AMY RIGBY
Til the Wheels Fall Off
Signature Sounds

Confessions of a Mad Talent

Amy Rigby is a 44-year-old divorcee with a teenaged daughter. Her mind is sharp, her voice is strong, her hormones are coursing, and her breasts are hanging in there. Her demographic needs all the music it can get, and she's been writing songs from its evolving perspective since 1996's inspired Diary of a Mod Housewife--songs so heartfelt, pointed and shapely that by now her marginality is an ageist outrage. Confessing miserably that she's "colder than a frozen waffle," wondering whether she and her beau are "ever gonna have sex again," announcing that "there's no secret technique to separating me from this dress," finding perfection in a wink and some Chuck Berry, she's writing more consistently than anyone else in Nashville, and finding musicians who know it. Her fourth album is her best since her first, and they're all terrific. Only a putz would tell her no.

Mojo, May 2003