Read a Tori article/interview from The Tribune newspaper in San Luis Obispo
April 11, 2003
Updated Mon, Apr 21, 2003 - 5:53pm ET
Tori Amos combines childhood memories and research to tell the American Indian experience on her latest CD, 'Scarlet's Walk'
By Jessica Yadegaran
The spirits have always spoken to Tori Amos. This time, they came in person. It was shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The singer-songwriter was touring through the emotionally ravaged country when American Indian leaders began appearing at her shows. They didn't come for her seductive piano rock. They came to deliver messages.
News had reached the tribes that Amos, one of the most innovative female artists of the past decade, was working on an album about America and its sins against native peoples, including Amos' Cherokee ancestors.
One soothsayer - a mysterious woman in her 50s - still haunts Amos: "If you are going to speak about American history" she warned, "then you need to tell 'herstory', not just history. The ancestors will support you if you do this, and you will do this. It is decided. However you need to be clear. Times will become more strained and more difficult."
This message and other real-life experiences sparked "Scarlet's Walk," Amos' seventh and arguably most imaginative album. More a sonic novel than a collection of songs, Amos employs fiction techniques to tell the tragedies that have befallen America and the consequences of her own broken moral compass. The album was self-produced and recorded with Amos' engineer husband, Mark Hawley, in their Cornwall, England, studio.
Using songs as chapters, we follow Amos' alter-ego, Scarlet, as she zig-zags on a road trip across the country, meeting the different women who personify America:
"Amber Waves," a porn star from Los Angeles; a mystical Apache woman in "Wampum Prayer"; and a manic-depressive named 'Carbon," with whom she travels to Wounded Knee.
The more people Scarlet meets, the more she begins to believe that, sadly~ Sept. 11 was one of the first times many Americans felt their country's soul. "A collective memory is ignited because of Sept. 11,"Amos said in a recent phone interview. "Scarlet begins to see that it's a world teaching, it affects everybody in different ways, and it's an opportunity for questions to be asked."
Sandwiched between her Bosendorfer pianos, Amos will play her emotional, thought-provoking songs in an intimate concert Tuesday at the Performing Arts Center. This is her first appearance in San Luis Obispo. Since her 1992 debut, "Little Earthquakes," went platinum, Amos has earned a reputation for mixing sensual live performances -straddling her bench and tossing back her mane of red hair- with subtle, spiritual songs that match her guttural voice.
Shortly after Amos' encounter with the American Indian woman, the songwriter called upon researchers at Haskell University to help her accurately depict the American Indian experience on "Scarlet's Walk." "I realized I was walking into something that was sacred I had to do the research, and I couldn't do it alone. I needed a support system," said Amos, who has been nominated for eight Grammys.
She filled in the blanks with memories from her childhood porch in North Carolina, where her Cherokee grandfather shared nightly tales of his people. "He would smoke his pipe and tell stories, and we would gather around. The women would snap the beans, and he would have a way of pulling together the things that no one wanted to talk about," Amos said.
The singer attributes her gift of storytelling to her grandfather. From him, she learned how to use symbology and wordplay to blend fact and fiction, resulting in otherworldly songs tinged with magical realism. She uses her grandfather's techniques on "Scarlet's Walk" to examine how the history of American imperialism resonates today While working on the album, Amos met with numerous American Indians who explained how, in their eyes, early decisions such as the segregation of native people has resulted in our current political climate.
"They knew there would be a consequence, and we're dealing with it today," Amos said. "It's part of our genetic makeup, why we feel it's OK to go and take. Whether it's the Native American lands or why it's OK to go into the Middle East and take."
By the end of her journey, Scarlet gives birth to a daughter. Two years ago, Amos did the same. And though she has sold millions of albums and influenced scores of female singers, these days Amos is more excited about vocal warm-ups to "Ring Around the Rosey" with little Natashya.
The singer believes her position on the American Indian medicine wheel shifted with the birth of her daughter. Ifs something she discussed that day with the female soothsayer.
"When you become a mother, you begin to serve the tribe," Amos said. "You serve the children. You put others first. You become more of a lighthouse than a wild ship out in the middle of the ocean throwing your hair about.
http://thedent.com/more.php?id=P461_0_1_0_C
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Read a review of Tori's 2003 Rapid City, SD concert from The Rapid City Journal
April 4, 2003
Updated Fri, Apr 04, 2003 - 5:08pm ET
Review: S.D. connection made Amos' gig special
By Ruth Milne, Journal Staff Writer
South Dakota doesn't get sung about very often.
John Linnell's "State Songs" album inexplicably devotes an entire song to Arkansas but overlooks the Dakotas, and the Liz Phair song "South Dakota" is, to say the least, unflattering (and unprintable).
So when Tori Amos sent fictional character Scarlet to the Wounded Knee memorial in her latest album, "Scarlet's Walk," it was cause for celebration....................."Carbon," about an epiphany at Wounded Knee, ................
http://thedent.com/more.php?id=P376_0_1_0_C
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Read a review of Scarlet's Walk from Goldmine Magazine
February 7, 2003
Updated Thu, Feb 20, 2003 - 10:22pm ET
On Scarlet's Walk, her self-produced Epic debut, Tori Amos has crafted a concept album centered around a woman named Scarlet whose cross-country road trip takes her on a journey of self-discovery and an encounter with the sad, bitter past of her Native American ancestors.
