Fresh And Wonderful New Amy Courts Album

Bruce Von Stiers

A little over a year ago I got the chance to review a terrific debut by a wonderful Christian artist. Her name is Amy Courts and the album was a self titled EP with seven tremendous songs.

Not only did I get review the EP, I also had the opportunity to see Amy perform in person at one of our local coffee houses. She shared the bill with Katy Kinard, another wonderful Christian performer. Amy did most of the songs from the EP and a few others. I was really blown away by both the live performance and the EP.

But Amy didn’t stop with the EP. She wrote a whole new set of songs. She recorded these songs and now has a brand new album for the world to listen to. Whereas the first EP was self titled, the new album has a unique title of These Cold And Rusted Lungs.

Wonderful acoustic guitar begins the first song, Hold You Up. Amy is a pretty decent guitarist as well as being an excellent vocalist. A light toe tapper, this is a very pretty song.

The second song is In You. A slight rock groove gets you into the music. Melodic guitar and a strong drum beat provide decent background music for Amy’s great vocals on this one.

Breathe comes with aching, yet at times whispery vocals.

Amy brings back the acoustic guitar in Drowning. Subtle vocals meld into an almost angelic chorus.

The Liars has an almost Cheryl Crow styling.

Soft, gentle, aching vocals are in front of terrific piano music in the song called Stand.

For most of the song, O Holy God, Amy sings a cappella. This song is a good example of how wonderful Amy’s vocals are, with or without musical accompaniment.

Shiver has a power pop flavor to it. The song is an in-your-face head bopping tune. It was fun to listen to and very different from the styling of the other songs on the album.

Amy moves back to the acoustic guitar with the song Inevitable. She has some decent harmonizing vocals.

I Told You So is the last song on the album. This one has terrific piano and beautiful vocals.

Amy was over in Kansas City a few weeks ago, performing music from this album. I really wanted to get over to the show, but had other commitments. I am really sorry I missed it. Not only is the album wonderful, Amy is simply tremendous in person.

By the time you read this These Cold And Rusted Lungs should be available at stores and through online retailers.

If you were to only pick one Christian music album to add to your collection this year, then These Cold And Rusted Lungs should be it. Amy’s faith shines through the lyrics on the songs and her vocals are beyond wonderful. Add to her voice the wonderful keyboard and guitar playing and you get a multi-faceted faith based artist. I have no doubt that Amy Courts will someday soon be as notable as Jennifer Knapp or Natalie Grant.

You can hear songs from the album on Amy’s MySpace site. The site is at www.myspace.com/amycourts. The official Amy Courts web site can be found at www.amycourts.com.

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