
Diary Of Amy Rigby
By Amy Rigby
Amy Rigby has been writing, performing and recording her transcendent songs about the everyday for years, first with bands Last Roundup and the Shams in NYC’s East Village, then as a solo artist beginning with Diary Of A Mod Housewife up through The Old Guys and 2020 single “Vote That Fucker Out” with sometime duo partner Wreckless Eric. Her first book, Girl To City: A Memoir was published in 2019.

Diary Of Amy RigbyMar 02, 2023

Enough For Now
Glad to be working a little, just a little glad to be working.
Includes a snippet of a difficult song I'm trying to learn. It may take a while!
Thanks for listening.

Let The Monkey Roll
A visit from a toddler. Learning life skills never stops - and where did those waffle irons go?
This episode includes a bit of a rough demo for a song I wrote called Kid Again.
Thanks for listening!

Playing The Artist Card
The benefits of sticking to it...
A good time in Florida
No extra music this time - I am really trying to get the second draft of my book finished so a little pushed!
Hope you enjoy this episode.

This Time
Internal monologue as I get ready to fly down to Florida. Lucky to be going!
Trying to make the most of this thing called life.
I include a song I wrote on the plane three years ago flying back home....

You Wear It Well
Dressing for the long game. I try to find clothes for Eric's daughter's wedding and realize that as the years add up we're just lucky to be around for the celebrations.
Musical bit here in tribute to a recently departed genius of song...

Here In The Vestibule
Time change and times change: Joyce; Sally, Frank & Emma...and Dad.
Track in this episode Not Dark Yet

The Ex
A short tale about keeping the fantasy alive.
Includes a demo of a new song Gimme Bangs
Thanks for listening!

My Secret Stevie Life
Wanting to be real, and good - and maybe to hug a tree...with the great Stevie Nicks as guide.
Songs in this episode: Invisible & a snippet of Sorcerer (Stevie cover)

Clean Laundry
Dad, and dealing with dementia. Writing and music are the only ways I can make sense of any of this right now. Hope maybe this helps someone else to deal.
Music inspiration from Mississippi John Hurt

Murray Hill Take The Wheel
"...and I think my spaceship knows which way to go." Sometimes a trip to Manhattan and some good old classic rock is what it takes to make it through.
Traffic, and Traffic. Music in this episode - you get one guess.

Giving It All Away
Dropping some of the heavy weight of stuff I've been carrying around forever. Should be easy to get rid of most of it...right?
Heard this JJ Cale song when I was thinking about archives and career ephemera and it felt just perfect.

LOST/NOT LOST
Vanity, tragedy and everything in between. Prayers to St. Anthony. Worked in a new song demo (spot the Spinal Tap reference). Shout out to my invisible friends Kim and Jenn at Everything is Fine podcast.

Learn To Lie
England, NYC, upstate...a little bit of this and that because sometimes the big things are just too big.
Apologies to Dr. Hook...

Like Walking In The Rain
Serendipity and hard life lessons - sometimes the teacher is there all along. An appreciation of a true star Ronnie Spector.
Buy Ronnie’s book Be My Baby at your local bookstore or order online through bookshop.org. Her story will make you laugh, wince, cry and remember why she is truly one of the greats – her voice! The postscript she wrote in November 2021 will lift and then break your heart.
You can find All I Want on The Very Best Of Ronnie Spector. (I recorded my own version for Middlescence in 1998)
If you or someone you care about is suffering from domestic abuse/coercive control, please reach out https://coercivecontrolcollective.org

Better Help
Looking for self-knowledge isn't the escape it used to be. Virtual appointments remind me of the old days when therapy meant furniture that didn't come off the street.
Music in this episode:
So You Know Now from Little Fugitive Invisible from Middlescence
Up In The Air
Going out west to visit my grown up daughter Hazel, I think about travel and getting older. How good it feels to see your kid doing good, how much I love Southern California. A fellow passenger's question on the way home gives me pause.
With a bit of music inspired by Joni Mitchell's This Flight Tonight, which thanks to Hazel I found out was a hit for Nazareth? Never knew that. There's forever so much to learn.
It's the one year anniversary of the Diary podcast! Thanks for listening.

