How I Like Amy Rigby: The Playlist

While this playlist was inspired by the 30th anniversary of Amy Rigby’s debut solo album, Diary Of A Mod Housewife, it hasn't been thirty years since she moved from “heard about” to “heard” in my mental spreadsheet. Music mags made me aware of Housewife and its follow-ups upon release, but a single mother singer-songwriter fond of titles like Middlescence wasn’t really my vibe as an alterna-teen or college rocker, and I don’t recall seeing her in the used racks much anyway. I was more amenable to “adult” alternative by the time I split a house with Sara Sherr, an elder Gen X music critic in Philly. She got 2005’s Little Fugitive in the mail, and had some earlier CDs on the shelf, at which point I discovered Rigby hit a sweet spot I didn’t even know I'd been looking for.

The easiest reference points are Lucinda Williams and Liz Phair, Rigby acknowledging Williams’ 1988 self-titled album as inspiration in her memoir, Girl To City. But where Williams soon defined that awkward space between self-aware artistry and classic country, Phair similarly mining a fraught terrain between indie and pop, Rigby comes off as just a singer-songwriter in comparison. She’s post-punk in terms of roots, her adventures in ‘80s NYC delightfully detailed in Girl To City. Her band the Shams was even on Matador. But her songs are devoid of overt transgression, lyrical or musical. Her words are enunciated and earthly in detail, the tunes brisk, and devoid of this-is-art austerity. Think Squeeze’s “Up The Junction” from the wife’s point of view, not enough time and too much to say to bother with ornate rhymes. Meanwhile, her voice shares both Neil Young’s quivering vulnerability and resolute intent. This focus into commonplace concerns over backdrops neither aggressively ragged nor urbane is extremely unsexy from a commercial standpoint. But, if you’re a music nerd who appreciates frank, funny women who can’t be bothered to milk a shtick…hachi machi!

Between sharing a surname and kid with dBs drummer Will Rigby, and being married to Wreckless “The Whole Wide World” Eric for more than a decade, Amy Rigby has suffered some unduly dismissive chatter from guys with strong opinions about the dBs and Wreckless Eric, and she's rightly called out when even her biggest cheerleaders were presumptuous (there's a great post about the issue somewhere in her blog. You can find it for yourself, gossips). I’m doing my best to avoid that mindless slotting, while acknowledging her biography has given verity to the persona I get from her songs: someone who can’t let go of creativity, dubious dreams, and big feelings, while unable to ignore the responsibilities and reality of the world she finds herself in. This dilemma, when we’re lucky, can lead a writer to a refreshing mix of self-deprecating humor (those early titles!) and unabashed sincerity.

My favorite album of Rigby’s is unsurprisingly Diary Of A Mod Housewife, a classic example of a debut by someone who had their whole life to write it. Rife with should-be standards, Diary was also produced by Elliott Easton during that brief moment where female guitarists in their late 30s could hope for a top ten hit (and Diary did go top ten on Pazz & Jop!). Despite that moment's passing, Rigby's album quality has barely dropped off since, with her third album, 2000’s The Sugar Tree, especially appreciated. Full disclosure: when I described Tree as capturing “a complicated vibe of wresting with discontent rather than reveling it” on Twitter some years ago, she asked if she could steal the line for her next book (no idea if it made the cut for Girl To Country, which I’ll read soon either way). She was also very flattering about my How I Like Urge Overkill playlist post, which quotes Girl To City on Nash Kato’s extremely brief stint as the Shams’ pseudo-road manager. But all my sentiments on her work predate that kindness.

The playlist below - so not a “best-of,” and sorry so Spotify! - has two tracks each from Diary, The Sugar Tree, Little Fugitive, and 2024’s Hang In There With Me. Her other four solo albums get a track each, including a song from A One Way Ticket To My Life, the demo collection that coincided with Girl To City. I still haven't checked out her early work with The Last Roundup and the Shams, or her albums with Wreckless Eric, mostly because I like leaving little gaps of awareness in a treasured discography. You can assume which of Rigby's albums I’d start with, but don’t ever stop on my account! And buy physical media! Including books!

How I Like Amy Rigby: The Playlist

1. "Like Rasputin" (Little Fugitive, 2005)
2. "Wait Til I Get You Home" (The Sugar Tree, 2000)
3. "Are We Still There Yet" (The Old Guys, 2018)
4. "Shopping Around" (Til The Wheels Fall Off, 2003)
5. "Dylan In Dubuque" (Hang In There With Me, 2024)
6. "Mrs. Gordon Ray Thomas" (A One Way Ticket To My Life, 2019)
7. "The Good Girls" (Diary Of A Mod Housewife, 1996)
8. "Needy Men" (Little Fugitive, 2005)
9. "Knapsack" (Diary Of A Mod Housewife, 1996)
10. "Ivory Tower" (Middlescence, 1998)
11. "If You Won't Hang Around" (The Sugar Tree, 2000)
12. "Bricks" (Hang In There With Me, 2024)

Diary Of A Mod Housewife and The Sugar Tree are respectively at 57 and 166 on My Top 400 Albums Of All Time. I'm telling you this because I've found people are more inclined to discuss and share reviews if there's a quantitative element at the top or bottom they can easily debate. Prove me right! If there's anything you need me to know, good or bad, type it off to anthonyisright at gmail dot com.