Amelia White & Linda McRae “The Tennessee Twisters” – a Two-Woman Vortex of Raw Storytelling and Musical Alchemy | with our guest, Nick Franclik

“They instantly displayed their acute acoustic interplay & excellent singing, alone & together, during their trade-off of mostly original songs.” – John Apice, Americana Highways - Review of the Twisters May 2025 Godfrey Daniels Show

Amelia White and Linda McRae form Tennessee Twisters, a two-woman vortex of raw storytelling and musical alchemy. The stage becomes a front porch as they render tales both light and dark. You will laugh, cry, and be lifted from your worries. A variety of instruments (banjo, high-strung guitar, and blood-bond harmonies) carry you down a melodic river. Don’t be surprised if lightning strikes.

LINDA McRAE
lindamcrae.com

Linda’s love of Canadian, American, and British music early on in her career resulted in multiple band configurations from roots-rock to punk to folk. These bands included the platinum selling group, Spirit of the West. Her deep contribution to the Canadian music scene resulted in her being honoured as a 2016 British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame “Pioneer” inductee. Linda manages to bend the rules and the genres proving that stripping a song clean brings one back to their roots. A singer-songwriter musician of the old school with decades of experience you may think you know what Linda McRae is up to. That is until she throws you a curve with a new twist: David Bowie on Banjo?!

When Linda steps onto a concert stage, into a recording studio, workshop or mentoring session, there is an effortless passion, a love of what she does and a connection with fans and friendships built and treasured. A multi-instrumentalist Linda works tirelessly as a touring singing songwriter, performing at premiere venues across Canada, the US and Europe while turning out new works.

Crucial to Linda’s art is her virtuosic vocal work. Echoes of such artists as The Beatles, Hank Williams Sr, Hazel and Alice, Jean Ritchie, Neil Young and Johnny Cash, are reflected in her work reviving the songs and the senses with a new urgency of spirit and authenticity.

McRae has offered seven critically acclaimed solo recordings throughout her years as a solo performer and is featured on multiple artists’ albums. Numerous accolades and top radio charting have landed Linda a Canadian Folk Music nomination for Contemporary Album of The Year for “Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts,” two Escape to Create Residencies in Florida, Winner of the Family Folk Chorale for “Be Your Own Light”. Linda is also highly sought after as a teacher, mentor, juror, panelist and workshop facilitator.

And if all that isn’t enough Linda has worked with at risk youth and adults in her Express Yourself Writing Workshops presented across the country at at risk youth facilities, detox, and correctional facilities including New Folsom Prison in California. 

AMELIA WHITE
ameiliawhite.com

Amelia White follows up her breakthrough “Rhythm of the Rain” with “Love I Swore,” Produced by Kim Richey. 

“All I wanna do is get up there and sing.

I don’t wanna hear about ice on the wing.”

And there you have the greatest couplet in history that encapsulates a musicians’ road life. The hazards, fatigue, poverty, all that’s endured just so you can get up in front of people and play your songs. The icy-wing tale “Get to the Show” is a nicely loose rocking paean to the job as a troubadour. “No matter where you are, there’s always somewhere else to go.”, she sings, and she nails it. 

Her extraordinary new release “Love I Swore” coming out on 31 Tigers FEB of 2024 is both bracing and sweet. The songs crafted meticulously by producer (and performer in her own right) Kim Richey, who brings out musicality and copious golden backing vocals.  The record is like a quilt in which every square sewn on is a variation from the one next to it. There is some rock and roll, some catchy pop, good country and also a brooding intensity when such is called for. 

On “Love I Swore”, whether Amelia White lyrically deals with loneliness, bears deep down about relationships, learns how love is hard work, gives the middle finger to the soul-sucking marriage-killing road life, there is a tongue wedged ever so slightly into her cheek and the record is leavened with lots of simple happiness itself and pure love with no agenda. The partnership with Kim has turned out a record so tuneful, so damn catchy, it’s a war story where joy wins out. With Kim Richey’s forte in vocal harmonies and her extensive knowledge of the structures of what makes a great song, Amelia was fertile ground and Kim worked a mean plow. Without a compromise of Amelia’s honest integrity, “Love I Swore” is, dare say it, accessible. Non-Americana civilians might even warm to this one. Dare to dream.

“It’s funny,” Amelia says, “but for me, I’ve been in a long relationship, and I wrote this record in a period where I thought I was going to lose that relationship. So, there’s that theme, keeping love  going when you’re having to re-meet each other every time I return home. I have this great idea, halfway houses where partners can come over and visit us traveling musicians in there and as we get reacquainted with real life.”

Kim says, “Roger Nichols engineered it, and is a major part of the whole record. We made the record in Roger’s studio, which is about as big as somebody’s living room, with one isolation booth. We were jam packed in there. There’s one booth, so we had the drums in there, and all the rest of us were sitting in the control room with roger. it was cozy.” She laughs.

“We went through a whole bunch and decided which songs for the record,” Kim says, “and I think that’s Amelia’s strongest thing is the songwriting. It wasn’t done quickly. A lot of hours were put into the record, especially with Roger and I. And Amelia was really amenable to reworking the songs if we needed to.” They also had some great musicians to goose along such proceedings: Doug Lancio on guitar, Mark Pisapia on drums, Billy Harvey on bass and Amelia cutting loose with her own acoustic and electric guitars.

Choice tunes abound, but to single some out we can go with “Beautiful Dream” which sounds like one and coins the musician’s motto, “It’s hard to wake up to the setting sun.” The captivating jangle of a mandolin and guitar with gorgeous voices of “Don’t You Ever Forget”, the murky minor-key title track that would fit comfortably alongside Dylan’s “Time Out of Mind” until it explodes into rocking deliciousness halfway through.  “Time”co-written with Mando Saenz is arpeggiated deliciousness about a “bird on a wing with x-ray eyes.”  

No teenage starlet, Amelia shouldered her guitar in Boston for years, then Seattle, and now in East Nashville, where she’s been in the trenches for a good many years. Google “paid her dues” and there she is, with her reddish-brown shoulder length locks, eyeglasses and a smile. Then the unthinkable happened – her 2019 record “Rhythm of the Rain” actually stuck to the wall, doing well in the charts and spring-boarding Amelia from playing Tuesday nights for tips to actually headlining venues and god forbid getting somewhere! It couldn’t happen to a better artist, and one listen to “Love I Swore” will be a very convincing listen to one of America’s great “new” singer-songwriters. She just wants to get up and sing and she couldn’t care less about any ice on the wing." - Tommy Womack

Nick Franclik
facebook.com/nickfranclikmusic

Nick Franclik is a seasoned musician with over 30 years of experience as a sideman and bassist, known for his performances in Eastern Pennsylvania and on national and international tours, along with being the main sound engineer and mixer for Godfrey Daniels. When the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the music industry, Nick used the downtime to embark on a new musical endeavor. He put down his bass, picked up an acoustic guitar, and began crafting songs daily. This creative journey led to his first solo record, "View From My Spaceship," which transcends various musical genres, from Americana and bluegrass to country and pop.

Nick's transition from being a background musician to a solo artist has invigorated his career, allowing him to connect with audiences in a more personal way. You can catch his engaging performances at various venues, and he continues to contribute his musical talents as the bassist for Jack Murray & The Blue Tarp Wranglers. "View From My Spaceship" is now available on major streaming platforms and can be obtained at his live shows or select record stores. Nick Franclik's journey is a testament to the resilience and creativity of artists during challenging times, and his music is a reflection of the enduring power of the human spirit.