AMANDA RHEAUME

Amanda contacted us about shooting a live off the floor version of “Better Days Ahead” and we quickly jumped at the opportunity to work with one of Ottawa’s most talented and rising artists. Tony Raybould, drummer and long time friend, offered up his farm for our February shoot. The sun, hay dust and cold air made for a visually stunning environment that you couldn’t have planned for. A big thank you goes out to the band that braved the cold and my trusted friend Luca Fiore for his skills on the sound stick!

ARTIST BIO

A $40,000 winner in Live 88.5’s 2008 Big Money Shot competition, Rheaume is not only a regular at local festivals and joints like the Rainbow Bistro, she has also distinguished herself as one of the city’s, if not the country’s, most selflessly giving musicians. She organizes Ottawa’s Bluebird North songwriter showcases, she participated in the Babes for Breasts tour to raise money for breast cancer, she recorded a charity Christmas EP for Boys and Girls club of Ottawa – selling 6500 copies just in Ottawa, she donated a dollar from each album sold during her last tour to a fund for the families of military personnel, and she’s even performed for the troops in Afghanistan…twice.

Now, having paid her dues as a grassroots musician-in-the-community, and having cleverly taken her time to develop and refine her sound, Rheaume is ready to showcase her talents to a wider audience with Light of Another Day…a collection of catchy, country-tinged tracks, notable at times for their airy up-beatness and at others for their goose bump-inducing tenderness.

Much of the inspiration for the album comes precisely from the day-to-day struggles of the developing artist – the automobile breakdowns at the side of the highway, the uninspiring day jobs that help pay the bills, and, of course, the budding romances that die from too much distance. Standout tracks include “Better Days Ahead,” a celebratory ode to Rheaume’s musical friends, whose camaraderie helps her survive “in the trenches.” There’s also “Shadows of the Past,” an achingly plaintive piece about getting past self-doubt, “Be Your Enemy,” a freewheeling folk-rocker about trying to salvage a friendship from the remains of a relationship, and “There You Go Again,” a heartbreaking lament for a lost love. The album was produced by drummer Ross Murray and features Maple Blues Award-winning harmonica-player Steve Marriner of Monkey Junk on both harp and bass.

- Excerpt from Official Website / http://www.amandarheaume.com/