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      It's rare that I get the opportunity to review an independent artist that has already performed at Carnegie Hall, but Amy Jane has done just that. She performed as a member of the St. Louis Children's Choir, but if her debut release, Wide Open, is any indication, Amy will be back performing her own music there in the future. Growing up in the "Gateway to the West," Amy moved on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she received a bachelor's degree. She sights influences like The Sundays, Natalie Merchant and Sarah McLachlan for inspiring her pop/folk sound.

      As Wide Open begins, Amy proves she is a prolific artist with heart on the title track. Wide Open is an eloquently told story of the human experience. It's about the early days of a relationship when you talk for hours about everything in life. It's about getting to know each other, falling in love and emotional healing. Rich Marcello, who writes most of the songs on the disc, has a passionate and deft talent for storytelling. He has the uncanny ability to tap into the common experience. Combined with Amy's pitch-perfect reflection, they reach in and touch you, right where you live. Sung with a voice of conscience, cut two, Weight, is about emotional baggage that often keeps us from making an emotional connection. Track three, It Just Is, explores relationships and letting go.

      Joining Amy on Wide Open is Marcello on guitar and piano, Tim Johnson on bass and Dave Freund on drums. With Unrequited, Amy delves into the world of songwriting herself. Her voice communicates a continuum of emotion not heard since Angie Hart fronted frente. One minute her voice is playful and sweet, the next it's brooding and reflective. In Dreams is alive with imagery and introspection. The sumptuous guitar continues to guide the rich, intricate harmonies in Blessing, a proud father's blessing for his children.

      Hold You breaks from the acoustic tradition, lead by Marcello's fluttering piano harmonies. Sweat and Honey is the halfway point of the CD. It's a sultry declaration of passion lead by piano and percussion. Cut nine, Lean, returns to the acoustic convention with a "theres-nothing-we-can't-do" attitude. Amy returns to songwriting in the second of two songs she penned for this album, Beverly. She seems to have more of a sense of freedom to be playful and sassy with her own compositions. It leaves me wondering why Amy didn't author the entire CD. Marcello is certainly an accomplished songwriter but Amy has proven she has the ability to strike out on her own.

      Come To Us continues with a proclamation of loyalty and impish melodies. Growing Down is a stand out with articulate lyrics like "I do this alone / Though you are my trigger / Before I go / We acquiesce / We ebb and flow / Between separate and together / And generate strength / From this slow dance." Amy takes on retro seventies pop with A Different Voice. A pseudo psychedelic feel envelopes the I-am-woman-hear-me-roar theme complete with tambourine. Shades of Gray returns to piano piloted melodies while it delves into the painful world of divorce. That theme delicately lingers in the air through If You Could See Me Completely and In the Beginning. My favorite track, If You Could See Me Completely is completely devoured by poetry of purpose. It has a comforting and intimate familiarity that echoes with the influence of Sarah McLachlan. It's hauntingly beautiful and is followed up nicely by In the Beginning. Starting off with that same frail vulnerability, it picks up speed in the middle with a more aggressive incantation before coming to a soft landing.

      At nearly seventy-three minutes, Amy's debut album has plenty of time to investigate many themes and melodies. With her own composition and those of songwriter, Rich Marcello, she enters many worlds of wonder from love and loss to parenthood and divorce. In Wide Open, Amy has forged a collection of songs with strong vocals, meaningful lyrics and memorable melodies. Now performing with Doug Koen on guitar and Jon Dakss on drums, you can find out more about Amy by visiting her website at AmyJane.com.

Review from Ken & Joelle Cormier from PurpleTights (March 2002)

http://www.purpletights.com/music/reviews/cd27.htm

Ken:::  Amy Jane has her own style and uniqueness.  The overall feel is mellow to upbeat music - mostly acoustic guitar and piano with just the right amount of drums and bass.  Amy Jane's voice reminded me of an Irish/Scottish singer at times, like Sinead O'Connor and Dolores O'Riordan (The Cranberries).  I also felt her voice/music had a little Tom Petty feel ("Wide Open") and Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" on Track 2, "Weight".  Track 15, "If You Could See Me Completely" reminded me of "Julia" off The Beatles White Album. 

My favorite song is "Shades of Gray" - the over-all feeling just did it for me.  The piano playing shapes the song with feeling and mood.  A close second was "A Different Voice" - the guitar sounds almost keyboard-ish and the song has an overall 'funky' feel - very cool!  My only complaint with this CD is the length.  There are 16 tracks and a total time of 72 minutes and 57 seconds.  In my opinion, Amy Jane should have made 2 CD's out of this one.  It's just a little too much for the listener.

Amy Jane is a very talented band.  It's a package deal and they have it all - from the artwork on the CD sleeve, song structure, originality and talent.  If you're into beautiful piano playing, nice acoustic guitar, an excellent voice with a hint of the Irish glued together with a tight rhythm section then look no further - Amy Jane is for you.  Me personally, I'm keeping this CD in my collection.

Joelle:::  This is Amy Jane's first CD.  "The CD is about all of the different aspects of becoming emotionally wide open and each of the sixteen songs deals with one aspect.  For example, sometimes you meet someone who helps you heal in some fundamental way as in the title track, sometimes you need to leave a true love because of too much "weight" in order to grow, and sometimes you need to go really deep inside to get what you need as in "Growing Down"."

I like this CD a lot.  The guitar and piano playing is beautiful - to match Amy Jane's voice.  If I could sing, I'd love to have her voice.  The album is very mellow and relaxing.  My favorite songs are "Wide Open", "Sweat and Honey" and "A Different Voice".  I'd recommend this CD to people who like Sarah McLachlan. 

AMG EXPERT REVIEW by Charles Spano (March 2002)

Amy Jane pours her heart out in sincere folk songs. Though Wide Open is unlikely to change the face of pop music or start a revolution, the Sarah Mclachlan-esque material covers topics like true love, crying, feelings, relationships, and children and would be quite at home on an episode of Dawson's Creek. This is what's becoming known as adult alternative pop - it's gentle, atmospheric and unobtrusive. Thanks, though, to the lush guitar and piano playing of Rich Marcello and Amy Jane's honest vocals, the album has a certain levity that is really quite uplifting if you can pay attention. On "Lean," a piano romps playfully and Jane sings "you are so accepting/when I open up you never judge/I feel connected here to something larger than both of us/that's why I know we can make it through anything." It's a little saccharine for anybody who requires regular doses of good old rock & roll, but probably expresses feelings that are true to a lot of listeners. Bands like Belle & Sebastian, Gentle Waves, and the Kings of Convenience are responsible for using delicate melodies to make "soft the new loud." You won't get that with Wide Open, because it is devoid of the wicked humor and innovative arrangements perfected by the aforementioned bands. But what one should expect from Wide Open is a soundtrack for daily life - not rattling, not shocking, not reactionary or dangerous - but just calmly there.

Review from Thomas Schulte of WomanRock (March 2002)

http://www.womanrock.com/reviews.html

Singer-songwriter Amy Jane has an excellent offering in her concept album. This is a 16-axis theory of dimensionality exploring the different direction toward becoming emotionally "wide open." The emotional and interpersonal path through life has such geologic features as peaks and valleys and Amy charts the discoveries and sacrifices that map onto this textured landscape. Her included lyrics show her understanding of the difficulties and rewards in making this journey: "There were dark places/that we pushed through/Each time we reached the clear/I knew a deeper love with you."