Though Scarlet's Walk is a beautifully textured work anchored by Amos' lyrical piano, it's not an easy story to follow. Her lyrics lack the clear detail necessary to fully understand the entire scope of Scarlet's journey. Still, it's easy enough to get a handle on the diverse group of characters she meets along the way, among them the disillusioned "Amber Waves" who dreams of stardom but whose trajectory takes her "from ballet class to a lap dance straight to video" and the evangelist who doesn't practice what he preaches in the edgy "Pancake", prompting Scarlet's dry observation, "It seems in vogue to be a closet misogynist homophobe."
Scarlet has her share of adventures: a romantic fling with a dangerous man in "Crazy", and a period spent with a Latin revolutionary where she balks at his unwavering dedication to his cause in "Sweet Sangria" ("give me a bloodless road").
Though the quality of the material varies over the course of this 18-song set, Scarlet's Walk is a trip worth taking, even if it is in the end a melancholy one. Set against a backdrop that includes the old Indian battlefields of Wounded Knee and the Black Hills of South Dakota, the narrator's outrage at the injustices suffered by the Native American people runs like a dark current through this deceptively beautiful work.
- by Tierney Smith
http://thedent.com/more.php?id=P118_0_1_0_C
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Tori article/interview from The Toledo Blade newspaper
March 9, 2003
Updated Mon, Mar 10, 2003 - 9:01pm ET
'Scarlet's Walk' leads Tori Amos to Toledo
Tori Amos appears Tuesday at the Stranahan Theater.
Tori Amos went off to search for America's soul and came back with a story as broad and beautiful and complex as the land that stretches from sea to shining sea.
On "Scarlet's Walk," the singer-songwriter's 11th release, we see the nation through the eyes of Amos' alter ego, Scarlet.
"Scarlet is walking in my shoes," Amos explained. "You could say she's based on me. Or perhaps I am based on her."...........................
......The fiery artist, a musical prodigy who started playing piano at age 2 and studying at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore at 5, believes the genesis for her new musical travelogue was planted by her grandfather, a full-blooded Cherokee who survived the infamous Trail of Tears by fleeing into the Smokey Mountains.
"I believe that at one point my grandfather probably slipped this invisible chip underneath my skin before he died," Amos said. "Then he said, 'One day you're going to remember all these stories I've told you.' "............
http://thedent.com/more.php?id=P236_0_1_0_C
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 11, 2003
Updated Mon, Apr 21, 2003 - 5:53pm ET
Tori Amos combines childhood memories and research to tell the American Indian experience on her latest CD, 'Scarlet's Walk'
By Jessica Yadegaran
The spirits have always spoken to Tori Amos. This time, they came in person. It was shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The singer-songwriter was touring through the emotionally ravaged country when American Indian leaders began appearing at her shows. They didn't come for her seductive piano rock. They came to deliver messages.
News had reached the tribes that Amos, one of the most innovative female artists of the past decade, was working on an album about America and its sins against native peoples, including Amos' Cherokee ancestors.
One soothsayer - a mysterious woman in her 50s - still haunts Amos: "If you are going to speak about American history" she warned, "then you need to tell 'herstory', not just history. The ancestors will support you if you do this, and you will do this. It is decided. However you need to be clear. Times will become more strained and more difficult."
This message and other real-life experiences sparked "Scarlet's Walk," Amos' seventh and arguably most imaginative album. More a sonic novel than a collection of songs, Amos employs fiction techniques to tell the tragedies that have befallen America and the consequences of her own broken moral compass. The album was self-produced and recorded with Amos' engineer husband, Mark Hawley, in their Cornwall, England, studio.
Using songs as chapters, we follow Amos' alter-ego, Scarlet, as she zig-zags on a road trip across the country, meeting the different women who personify America:
"Amber Waves," a porn star from Los Angeles; a mystical Apache woman in "Wampum Prayer"; and a manic-depressive named 'Carbon," with whom she travels to Wounded Knee.
The more people Scarlet meets, the more she begins to believe that, sadly~ Sept. 11 was one of the first times many Americans felt their country's soul. "A collective memory is ignited because of Sept. 11,"Amos said in a recent phone interview. "Scarlet begins to see that it's a world teaching, it affects everybody in different ways, and it's an opportunity for questions to be asked."
Sandwiched between her Bosendorfer pianos, Amos will play her emotional, thought-provoking songs in an intimate concert Tuesday at the Performing Arts Center. This is her first appearance in San Luis Obispo. Since her 1992 debut, "Little Earthquakes," went platinum, Amos has earned a reputation for mixing sensual live performances -straddling her bench and tossing back her mane of red hair- with subtle, spiritual songs that match her guttural voice.
Shortly after Amos' encounter with the American Indian woman, the songwriter called upon researchers at Haskell University to help her accurately depict the American Indian experience on "Scarlet's Walk." "I realized I was walking into something that was sacred I had to do the research, and I couldn't do it alone. I needed a support system," said Amos, who has been nominated for eight Grammys.
