Court Yard Hounds - Amelita
Emily Robison and Martie Maguire's second album Amelita (July 16, Columbia) as Court Yard Hounds arrives just weeks after Dixie Chicks bandmate Natalie Maines' solo debut Mother and the difference in tone and attitude couldn't be more striking. Where Maines and producer Ben Harper go mostly deep and dark, Amelita, produced by Jim Scott (who handled the Hounds' 2010 debut), stays true to the Chicks' mostly bright, country and pop sound while adding touches of strummy folk/rock acoustics. “I think it’s not only a more hopeful album, but it’s more…well, fun,” says Robinson in comparing their new songs to the duo's initial offerings recorded at a time when Robison was dealing with the aftermath of a divorce. And, perhaps more tellingly, she adds, "We're a band, not a side-project." Lead single "Sunshine", a co-write with Jonatha Brooke, is a brisk, upbeat jangler that skewers an unnamed narcissistic acquaintance with surgical precision. Stream "Divided" and watch an acoustic take on "Sunshine" below...
Court Yard Hounds - "Sunshine" (from Amelita)
Amelita, Columbia, Court Yard Hounds, Divided, Sunshine