APRIL 8, 2010 ISSUE
Amelia’s Mechanics Plays Canyons This Friday
Molly McGinn and Molly Miller are the singer-songwriters who front the Greensboro-based group Amelia’s Mechanics, and they, along with percussionist Jamie Dick and standup bass player Stephanie Dickinson, will perform at Canyons this Friday, April 9. Photo submitted“We’ve always called it vintage country with a moonshine concerto,” said Molly McGinn of Amelia’s Mechanics. “It’s a nod to Molly [Miller’s] and my musical backgrounds…country to alt. country to indie styles.”
McGinn and Miller are the singer-songwriters who front the Greensboro-based group Amelia’s Mechanics, and they, along with Nashville, Tenn.-based percussionist Jamie Dick and standup bass player Stephanie Dickinson, will perform at Canyons this Friday, April 9, at 9:00 p.m. Admission is free.
The group’s sound is “becoming sort of a newer take on vintage country,” McGinn said. “At the root of the music is a real love of the craft of songwriting—the lyrics, the storytelling [and] creative arrangements.”
Depending on the venue, the group has three different projects—just the two Mollys on electric and acoustic guitar; the two of them joined by fiddle player Rebecca Stevens; and the lineup for Canyons.
“The full sound is Molly, myself, drums and standup bass,” McGinn said. “Having the whole band up there [in Blowing Rock] is going to be super fun.”
The group’s name honors Amelia Earhart, “who lived a triumphant and tragic life,” McGinn said. “It’s the underlying story of someone who keeps trying.”
In the vein of Neko Case, Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams—“all roots/indie songwriting women [who] take traditional techniques and bring their innovation to them”—Miller and McGinn try to use traditional methods to create authentic, unique sounds, McGinn said.
The women also respect artist Aimee Mann, who “cuts her own cloth,” McGinn added.
“Molly writes a lot about people she meets. She’ll tell their stories. I write a little bit more about the mechanics of someone who picks themselves up again and again,” McGinn said.
“Anytime I’ve ever had a broken heart, I turned on the radio and danced,” she continued. “I want to write songs that do that for someone else. Music is the kind of distraction that makes you want to create something yourself, and I like being a part of that.”
McGinn and Miller met about two years ago, when McGinn’s former band was playing a show and Miller and her singing partner at the time opened for them.
“I was mesmerized by her,” McGinn said. “She played ukulele and she was the best girl lead guitar player I’ve heard. I liked how she played lead.”
The two began writing together in February 2009, she added, and they hope that mentor and Grammy-winning Greensboro singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett will produce their next record, she said.
Amelia’s Mechanics released its first album, “North, South,” this February, and it was produced by Jim Avett, father of The Avett Brothers, a press release said.
Dick most recently recorded on Abigail Washburn’s soon-to-be-released new CD, McGinn said.
The album released this year takes its title from Earhart’s last words, McGinn said. “Ameilia said, ‘We are running North and South.’ I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of flying. It’s one of those things people said will never be done [and] people died trying. [But] what else are you going to do if you don’t try?”
For more information, click to www.ameliasmechanics.com or www.myspace.com/ameliasmechanics.
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