Amy Bleu profile picture

Amy Bleu

I'm not a girl to save.

About Me

Originally from Spokane, WA, Amy Bleu was raised on the road. Her father was in the Navy, so her family moved from city to city throughout Washington and Mississippi before settling in Honolulu, HI for the bulk of her childhood. She spent her last few teenage years in London. In her adult life she has retained her family's nomadic sensibilities, and has roamed about the west coast, moving from Portland to Spokane to Denver to Tucson and back to Portland, with a brief respite in Yakima, WA.
Bleu grew up hearing relentless melodies and accompanying stories in her head. She fiddled around with the ukulele as a child in Hawaii, but didn't discover her true love -- the guitar -- until she was 19. She became a regular at several open mics in Portland just one year later. At 21, she had regular gigs and enough songs for her first album, "Renegade Angel". She relocated to Denver the following year in order to promote herself in a new region. While there, she took a ukulele workshop at Swallow Hill Music School to get in touch with her folk roots, but instead ended up getting more interested in the blues. In 2006 she married her best friend, who shares her wanderlust and appreciation of good music. His blues-influenced bass and guitar playing had a direct influence on her second album, "Snake Charmer", a collection of songs written primarily in the SW and recorded mostly in the NW, released in 2007. She toured throughout the year to several different cities on the west coast to promote the album.
A versatile performer, Bleu has enjoyed entertaining at diverse venues such as book stores, banks, and a grocery store, as well as more traditional venues such as bars, coffeehouses, theaters, and colleges. She is also a published writer/poet, an advocate for homeless women, and in her spare time she enjoys painting and baking vegan cupcakes. She is currently recording her third album with accordionist Bellows Bot, and continues to perform throughout the Northwest.

Amy Bleu in Dutch.

Read my new story in BROAD Magazine
I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4



My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/4/2005
Band Website: amybleu.com
Band Members: Amy: guitar, vocals, baritone ukulele;
Bellows Bot: accordion, keyboard, drum machine, xylophone, back up vocals;
Matt Cornett: bass guitar.


View Amy Bleu's EPK

Influences: Kristin Hersh, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Ani DiFranco, Dar Williams, Counting Crows, Billie Holiday, Jenny Lewis, Neko Case, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith, John Vanderslice, the Mountain Goats, Bishop Allen, Tom Waits, whiskey, city life, insomnia, trains, lust, love.

Amy Bleu supports:



Photos by Andrea Faith (www.andreafaith.com)

.. CDBABY LINK for AMY BLEU: Snake Charmer --

Sounds Like: "Honest, raw, melodic, yet seething." -- Sherri Boggs, NW Inlander, Spokane

"Expect more than crumbly, pungent cheese..." -- Missoula Independent

"...Sultry vocals and acoustic hymns...Bleu presents a paradoxical style that seems at odds with her delicate demeanor." -- Clint Burgess, NW Inlander

"(Bleu) has all the potential of spring to flourish." -- West Duncan, Just Out, Portland

"(Bleu) fires off original songs and covers with a voice like Grace Slick unaccompanied by psychedelics." -- Go! Magazine, Wenatchee

"Like a single female version of the Mountain Goats, with bounteous acidity and brutal honest to match the pleasantries of the instrumentation." -- Jeff Echardt, NW Inlander
Record Label: Bad Girl's Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Music: We Need It

I'm just feeling so grateful for music today. I had an afternoon gig at Krakow Koffeehouse today. It went very well. The audience was warm and attentive, and my friend Sara came out to see me (hi Sara...
Posted by Amy Bleu on Sun, 21 Sep 2008 07:29:00 PST

Chanteuse Blues

Here it is:*Chanteuse Blues*by Amy Bleu8/1/08My tired legs are achin'I walk around in circlesTill the elephants come homeI've been running, running from myselfI need you to ease these sleepless chante...
Posted by Amy Bleu on Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:54:00 PST

An Ostentation of Two

Two proud eagles makeCircles around the same darkPond of flailing fish.
Posted by Amy Bleu on Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:41:00 PST

Echo (+ Narcissus)

I just finished up this song. Please tell me what you think, dear friends...*Echo (+ Narcissus)*Not gonna beA drop in your bucketNot gonna beA seed for your treeNot gonna beA hole for your keyNot gonn...
Posted by Amy Bleu on Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:37:00 PST

Tour Diary, Part 3

6/15, San Francisco, CA - We are making the long trek back to Portland now. We had a lot of fun in San Francisco, overall. Unfortunately, our first night there was less than ideal. Our bad luck began ...
Posted by Amy Bleu on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:20:00 PST

Tour Diary, Part 1

6/10, Ash Street Saloon, Portland, OR, Tour Kick Off Show -What a great kick off show! Katie Jean Arnold and Beth Willis were lovely and amazing as always. Katie's improvisational skills are sharper t...
Posted by Amy Bleu on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:29:00 PST

The Inlander (New Press!)

Check out this fantastic write up I got when I was in Spokane recently! It was such an honored to be featured, and to be compared to the Mountain Goats, the best-est anti-folk band ever!Also, I have a...
Posted by Amy Bleu on Thu, 29 May 2008 10:44:00 PST

Why Musicians Are Boring

My husband recently started working for a company that circulates petitions for democratic campaigns. That makes him the millionth person I know to go into this field. I have hardly seen the bulk of m...
Posted by Amy Bleu on Wed, 07 May 2008 03:00:00 PST

Fortune Cookie

I just wrote this story as sort of an exercise to get myself writing about something. It's just fiction. If you read the whole thing, please let me know what you think. Thanks! Untitled story1/16/08by...
Posted by Amy Bleu on Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:14:00 PST

An Updated List of the Places I've Played

Portland, OR: Ash Street SaloonThe Green RoomThe Bitter End PubThe White Eagle SaloonMacadams Bar + GrillThe Hawthorne TheaterMuddy Waters CoffeehouseRoots Organic BrewingThe Edge of BelmontMississipp...
Posted by Amy Bleu on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST