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Merrie Amsterburg doesn’t get all that worked up about how you describe her music. “Some people call it folk,” she says. “Some call it pop or contemporary--or whatever they decide on.” The Boston singer/songwriter knows that these things have a way of overlapping. “The world is getting smaller,” she says. “Worldbeat music is being fused with techno; drum samples are being merged with Alan Lomax’s field recordings. Everything is changing—and the borders have blurred.”
You could say the same about Merrie’s approach to her third CD, Clementine and Other Stories. The record features 11 songs, though Merrie’s take on them is more intricate and sometimes darker than the arrangements most people know. She first heard a lot of the songs as a kid, growing up in Ludington, Michigan. “My mother used to sing ‘Clementine’ to me and my brother when she was rocking him,” Merrie says. “But years later, when I finally really listened to the story of that song, that’s when I decided to do it in a minor key.”
“I hope the record gets people to look at these songs in a different way,” Merrie says. “These songs deserve a second look. They’re part of our history and where we come from.” After extensive reading and study of the songs’ origins, she has also developed a companion booklet to Clementine and Other Stories, and plans to use it in schools and other educational settings. “Music is so emotional,” Merrie says. “I think these songs will help students identify more with people in history.” Some examples she lists are “Shenandoah,” “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” “All the Pretty Little Horses,” and “Lakes of Pontchartrain,” which tell stories by and about a range of Americans: soldiers, slaves, immigrants, natives, laborers.
In recent years, Merrie has won several awards and prizes, including 4 ASCAP Popular Music Awards, the Top Female Soloist prize at Boston’s Acoustic Underground series, 2 Boston Music Awards, a WFNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll award, and was named Jam Magazine’s Artist of the Year. She has performed on the Public Radio International program “Mountain Stage” and on National Public Radio’s “World Cafe,” and has sung at Fenway Park six times.