Setting Out
Traveling and family, regret and wondering who we musicians are on the road without a guitar.
Invisible Tomorrow's All We've Got from A One Way Ticket To My Life
Memories Are Made Of This
Funny how the mundane experiences inspire and remind us who and what we love. UK travel, tea and biscuits.
Music in this episode: Invisible from Middlescence and Do You Remember That from A Working Museum by Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby
Thank You For The Days
Go on, treat yourself. Or should I? Every time a new year rolls around, I go through the same struggle: To splurge on a beautiful handprinted calendar or take what I'm given. What would you do?
The Dolphin Studio is the home of the beautiful calendar.
Music in this episode:
Invisible
Days

Free Parking
Low-key holiday joy, music and a day at the bookstore/bar.
Music in this episode:
Invisible Shopping Around Waters of March by Susannah McCorkle
Just Pants
I was hoping a pair of overalls would lead me in a new direction, but old ways are hard to shake, especially in challenging times.
Tracks in this episode:
Invisible
Some of Shelly's Blues - Mike Nesmith cover

Hello Margaret, It's Me Amy
Trying to write (and swing) myself out of some darkness. Gigs, getting older; Margaret Renkl and (what else) a cameo by Bob Dylan.
Songs in this episode:
Invisible (theme music - from Middlescence) You're Getting Old - early 90s demo from A One Way Ticket To My Life
Plattekill 1 & 2
I wrote and recorded the first half of this post/episode back in August, but it felt too effortfully "light" so I decided to shelve it.
The second half came to me two weeks ago at a writing workshop in Michigan where I was instructor and student of some great poets and novelists. I recorded a cover song to go with it.
When places we don't even like become an important part of our lives, we realize we did like them after all, at least a little bit.
Songs in this episode
Invisible from Middlescence Only A Broken Heart (cover of a song from Tom Petty's Wildflowers)
Fifty Feet From Stardom
A hose is a hose is a hose...
As promised, a more lighthearted episode.

Stress Test
Sometimes it's all a little too much. Covid burnout, post-Ida angst; vertigo and...Dad.

I Am The Owl Man
A mysterious visitor; small town livin'; Nanci Griffith.
Music in this episode
Invisible from Middlescence a late-night version of Nanci's The Flyer (nb This is a late-night cover of Nanci Griffith's The Flyer...I originally did a version for the Nanci tribute Trouble In The Fields that Pete and Maura Kennedy put together - here just trying to capture a little of the moment in one of my favorite songs. Maybe I was drawn to it cause she mentions Pittsburgh but I think she really captured that lonely but hopeful feeling of being a woman on the road as well as anyone ever has.
Persona
"I never thought I'd develop such a fondness for boats" and other thoughts on identity, ambition - and gravity.
Songs in this episode:
Intro music - Invisible from Middlescence Read the Room - unreleased demo, 2020
First Tuesday In July
Manhattan miles, memories and hopes. This old girl's out, but her old man's in.
Songs in this episode:
Invisible (theme music) Dirty Bridge both from Middlescence
Just Say No
Am I eternally hopeful, or just a pushover? Learning to say no, one random encounter at a time.
Music in this episode
The Good Girls from Diary Of A Mod Housewife Invisible from Middlescence
And It Goes On and On and On and...
Working hard or hardly working; a return to some kind of normal. Journey, George and the old broom knows all the corners.

Down In The Old Hotel
Passing pandemic time in front of British tv shows Escape To The Country and the Hotel Inspector, I end up seeing too many scary parallels. Is it time to go back to work yet?
Songs in this episode:
Invisible from Middlescence You're Getting Old from A One Way Ticket To My Life
Werewolves
Dads and daughters; driveway moments and riding with Warren Zevon

Witness 2
Pandemic wedding anniversary; ghosts of past tours...burgers and ancient amplifiers - these are the things memories are made of.

Stop The World And Let Me Off
Trying to keep up with the way we do things now can wear a person out...
Music in this episode
Invisible from Middlescence The Old Guys from The Old Guys
Rambling Vines
Book returns; poison ivy. Pay it forward and farewell to a friend. Looking back; trying to write a new book. Bongo therapy.
Music in this episode from Middlescence:
Invisible Ivory Tower
LFTM - Ass+U+Me
Elizabeth and Amy talk about assumptions.

