Country singer Amberley Beatty says her Sept. 22 performance in Chatham is much more than just a concert; it’s a look inside her musical soul.
“I went country a long time ago. This is my version of me,” Beatty said. “It’s sort of a way for people to get to know me. It’s interesting that I can show who I am through this music.”
Beatty, who performs the classics from the likes of Pasty Cline and Loretta Lynn to Reba McIntyre, Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Gretchen Wilson, is a fan of many different genres of music. But one particular genre will be showcased at her Gone Country show.
“I love all kinds of music. I love rock. I love soul. I don’t often get to perform that. But I think my voice lends itself well to country,” she said. “If I did a show that was ‘Amberley Beatty Gone Music,’ that would be a four-day event. You’d hear everything from AC/DC to The Boss (Bruce Springsteen) – there’s great grit and great feeling attached to their music. We’ll just hone in on the country spectrum.”
She grew up in the 1980s, with a mother and stepdad who loved country. Her musical influences of the day were the likes of Dolly Parton and McIntyre.
From there, Beatty stepped back in time and fell in love with the pioneering women of country from the 1950s and ’60s.
“That’s sort of the development of my own personal music. The show will showcase the heavy hitters who have influenced me and will showcase who I am,” she said. “It will show a whole span of where country music began to where it is today.”
It will also have a few original tunes thrown in for good measure. This year, Beatty released “Beggin’ for Mercy,” a CD of original songs.
Beatty said with such a widespread timeline of influential performers, it was a chore to limit the show to 29 songs and about two hours.
“I could have a two-day show touching on people who have crossed over (from country to pop music),” she said of the likes of Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift. “This is about who has influenced me and my writing. This is basically a story of myself in song.”
Beatty added her originals will be “carefully placed” throughout the show.
“When people go to shows like this, they really enjoy singing and hearing what they enjoy and have heard before,” she said.
Even as she continues to write her own music, Beatty said she’ll never stop doing tribute performances, as it takes her back to a time when music was more of an art than inventory.
“We’ve almost made music such a product rather than a feeling today. But music is emotion and feeling. It’s sort of lost that today with the attitude, ‘Let’s pump out as much as possible.’”
The songs Beatty will play Sept. 22 will span decades, as will the feel of the show. She said it will start “theatre-esque” and will evolve to the time of the early music videos of the 1980s, to where it is today.
“It’s definitely a different kind of show. I’ll have costume changes and fun stuff,” she said. “I hope in my small little show that people can find their own identity and become true to their own identity and become true to themselves again, because people have lost that.
“Music is more human than most things. It comes from a feeling. We’ve got to start getting back to that.”
Beatty added the Chatham Capitol Theatre will be the opening venue for Gone Country.
“I think it’s going to be fun for the whole family, young and old. We have a totally different band, a band I put together for this show,” she said. “This is not a sit-down show. I welcome everybody to just come and have a good time.”
Beatty said she loves performing at the Capitol Theatre.
“The venue is beautiful. It has that traditional feel for what a theatre should be like,” she said. “The acoustics are gorgeous.”
