Speakers » Merrie Amsterburg
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Finding the Unusual in the Usual A singer/songwriter looks at the familiar in new waysMerrie Amsterburg, Singer and Songwriter
Show Biography
Winner of two Boston Music awards, one Boston Phoenix award, seven ASCAP Popular Music Awards, Merrie Amsterburg has appeared on PRI/NPR radio shows "Mountain Stage", "World Cafe", "Acoustic Cafe" and "E-Town." She has shared the stage with many respected artists (varying from the Indigo Girls to Pat Benatar) and has toured with Paula Cole, Aimee Mann, and Patty Larkin. A multi-instrumentalist, she plays guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, bass, trumpet, keyboards, and Indian banjo; in live performance she plays guitar, mandolin and bouzouki, and is accompanied by Peter Linton on guitar/vocals.
Merrie has released three albums, two of which have been listed in the top ten albums of their release year by writers for the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Phoenix, RollingStone.com, Improper Bostonian, Kansas City Star, Immedia Wire Service, NoHoLA magazine. A resident of Boston, she has sung the national anthem six times for the Boston Red Sox. Her music has appeared in numerous television shows, the MTV movie “The Matthew Shepard Story, and most recently the PBS documentary “Circus”. Her song “Opal Moon” helped inspire Steve Erickson’s novel Our Ecstatic Days (Simon & Schuster) and features her song lyrics throughout.
Merrie is a volunteer for Girls Rock Camp Boston, and contributed music to the “Respond” CD project (Signature Sounds) which raised over $125,000 for Respond, Inc., a Somerville, MA agency providing emergency shelter and support services to survivors of domestic violence (adults, children and teens).
"Amsterburg's smart vocals and lush compositions float far above the clichéd fray of sensitive singer-songwriters." - CMJ New Music Report
