There is as much talent to be found in this world as there is beauty, and just as part of the challenge of seeing beauty depends on context and circumstance, so it goes for talent. Both qualities exist in and of themselves. I have seen Amanda Winterhalter sing accompanied only by her acoustic guitar and I can testify that she possesses a level of vocal talent that is almost supernatural in its ability to stir the soul.
Here’s where context and circumstance come into play. Ms. Winterhalter has put together a band that functions not as “back-up,” but as an extension of her own talent and vision. This wouldn’t work if the members of the band didn’t have their own individual talents to bring to bear—and they do so in spades on “This Is It,” a work of thematic and dynamic depth and grace that uses the eruption of Mt. St. Helens some 39 years ago as inspiration to delve into an Americana/gospel rumination that incorporates just enough Biblical imagery to keep it from evangelizing and instead evokes the death and rebirth of that holiest of spiritual experiences: love.
“This Is It” is a work built on the elements of tradition: a slow lilt composed of playful-but-powerful drumming, upright bass, electric guitar (both tremolo and buzzing), lap steel, and vocals that have to be heard to be believed (Ms. Winterhalter wails—WAILS—at points in a way so emotive and barely restrained that one could almost believe she was a member of Lazarus’s family). What the band and their leader does with these elements is both reverent and transcendent, using their talents to brilliantly contextualize the beauty of sound.
Amanda and her voice and guitar will be joined by Ed Brooks and his pedal steel at the Ball of Wax 56 show next Thursday, June 20th at the Blue Moon. Join us!