She filled in the blanks with memories from her childhood porch in North Carolina, where her Cherokee grandfather shared nightly tales of his people. "He would smoke his pipe and tell stories, and we would gather around. The women would snap the beans, and he would have a way of pulling together the things that no one wanted to talk about," Amos said.
The singer attributes her gift of storytelling to her grandfather. From him, she learned how to use symbology and wordplay to blend fact and fiction, resulting in otherworldly songs tinged with magical realism. She uses her grandfather's techniques on "Scarlet's Walk" to examine how the history of American imperialism resonates today While working on the album, Amos met with numerous American Indians who explained how, in their eyes, early decisions such as the segregation of native people has resulted in our current political climate.
"They knew there would be a consequence, and we're dealing with it today," Amos said. "It's part of our genetic makeup, why we feel it's OK to go and take. Whether it's the Native American lands or why it's OK to go into the Middle East and take."
By the end of her journey, Scarlet gives birth to a daughter. Two years ago, Amos did the same. And though she has sold millions of albums and influenced scores of female singers, these days Amos is more excited about vocal warm-ups to "Ring Around the Rosey" with little Natashya.
The singer believes her position on the American Indian medicine wheel shifted with the birth of her daughter. Ifs something she discussed that day with the female soothsayer.
"When you become a mother, you begin to serve the tribe," Amos said. "You serve the children. You put others first. You become more of a lighthouse than a wild ship out in the middle of the ocean throwing your hair about.
http://thedent.com/more.php?id=P461_0_1_0_C
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Read a review of Tori's 2003 Rapid City, SD concert from The Rapid City Journal
April 4, 2003
Updated Fri, Apr 04, 2003 - 5:08pm ET
Review: S.D. connection made Amos' gig special
By Ruth Milne, Journal Staff Writer
South Dakota doesn't get sung about very often.
John Linnell's "State Songs" album inexplicably devotes an entire song to Arkansas but overlooks the Dakotas, and the Liz Phair song "South Dakota" is, to say the least, unflattering (and unprintable).
So when Tori Amos sent fictional character Scarlet to the Wounded Knee memorial in her latest album, "Scarlet's Walk," it was cause for celebration....................."Carbon," about an epiphany at Wounded Knee, ................
http://thedent.com/more.php?id=P376_0_1_0_C
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read a review of Scarlet's Walk from Goldmine Magazine
February 7, 2003
Updated Thu, Feb 20, 2003 - 10:22pm ET
On Scarlet's Walk, her self-produced Epic debut, Tori Amos has crafted a concept album centered around a woman named Scarlet whose cross-country road trip takes her on a journey of self-discovery and an encounter with the sad, bitter past of her Native American ancestors.
Though Scarlet's Walk is a beautifully textured work anchored by Amos' lyrical piano, it's not an easy story to follow. Her lyrics lack the clear detail necessary to fully understand the entire scope of Scarlet's journey. Still, it's easy enough to get a handle on the diverse group of characters she meets along the way, among them the disillusioned "Amber Waves" who dreams of stardom but whose trajectory takes her "from ballet class to a lap dance straight to video" and the evangelist who doesn't practice what he preaches in the edgy "Pancake", prompting Scarlet's dry observation, "It seems in vogue to be a closet misogynist homophobe."
Scarlet has her share of adventures: a romantic fling with a dangerous man in "Crazy", and a period spent with a Latin revolutionary where she balks at his unwavering dedication to his cause in "Sweet Sangria" ("give me a bloodless road").
Though the quality of the material varies over the course of this 18-song set, Scarlet's Walk is a trip worth taking, even if it is in the end a melancholy one. Set against a backdrop that includes the old Indian battlefields of Wounded Knee and the Black Hills of South Dakota, the narrator's outrage at the injustices suffered by the Native American people runs like a dark current through this deceptively beautiful work.
- by Tierney Smith
http://thedent.com/more.php?id=P118_0_1_0_C
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tori article/interview from The Toledo Blade newspaper
March 9, 2003
Updated Mon, Mar 10, 2003 - 9:01pm ET
'Scarlet's Walk' leads Tori Amos to Toledo
Tori Amos appears Tuesday at the Stranahan Theater.
Tori Amos went off to search for America's soul and came back with a story as broad and beautiful and complex as the land that stretches from sea to shining sea.
On "Scarlet's Walk," the singer-songwriter's 11th release, we see the nation through the eyes of Amos' alter ego, Scarlet.
"Scarlet is walking in my shoes," Amos explained. "You could say she's based on me. Or perhaps I am based on her."...........................
......The fiery artist, a musical prodigy who started playing piano at age 2 and studying at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore at 5, believes the genesis for her new musical travelogue was planted by her grandfather, a full-blooded Cherokee who survived the infamous Trail of Tears by fleeing into the Smokey Mountains.
"I believe that at one point my grandfather probably slipped this invisible chip underneath my skin before he died," Amos said. "Then he said, 'One day you're going to remember all these stories I've told you.' "............
http://thedent.com/more.php?id=P236_0_1_0_C
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