Heart of Memphis
Michele D’Amour and the Love Dealers – Another Sleepless Night
ARTIST NAME: Michele D’Amour and the Love Dealers
SONG TITLE: Another Sleepless Night
ALBUM TITLE: Heart of Memphis
GENRE: Blues
Spotify
YouTube
Michele D’Amour grew up in West Seattle and was a child prodigy on piano at the age of six. She also started singing from an early age, performing in her church choir. Michele also enjoyed writing from an early age and became a published poet in her late teens. Later, Michele earned her chops singing with several different local bands and writing her own music, winning a Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition in 2017.
Patrick McDanel, also from Seattle, has been with the band since its inception. He plays bass and sings backing vocals. McDanel started on piano at five; then played trombone professionally for several years until needing to stop due to an injury. Patrick is a veteran of the national music scene, having played with notable bands and acts as either a regular player or fill-in. One of his favorite career moments was playing at the Apollo Theater in the 1990s.
Carl Martin (drums) is originally from Southwestern Ontario, Canada (eh!). He has played with a host of bands and solo artists, playing a variety of styles in many diverse venues. Over the years, Carl has honed a style that several musicians have described as “solid as a rock.” His philosophy is simple: “…to listen, and support the music.” Playing so many different types of venues and styles has helped Carl to beautifully support what is happening around him, and he locks in beautifully with Patrick.
Born in New Orleans and raised in Memphis, Richard Newman is a producer/guitarist based in Seattle, Washington. Newman is a fingerstyle player, lighting up both acoustic and electric traditions. Funky and syncopated, rootsy and twangy, he plays slide guitar with French roots rockers The Beau Goss Band, and is producing records with local blues harp legend, Steve Bailey. Richard also lived and performed in Tokyo, Japan, for over 15 years.
Noel Barnes joins the band on tenor and baritone sax (and occasionally on flute). Barnes studied with Sue Orfield and has played with Copastetic, Double Shot, and City Knightz. Noel also contributes backing harmonies and a few lead vocals.
“There is nothing like a good solid blues rhythm coupled with an amazing female voice that understands the true sound of the blues. Michele D’Amour and the Love Dealers have definitely learned those lessons, and turn in a worthy performance on this set of solid tunes that should be a case study for anyone interested in studying the art of the blues. They understand that there are different grooves for great blues music, and they have mastered all of those styles… they bring an authenticity to their sound not normally heard by today’s modern blues bands.” – LA Music Critic
LYRICS:
Another Sleepless Night
Another sleepless night
Another weary day
Something’s just not right
My baby’s gone away
I’m wearing a hole right through this floor
He’s not coming home
Another sleepless night
Another lonely dawn
Another day to cry
My loving man has gone
I sit and wonder why
I’m biting my nails down to the quick
He’s not coming home
Another lonely dawn
Another Sleepless Night
Another sleepless night
Another weary day
Something’s just not right
My baby’s gone away
I’m wearing a hole right through this floor
He’s not coming home
Another sleepless night
Recording Experience: We self-produce our albums. We had a great experience working with Royal Studios in Memphis, with Boo Mitchell as engineer, for the Heart of Memphis album.
Creating a Song: It really depends on the song. Some start with lyrics, while others start with the melody. If I’m really lucky, it just comes to me as sort of a “download” in my head, as though it’s playing on the radio.
Advice: Tell your own story. Keep writing and refining your music writing skills…
Worse Experience: I would have to say that there’s still a fair amount of sexism in the music business that has sometimes gotten in the way for me as the main songwriter, lead singer, and leader of my band.
Instrumentation: We will always include bass, drums, guitar, and vocals. From there it is about choosing what will best serve the song in terms of its style and its subject matter. Sometimes we’ll try different instrumentation to see what works, and that is part of why we always play songs live before recording them, because playing them live helps the songs to evolve.
Sing Along to your Song: I love it, and I have several songs I’ve written where there is a specific part I have for the audience to sing. So when we are doing them live, I’ll often walk out among the audience and teach them that part and get them singing. It’s a lot of fun!
Themes: I want to tell a story that is meaningful to me, in the hopes that it will make someone laugh, or make them think of a situation they have had or are currently experiencing.
Approach to Writing: I’m always watching and listening what is going on around me and get a lot of ideas that way. I have notebooks around the house, in my car, and even a small one in my purse so I can write down ideas as they come to me. I sit down regularly to work on songs and I have lots of written lyrics and melody fragments just waiting to go into a song someday.
Develop a Unique Music Style: I develop my own style by choosing the subjects and stories that matter to me, first and foremost. Then I’m always thinking about how the groove, melody, instrumentation, and arrangement can best support the story.
Recording your Song: After the initial parts of the song (groove, melody, lyrics) are written by me (Michele), I take that to the rest of the band and they add their parts. We then perform the songs live and refine them before we record. In the studio, we recorded the rhythm tracks first and then go back to record solos, backing vocals, final vocals, etc.
Collaborating with other Songwriters: Sometimes I write alone – at least in the early formation of the song before the rest of the band contributes their parts. I have also co-written several songs.
Fans: Fans are generally very nice and polite! I enjoy meeting people and learning about what my songs have meant to them.
Song: This particular song, Another Sleepless Night, was inspired by my husband being away on tour for several days. I had trouble sleeping without him home, so I took that inspiration to write a song about a woman who is waiting for her man, and is worried that something is wrong and that he won’t return. I heard it in my head as a Latin blues with a Santana type guitar lick, which is what you hear in the intro.
Artist’s name and the Title of the Album: Michele D’Amour is my maiden name and Love Dealers is a play on D’Amour which means “of love.”