Michael Doherty's Music Log: Amy Rigby at Permanent Records Roadhouse, 5-13-26

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Amy Rigby at Permanent Records Roadhouse, 5-13-26

Amy Rigby

"I'm holding onto anything that's good in this world/There's a lot that's good in this world." Those lines come from Amy Rigby's "Don't Ever Change," and they provide a good reminder, particularly these days when we are constantly alerted to everything that's wrong. For, truly, there's a lot that's good in this world, even now. I find much of it in music, and especially in live performances. Amy Rigby delivered a special show last night at Permanent Records Roadhouse. It was a combination book reading and concert, along with a conversation about her new book, Girl To Country, a sequel to her first memoir, Girl To City. And it concluded with a book signing.

starting the show by reading a passage

At 7 p.m., Amy Rigby took the stage, introducing herself, She mentioned that at first she was nervous about the night, until she reminded herself that she wrote the book, and so the hard part was over. Rather than doing a reading and then a concert, or a concert and then a reading, she went back and forth, a performance that connected her memoir to her songs, which of course made perfect sense. The first song she played was "Beer & Kisses," a track from her Diary Of A Mod Housewife album. She mentioned her daughter's wedding, and joked about how her daughter did not ask her to sing any of her songs at the ceremony, and that led to "Cynically Yours." She said that the line "I can picture being with you until one or both of us is dead" isn't as funny to her now as it was twenty years ago. (By the way, her daughter Hazel was the one spinning some great records before the show started, including a song from my favorite Kinks album.) Amy then read some more from her book. If you're familiar with Amy Rigby's music, you know that there is a great deal of humor to her work, and the book, from the passages she shared last night, is also quite funny. As for the songs she played, "Keep It To Yourself" in particular received a lot of laughter from the crowd. If you haven't heard that one, I highly recommend checking it out. I think everyone can use a laugh or two these days.

Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric

Amy Rigby can also rock when she wants to, as she did on "Bricks," a song from Hang In There With Me, which was released in 2024. I love when an artist rocks out on acoustic guitar. From that album, she also played "Too Old To Be So Crazy," an especially fun song. Following that song, she read from her book a passage about meeting Wreckless Eric, and then Eric joined her on stage. He had played a show at the Wild Honey Backyard Amphitheatre on Sunday (a show I wish I could have attended), and there Amy had joined him for a couple of songs. Now he returned the favor, playing electric guitar and singing backup on "Do You Remember That" and then delivering an excellent lead on "Genovese Bag," which was such a treat. Amy read a final passage from toward the end of the book, and then closed out the performance with "Don't Ever Change," Wreckless Eric again joining her on electric guitar. While that was the end of the music, it wasn't the end of the evening. Pat Thomas joined Amy on stage for a conversation about the new book, and they talked a bit about the writing process and about self-publishing. At the end, Pat Thomas encouraged everyone to purchase a copy of the book, reminding the audience that the event had been free so that people could use what would have been the admission cost to get a book. And though I'm broke, I had to add that book to my collection of music memoirs. Actually, Amy had copies of both books for sale, and as much as I want to read Girl To City, that will have to wait until the next time I see her perform or read. Anyway, it was a wonderful evening, and I'm looking forward to reading my copy of Girl To Country.