Members:
Amanda Pearcy - Singer/Songwriter
Meet Amanda Pearcy
Amanda Pearcy has had the honor of opening for Billy Joe Shaver at Austin's premier listening room, the Cactus Cafe, and has shared the bill on WUWF's Radio Live program with Ellis Paul and Tom Kimmel. Shortly prior to these highlights of her musical career, Amanda had never studied music, written a song, or strummed a guitar, but in a sense she had her own way of 'studying,' while waiting tables in and frequenting live music venues in Houston and Austin, TX, and while two stepping in old time dance halls in Bastrop County, TX. She was raised in Houston, the youngest of four with several years between her and her brother and sisters, by a motherless mother and a fatherless father in an alcoholic home. Although she yearned to express herself creatively in a musical way during her childhood, her first guitar lesson wasn't until she was nearly done single parenting her own child. Both of her parents had recently passed, and Katrina had just hit New Orleans. She pulled out her late husband's pawn shop guitar and got after the work of finally feeding her soul.
Amanda Pearcy's new CD, "Waitin' On Sunday", tells her story with authenticity and grace, and weaves the stories of her life into a stunning debut CD. In what feels like another lifetime ago to her, Amanda and her first husband made their home in the Lost Pines of Bastrop, Texas, east of Austin. She hung cloth diapers out on the line to dry and he left before the sun came up (the weeks he worked the day shift) to work the oil rigs around South Central Texas. Having a day off only if the rig was down, he worked seven days a week as a derrick man, or, as songwriter Sam Baker (also produced by Tim Lorsch), wrote of a similar character in one of his songs, as "a rough neck with a hand done tattoo". They had three sweet traditional years together, but her husband passed away when their son was only two years old, leaving Amanda with not much more than a '71 Olds Cutlass Supreme (hard top) and a '72 Olds Delta ?88 Royal. Thinking she needed more reliable transportation with her young son, Amanda regrettably sold the cars and put a down payment on a little truck. After a few hard years in Smithville, Texas (which included another short and semi-tragic marriage), she packed up her son and moved to Wimberley, Texas, where she met her beloved Cowboy and where she ?damn near killed the three of us? in that truck, nearly missing a tree after a wet curve on Purgatory Road off Devil?s Backbone. Now back at home in Austin, these are among the stories that work their way into Amanda's songs.
"I've done a lot of livin', been down some rough roads, and I figure I have a few more yet to go. But I'm also blessed beyond my wildest dreams. And that's something I don't take for granted."
Amanda Pearcy Websites:
web: AmandaPearcy.com
myspace: Myspace.com/amandapearcymusic
facebook: Facebook.com/amandapearcymusic
