Springfield Union News

Thursday, February 14, 2002

LIVE WIRE - Donnie Morehouse

Amy Fairchild was standing on the Jersey Shore and watching planes fly into the World Trade Center. It was Sept. 11, 2001.

"It changed every part of me," she said. "It shocked me into the moment. I was always living in the future and it caused me to be much more in the present."

It has been almost five years now since the singer-songwriter moved from the Pioneer Valley to New York City to pursue her dream as a working musician. Fairchild returns tomorrow for a CD release party at Harry's in Northampton, celebrating her most compelling work to date, "Mr. Heart."

"I love it here," she said, talking about New York. "But I don't feel as if it is my home. I guess I am more of a country girl than I thought I was. Sometimes I regret leaving Northampton. We had a great band and we were making a go of the grass-roots thing. But I needed to move on, personally."

Fairchild said enough time has passed now that a trip to Northampton no longer feels like home. But it's not just some stop on the touring itinerary either.

"I guess it is somewhere in between," she said. "I can't assume I will be received like I was in the past. I don't know what it will be like. It's not like I have to start from the beginning again, but maybe half way back."

As a songwriter, Fairchild has always been able to get right to the heart of the matter. With "Mr. Heart," she reaches a whole new level of introspection, peeling back the layers of self-doubt and trepidation that can cloud the truth. "Mr. Heart" is as close to a self-portrait as Fairchild has come in her work.

"When I am singing, I feel like I can be more comfortable as myself," she said. "I don't have to pretend anything."

Fairchild will play Harry's on Pleasant Street tomorrow at 9 p.m. She will perform with a band that includes her producer, Adam Steinberg on guitar, and Matt Cullen of Ware River Club, the band that opens the show with an unplugged performance. For more information on Fairchild and the new CD, check out www.amyfairchild.com .