaker, Vitapup), a fearless listener and multi-talented musician, worked with Ray to incorporate a variety of sounds and influences to create her unique and evolving voice throughout this record.  On the track “Bus Bus,” a song inspired backstage at a UK Indigo Girls’ gig as Ray listened to the bass and beats of the opening band throbbing through the club walls into her dressing room, she molds a danceable rhythm that is at once pop, punk rock and hip hop (aided by former Butchies and longtime Ray collaborators Kaia Wilson and Melissa York and Griffith).  Additional guests include guitarist Tomi Martin, half of Three5Human (and who has played with the likes of Madonna and TLC) and songwriter Brandi Carlile, as well as indie faves Arizona.

 

With 2001’s Stag and 2004’s Prom, Ray channeled her inner riot grrl and made two disarmingly personal, defiantly honest albums that tackled gender issues and sexual identity and established Ray’s punk rock cred and DIY ethos.  It also proved Ray could rock with the best of them.  While Didn’t It Feel Kinder is no less political or less catchy, Ray has written an album that reflects the rural nature of the recording process – late night drives between her home in rural Georgia and studios in Ashville, NC   and time spent in Greensboro, NC.  Lyrically, she tackles a culture obsessed by war, fame for the wrong reasons (“Who Sold the Gun," about the Virginia Tech killings), religious conservatism (“SLC Radio”) and makes a plea for the listener to reach outside of their comfort zone and connect with their community.

 

Didn’t It Feel Kinder is a thoughtful, political album and a call to reason by an artist who’s intertwined activism and social consciousness into her music and remained fresh and relevant over a career spanning two decades.  Ray has a knack for tapping into the universal human experience and bringing an empathy and call for understanding to even her most confrontational material.

 

Ray says it best: "What ties the record together for me is this human yearning to be understood and the yearning to become empathetic with other people - how to love each other and be kind even when we're

brutally angry."

 

AMY RAY SOLO TOUR CONFIRMED DATES

SUN-10/19 Nashville, TN – 3rd & Lindsley (with Arizona)

MON-10/20 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Café (with Arizona)

TUES-10/21 St Louis, MO – Blueberry Hill (with Arizona)

THUR-10/23 Omaha, NE – Slowdown (with Arizona)

FRI-10/24 Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line (with Arizona)

SAT-10/25 Ames, IA – Maintenance Shop (with Arizona)

SUN-10/26 Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon (with Arizona)

TUES-10/28 Champaign, IL-High Dive (with Arizona)

WED-10/29 Chicago, IL – the Metro (with Arizona)

FRI-10/31 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom (with Arizona)

SAT-11/1 Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls Theater (with Arizona)

SUN-11/2 Buffalo, NY – Tralf Music Hall- (with Jennifer O’Connor)

TUES-11/4 Toronto, ONT – Mod Club (with Jennifer O’Connor)

WED-11/5 Burlington, VT – Higher Ground Ballroom (with Jennifer O’Connor)

FRI-11/7 Somerville, MA – Somerville Theatre (with Jennifer O’Connor)

SAT-11/8 Northampton, MA-Pearl Street Upstairs   (with tba)

MON-11/10-Toad’s Place-New Haven, CT. (with tba)

WED-11/12 NY, NY – The Bowery (with tba)

THUR-11/13 Philadelphia, PA- (with tbd)

FRI-11/14 Washington, DC – 9:30pm Club (with tba)

SAT-11/15- Richmond, VA –Capital Alehouse   (with Jennifer O’Connor)

TUES-11/18- Va. Beach, VA-Jewish Mother (with Jennifer O’Connor)

WED-11/19- Cat’s Cradle-Carrboro, NC (with Jennifer O’Connor)

FRI-11/21 Asheville, NC-The Orange Peel (with Jennifer O’Connor and Arizona)

SAT-11/22 Atlanta, GA-Variety Playhouse (with Jennifer O’Connor and The Holland Dutch)