Amy Rigby: “Hang In There With Me” (2024) CD Review

Living in Los Angeles, I spend quite a bit of time in my car, and it’s there that I listen to mix CDs that I’ve made. On one of those discs is Amy Rigby’s “Don’t Ever Change” from her phenomenal Til The Wheels Fall Off album (the same one that contains “Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?”). The lines that stand out every time I listen, the ones that really affect me are these: “I’m holding on to anything that’s good in this world/There’s a lot that’s good in this world.” Those lines have helped through some moments, I don’t mind telling you.  And that’s what I love about this artist. She is often funny, which is great, but in the heart of her material is something that moves us, that connects us. And she delivers it with a voice that sometimes feels like it is on the edge, perhaps ready for tears or perhaps an explosion of joy. And isn’t that how many of us feel a lot of the time? On her new album, Hang In There With Me, Amy Rigby delivers original material that addresses aging and mortality and a world that has gone a little cuckoo. She does so with honesty, with humor, and with a desire to reach out. The album’s title itself shows that desire for a connection, and, even more, resilience. Amy Rigby plays acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric 12-string guitar, piano, and electric piano. She is joined by Eric Goulden (Wreckless Eric) on bass, electric guitar, electric piano, organ, synthesizer, omnichord, lap steel, percussion and backing vocals. Sam Shepherd plays drums on several tracks.

Amy Rigby opens this album with “Hell-Oh Sixty,” the title a playful salutation to aging. The first lines are about being twenty, and the song quickly takes us through the decades. “Forty was a field, a field of dreams/Fifty didn’t fit, had to let out the seams.” I don’t know if there are more songs about aging these days than ever before, or if I’m just noticing them more, connecting to them more, but at any rate I love this song. And that line about being fifty not fitting in particular speaks to me. She also sings, “Fifty was a film by Mike Leigh.” That and the line about forty being “a field of dreams” are the first of several film references on this album. Sam Shepherd plays drums on this track.  And speaking of aging, that song is followed by one titled “Too Old To Be So Crazy,” There are some interesting, trippy effects on her vocals at the start. Then as the song threatens to kick in, Amy sings, “I should be kicking back/Instead of gearing up to take another crack/I’m too old to be so crazy.” And then it does kick in. But what is too old? Also, do people ever change? I’m still not sure they do. “Good god, I’m doing it again/Still like some wild-eyed kid/Never too tired to try what I already did.” I assume if you’re a bit off-kilter at twenty, you’ll still be at it at sixty. This song may be specifically about being a musician, but I think it applies pretty well to the rest of us. Doug Wygal is on drums for this one.

“O Anjali” has a sweeter vibe. “How may I help?/How may I help?” Amy sings early in the song. Ah, how often does someone ask that and mean it? “What’s that you say/Things have gone to hell/State of the world/Don’t get me started/I’m here to help, I’m here to help.” Wonderful! On one level, this is a folk number, with acoustic guitar at the fore. But backing that is some spacy work on synthesizers, and that combination of sounds is striking and works quite well. It is like two worlds moving simultaneously. The lines about losing her dad hit me hard every time I listen to this song. “Life’s kinda hard/Why is life so hard?” This song’s lyrics also give the album its title. “Are you still with me/Hang in there with me.” We all need someone to say that he or she is here for us, and sometimes if there isn’t a person there, the music itself acts as that friend. That’s followed by “Dylan In Dubuque.” There is a bit of banter before the song begins, and then a good strong groove is established. “I’m a sinner and a liar, but I do the best I can/Yeah, I’ll set myself on fire like a good song and dance man/I am shameless, I am grateful, on the road to somewhere else/And sometimes I play the martyr, but I mostly play myself.” The song was inspired by an infamous Bob Dylan concert in Dubuque in 1996 where people kept rushing onto the stage, and it’s sung from Dylan’s perspective. From accounts, Dylan just kept on doing what he was doing, unbothered by the action around him (some say even enjoying it, which seems strangely out of character). Doug Wygal plays drums on this track.

“Try your whole life to make something that matters,” Amy Rigby sings at the beginning of “Requiem.” Something artistic, in whatever realm you feel most aligned with. Many of us feel a need to do just that. The lyrics come at us in quick succession. “Selling makes you crazy/Giving up is lazy/Tough days got to play it/Like DeNiro and Scorsese/First you get hurt/Then you get smart.” The song turns to the larger questions: “Why are we born, why must we expire/Good times, bad times/Crawling through the mire/Trouble is a season/There must be a reason/Hearts break, earthquake/One more winter freezing.” Ah, yes, we want there to be a reason for the suffering and for the nonsense. There isn’t one, but whatever meaning we ourselves assign to this craziness. And speaking of craziness, in this song she makes mention of Hannibal Lecter, a fictional character that the rapist running for president on the Republican ticket thinks not only is a real person, but a wonderful guy. Try and discover the reason for the existence of that slimeball. “Tough times, we all eat it like Hannibal Lecter.” This song continues the film references with those mentions of DeNiro, Scorsese and Hannibal Lecter. There are also film references in “Bangs,” a playful number about hair. There is kind of a cool punk vibe to this song, and Sam Shepherd is on drums. “I need something to hide behind/Give me a curtain of my own/I want bangs.” On this track she makes a reference to Shampoo, that great Hal Ashby movie (well, all his movies from the 1970s are great): “Come on and cut me/Like Warren Beatty in Shampoo/I’ll play Julie Christie for you/In my bangs.” And later she makes a reference to another cool film, Girl On A Motorcycle.  

“The Farewell Tour” has a beautiful sound, particularly in the guitar work. “The scenes you made/The plans you laid/You watch it fade/‘Til you can’t see it anymore/The farewell tour.” That’s followed by “Bad In A Good Way,” which has an interesting sound from the start, with the backward guitar loops and the fuzz guitar. Plus, Amy’s delivery is unusual and compelling, making effective use of pauses. “And they came to celebrate him/Did one ever merely date him/And the world, it swirled around them one more time he did astound them/With a feeling of perfection mixed with ultimate rejection/And they raised a glass and claimed they never felt so all alone.” Then “Bricks” has a sense of fun, with an enjoyable rhythm and a great energy. Here are the song’s first lines:  “I can’t believe you’re back again/I’ll tell you now like I told you then/We’re through.” That’s followed by “Heart Is A Muscle,” which comes on with some delicious rock energy. “I’m on a roll/I’m on a tear now/I want to burn down everything in my path/I sold my soul/So I don’t care now.” This song is so bloody cool. And could the line “I’m leaving town for where the good times go” be a reference to Kinks’ “Where Have All The Good Times Gone”? The album concludes with “Last Night’s Rainbow,” another song that grabs me right away. Check out these opening lines: “Today is shit/Today’s a bust/Roaches, garbage, drains and rust/Maybe I dreamt it/I don’t have proof/But last night’s rainbow told the truth.” And toward the end, she sings, “And I must hold on, it’s what I do.” Hold on, and hang in there. You’re not alone.

CD Track List

1. Hell-Oh Sixty
2. Too Old To Be So Crazy
3. O Anjali
4. Dylan In Dubuque
5. Requiem
6. Bangs
7. The Farewell Tour
8. Bad In A Good Way
9. Bricks
10. Heart Is A Muscle
11. Last Night’s Rainbow

Hang In There With Me is scheduled to be released on August 30, 2024.