Amee McCaa

Amee was born in a small Northern California town in 1979, and raised in the contrasting cities of Los Angeles and Bend, Oregon, with her 3 siblings. Her earliest memories were of singing and dancing with her mother for entertainment, listening to Carol King and Peter Paul and Mary 8 tracks. Music remained constant for her and she joined the school band. She loved the chance to be able to escape in the middle of a school day to make music, excelling at the clarinet. But when she was sixteen, her ear turned from Bach and Beethoven to folk artists like Tracy Chapman and Ani Difranco. Her biggest inspiration perhaps was her older sister and friends who would sit around playing guitars singing songs they had written. Those times inspired her to trade her clarinet for a six string! She would listen to them at parties and campfires teaching her the chords that would later become her first song. Amee was, however, still too shy and soft-spoken to sing it aloud to anyone other than her sister. Then, one evening in downtown Bend at Café Paradiso, she signed up for an open mic night, and blew everyone away with her version of Jewel’s song “Little Sister”.She spent the next several years writing music, playing open mic nights and even did some recording with friends over the years. There was a need though, to travel beyond the familiarity of her small town to experience more musically and socially. In 2001 she moved to Portland and began her recording project at Sound Impressions Studio working with Brent Rogers laying down the first tracks for her demo. An intern named Jeff Knudson was present for one of these sessions and lended his brilliant guitar work. Jeff later took over the project at his own studio, Primordial Soup, and began performing around town with Amee. One evening at the Haven Coffee Shop, she caught the ear of Jim Dawson, the owner of MusicNW.com, a website for northwest musicians. With his support and encouragement, the project was able to be moved foward. Spring 2005 marks the release of her first full length album, Behind the Wheel.