A few years ago now, I went to the mid year Hats Off To Tamworth Festival in July. It has a different kind of vibe to the January one. It is shorter, colder and the crowd is older. This one year, this young, pretty, slightly out of place, slightly hyper girl started to sing after nervous chatter. The dark haired girl had some charm. She had potential, she had a quality to her that was a little bit different….she didn’t have the average country singer background. She told her story….and like a songwriter does….she sang her story. Out of the city, out of the office, out of adding up numbers and out came the words. It must have been a huge gamble for her, but a gamble that has paid off. Despite the ice cold crowd, Amber kept going and Amber won those of us with a pulse over. Over the next few years, Amber Lawrence morphed. All of that great stuff inside came out. The confidence grew. Amber Lawrence blossomed.
She’s all grown up now. Her concerts are amongst the best that this country has to offer. Her latest album, 3, is a gem. It is probably one of the top 5 albums produced in the last couple of years. Every track is a winner. She had one of the best songs this year with Man across the street.
Amber has a great range, from the catchy songs like Women Like Me, Good Girls, Everybody’s a mess, to the wonderful The Mile and the aforementioned Man Across the Street and Always Kiss me Goodnight, Amber can liven up a party one minute and make you feel and think the next minute.
Her on stage presence is a knockout. She owns that stage. She knows how to work it. She is bubbly and electric with more costume changes than Reba, but it is not all flash and splash. The girl has substance.
She has endured through some pretty tough personal times and she gets better with every year. At Tamworth, like Tamara Stewart and Aleyce Simmonds, she bounces around from one show to the next delivering the goods on her own shows and lots of other people’s.
It has been a pleasure watching Amber grow into the artist that she has become. She does an enormous amount of charity work and she is becoming, very quickly, one of the leading ladies in country music. Yes, she is not your typical country music performer. I really can’t imagine her in an akubra and cowgirl boots and riding a horse down Peel Street, but then, those days are gone. Her music speaks for itself.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she makes it big in America one day….they’ll eat her up, hopefully, they won’t spit her out. Amber is a class act…..long may she reign.