LFTM - Prove You Are Alive
Tonight we're going to party on the Looking For The Magic podcast - Amy and
@paranoiacs Elizabeth Nelson will discuss the weird magic of birthday shows, wedding gigs gone wrong...join us live at 6:30 pm, working on your birthday is proof you're alive.
Happy Birthday Amy!

LFTM - Feels Like The First Time
Elizabeth and Amy discuss firsts. First studio recording sessions, first tours and more!
Looking For the Magic stream live on Youtube Wednesday's at 6:30pm EST on the LFTM youtube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcVrR6LQ_mBP3ae1IOBs56Q

LFTM - Protests! 01-06-20
Elizabeth and Amy discuss the unfolding insurrection in Washington D.C. and talk about protest songs.

Personal Worst
Good riddance to 2020, the shittiest year. Sharing stories of worst gigs, stage outfits, venues and performances by other bands. Also things we thought might be crap that turned out to be good.
Referenced in this episode:
The Center Of Nowhere - documentary about Springfield MO music scene
Bobby Keys documentary: Every Night's A Saturday Night
Glenfarg
Philly
Business suits on stage
"The jacket"
Replacements at the Ritz
Luton on LSD
Love for NRBQ
Rod Stewart's autobiography

No Snow, No Show
Elizabeth and Amy brave a December snow storm Wednesday night. It doesn't take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Bee Gees doc
Luc Sante's Maybe The People Would Be The Times
Alright Alright Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater's Dazed & Confused
Braving the elements
Jimmy Page's argyle vest; Kurt Cobain's sweater
Yo La Tengo's Hanukkah shows & Do You Remember That
Sex Pistols Pittsburgh show that never happened

Live
We share memories of first live shows, last live shows, best nights ever and hope for future gigs.
Peter Murphy at Roseland
Sonny & Cher
The late David Olney
Drive-By Truckers
Wussy
Fave music venues
https://youtu.be/PwXQpT7Vkqk

Positively Bob
This is the second episode of our new podcast about music. This week we share some reflections on Columbia Recording Artist Bob Dylan.
Show Notes: 11.25.20
Conversations with Tom Petty / Paul Zollo
They Might Be Giants / Live at The Music Hall of Williamsburg 11.29.15
Emma Swift / Blonde on the Tracks
Peter Paul & Mary / Blowin’ in the Wind
Hippies / Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
Bob Dylan / Biograph
Bob Dylan / True Confessions Tour with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Bob Dylan / Chronicles
Suze Rotolo / A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties
Carole Bayer Sager / They’re Playing Our Song: A Memoir
Bob Dylan / Knocked Out Loaded
Bob Dylan / Street-Legal / The Changing of the Guards
Bob Dylan / I Contain Multitudes (Emma Swift / I Contain Multitudes)
Charlie Daniels / Off The Grid: Doin’ It Dylan
Oxford American
Bob Dylan / Nashville Skyline / New Morning (Charlie Daniels)
Charlie Daniels / Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye (Last Roundup)
Amy Rigby / The Old Guys / From philiproth@gmail to rzimmerman@aol.com
Tony Garnier
Mary Lee Kortes / Mary Lee’s Corvette / Dreaming of Dylan
Bob Dylan / Theme Time Radio Hour
Bruce Bennett / Action Swingers / Hoodies / Mike Bloomfield
Ratso Sloman / On The Road With Bob Dylan
Bob Neuwirth
Bob Dylan / Planet Waves / Going Going Gone
Bob Dylan / Fort Worth Texas / May 16, 1976
The Last Waltz
Thanksgiving
Bucket Hats

Heroes
Looking For The Magic gets off to a start with a discussion of current reads, brushes with greatness and things you shouldn't say to your heroes.
Discussed in this episode:
Peter Frampton's memoir Do You Feel Like I Do
Chris Frantz's book - Remain In Love
Pittsburgh
Richard Thompson
Shants
Interviewing NRBQ; Terry Adams
Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys
Touring with Warren Zevon
Jill Sobule
Tom Petty
Joe Strummer; The Clash
Beethoven; Theme from St. Elmo's Fire
Herb Alpert - Whipped Cream & Other Delights
All the greens from all the (pressing) plants
Recorded live here https://youtu.be/cVm_5Sr6Vno