Even though her Carnival Love CD from 2000 was excellent, Amy Correia was a victim of the great major label shakeout and is now on her own. If you are on the East Coast you have three chances to see her this month:

Sunday, December 14
TIN ANGEL
Philadelphia, PA
7:00 pm
www.tinangel.com [link was down at press time]

Monday, December 15
IOTA
Arlington, VA
8:00 pm
www.iotaclubandcafe.com

Tuesday, December 16
FEZ
New York, NY
9:30 pm
www.feznyc.com

Michael Miller will be opening all shows
www.michaelmillercrusade.com

Here is a portion of my review of Carnival Love:

Correia left Lakeville for NYC and Barnard College when she was 17 and majored in English, an influence very apparent in her literary, image-laden songs. When she was 19, two herniated discs returned her to Lakeville and an extended stay in bed, where she began to write songs and teach herself to play guitar (she now plays mandolin, ukulele, and keyboards as well).

Friends persuaded her to play in a local club and she was on her way: she returned to NY, finished school and lived in Chinatown (the title of a fine song on this disc) for four years.

She moved to LA in '97. Many of her songs on this superior first album seem to be autobiographical, including "Gin" (about her love/hate relationship with the liquor), "Daydream Car" (about her escape from the boredom of Lakeville through fantasy) and the aforementioned "Chinatown"; while others display touching and insightful empathy, especially the title track, "Carnival," where the bearded lady and the tattooed man, and the sword-swallower and the contortionist love each other for "exactly who they are." It's a beautiful, touching song that avoids easy cliches and gets beneath the surface of a clever idea to something more real.

Her voice reflects a variety of influences, but she sounds most like jazzy folksinger/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones, and she presaged a bit of Norah Jones as well.