Amy Lavere

Don’t let the shy, innocent voice mislead. Amy LaVere, who played Wanda Jackson in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, sings jazz-tinged Southern soul songs that are dark, candid and occasionally startling. These are booze ballads and murder reports, story songs that speak to loneliness and love and betrayal. Anchors & Anvils, which is LaVere’s second album, contains the self-penned “Killing Him,” a song that’s as charming as it is strange. An unhappy wife stabs her husband to death – only to find her love for him grows stronger. “Killing Him” is built around a loping melody and an R&B groove that’s propelled by LaVere’s stand-up bass playing and augmented with plaintive fiddle and the Wurlitzer of Jim Dickinson, the legendary Memphis session man and producer (Big Star, The Replacements) who helmed this album. 3 stars