Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters capture the emotional delivery of her original and extraordinary songwriting on Live At The Grey Eagle, a performance recorded live in the band’s hometown of Asheville, NC. Available in two versions on May 24 from Organic Records, the physical album features 14 tracks while the digital version is a 21-song set.
This collection spotlights Asheville’s seminal Americana/Country
outfit at an ideal time in their career. The dynamic performance
recorded over two nights in front of a rabid hometown crowd results in
everything from rambunctious renderings of the group’s edgy
70’s-influenced folk and country songs like “Carolina” and “Diamond in the Rough” to fan-favorite sing-a-longs like ”Irene” and “Better Woman” to moments of intimacy offered by stripped down versions of “90 Miles” and “The Road.”
Evolved versions of selected songs from the group’s five prior releases, two new originals written by Platt (“18 Wheels” and “Low Road”) and a cover of “To Love Somebody” take on new life when played live. With a palpable audience reaction that only a renowned musical destination like Asheville’s Grey Eagle can provide, the result is a magical union of artist and audience in the moment.
“I’ve
wanted to do a live album for a long time. I think that when a band has
been touring together, and everyone is really in step with one another,
the songs take on an entirely different spirit live. Some of the older
songs have grown and changed with me over the years, and I wanted to
capture that, too. Live versions simply have more of a pulse to them
than studio recordings,” says Platt. “I wanted to do it at the Grey Eagle
because for me, that was one of my first ‘white whales’ in Asheville. I
loved seeing music there and dreamed of headlining someday. Then in
2012, we sold out our first show there! It’s always been a special place
for me. I also think it encourages a kind of wildness in the audience
that you don’t get everywhere, which I wanted for the album.”
Live At The Grey Eagle is an authentic representation of the Asheville region’s quintessential roots music sound and the music scene this flagship band helped define.
Pre-order it HERE.
About Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters
Lyrically driven, the songs of Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters
blend the band’s old-school country roots attitude with their shared
influences of rock and folk. Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Amanda
Anne Platt is a storyteller by nature with an incredible band backing
her. Performing along Platt, The Honeycutters are Matt Smith on pedal
steel and guitar, Rick Cooper on bass, and Evan Martin on drums and
harmony vocals.
There is an empathetic and charming wit ingrained in Platt’s
songwriting. She has a knack for accessing a deep well of emotion and
applying it to her story-telling, whether she is writing from her own
experiences or immersing herself into the melody of emotions in another
person’s life.
Music
City Roots’ Craig Havighurst writes, “She’s soothing (even in the
hurtin’ songs) and sobering (except for the drinkin’ songs) and nuanced…
I’d be hard pressed to find a finer string of recordings from any band
working in the classic country/mountain tradition in these last five
years.”
A
homegrown entity, the band is critically acclaimed locally, regionally,
nationally, as well as overseas. Their prior album Amanda Anne Platt
& The Honeycutters [Organic Records 2017] placed #2 (sandwiched
between Jason Isbell and Gregg Allman) in their regional radio station
WNCW’s year end listeners poll for 2017. The station’s Music Director
Martin Anderson said to No Depression, “Amanda Platt writes songs on par
with Lucinda, Isbell, Lauderdale, Hank Sr. In my opinion, anyway.”
“This
is a band that does everything right,” says Goldmine’s Mike Greenblatt.
“Platt deserves all that might come to her over this, her fifth (and
best) album. Backed by pedal steel, electric guitar, keyboards, bass,
drums, percussion, and vocal harmony, it’s Platt’s show as she writes,
sings and co-produces. Complete with lyrics of introspection with the
kind of words you can chew on long after the album ends, it also works
on a lighter level by dint of the fact that it just sounds so damn good.
Go as deep as you want. It’s all good, as they say.”
Amanda
Anne Platt & The Honeycutters received a shout out from Fodor’s
Travel Magazine in a write-up about the band’s hometown of Asheville,
NC, and a couple of years back they were also featured on XPN World
Cafe’s Sense of Place series. In 2017, their music also placed into the
Americana Music Association Year End Top 100 list of Americana Airplay
for the second year in a row.