Amaury Faivre – My Americana
self – released
10 tracks – 37 minutes
Amaury Faivre was born in Besancon, France. At age 8, he blew his father’s harmonica for the first time and immediately became passionate about the blues. He spent his teen years listening to Robert Johnson, Lightning Hopkins, and John lee Hooker among others. He then started playing the chromatic harmonica and added the guitar and started singing. He launched his career at age 15 at the Jeunesses Musicales de France, a group dedicated to teaching musical awareness for the children of France and offering over 2,000 shows, workshops and tours every year for youths. He won an Audience Award at the event. He obtained a degree in Musicology in Besancon and then added two years of jazz guitar studies at the University of Montreal. After that he returned to Geneva, Switzerland.
He formed a duo with Geneva guitarist Yves Staubitz, winning the Swiss Blues Challenge in 2017, which brought them to Memphis to compete in the International Blues Challenge, where they were a semi-finalist. They placed fourth at the European Blues Challenge. He has performed in electric blues bands, acoustic duos and even with a symphony orchestra dropping albums along the way in his various configurations. During the pandemic, he developed the One Man Blues Show and released an album, 2020, that took him back to his folk blues direction.
This album continues his trip through the roots of American music. He plays the harmonica, guitar, mandolin, banjo and bass on the album. Julien Compagne plays drums and percussion and Jeremie Tepper adds pedal steel guitar on track four. The album consists of nine original songs and one cover.
The album opens with the gentle, folky “Tumbleweed” with the guitar, harmonica, and banjo intermingling in the song as he notes “I just roll with the wind like a tumbleweed”. “Don’t Think About It” kicks up the sound with a steady drum beat and his harmonica as he sings, “If you want to be free, want to be happy, focus on the things we want to change / if you want to be here, want to be complete, just hold your breath and don’t think about it”. Next, he declares “I cannot find no place to call my own, I am just a “Doggone Soul”, with a bit of a reggae sound and his ever-present harmonica sailing through the song. “Take My Heart” is a quiet, acoustic song with a slight country tinge utilizing Jeremie’s pedal steel to underscore the love song.
Keb Mo’s “Am I Wrong” is the sole cover on the album and features Amaury’s slide guitar burning through the song. “It’s Time for Me” “to dry my tears, it’s time for me to face my fears” as his harmonica cries over a lost love. He states that “when it comes to falling in love, I am a “Repeat Offender”.
He notes that she is a “Wonderful Girl”, “but just not for me”. The slide guitar tears through another song with a declaration “when you wake up with the sweats, it is hard to forget, you have been “Fooled Again”. “Goodbye Joe” concludes the album with a short instrumental featuring his harmonica.
The term “Americana music” was defined by the Americana Music Association (AMA) in 2020 as “…the rich threads of country, folk, blues, bluegrass and rock in our tapestry.” By naming his album My Americana, Amaury is clearly indicating that he is exploring music across the many genres of roots sound. His harmonica is certainly the standout instrument on the album, but his overall instrumental presentation is also excellent. Vocally, he delivers songs with a soft, passionate quality that is appealing. Some songs do have a thread of blues, but many are in the folk vain. It is an enjoyable listen, but with a recognition that it is not ultimately a blues album.
