Amy Rigby

by Jason Ankeny Singer/songwriter Amy Rigby first surfaced during the early 1980s as a member of the New York City-based cowpunk outfit the Last Roundup, later earning cult success with the postmodern girl group the Shams. The former wife of ex-dBs drummer Will Rigby, she made her solo debut in 1996 with Diary of a Mod Housewife, a record widely acclaimed for its vivid portraits of life as a thirtysomething single mother and its smart assimilation of pop, country and folk sounds; Middlescence followed two years later; and The Sugar Tree was issued in fall 2000. The 18 Again anthology was released in 2002, collecting the best singles and album tracks from her first three records and putting them onto one CD. Her 2003 release, Til the Wheels Fall Off, reflected some of the flavor of her newly adopted hometown, Nashville, with guest appearances by Nashville musicians Todd Snider, Ken Coomer, Duane Jarvis, Dave Jacques and Rick Plant. Rigby headed back to her old stomping grounds of New York City to record 2005s Little Fugitive, which features guest shots from Big Apple admirers Lenny Kaye and Dennis Diken.