Walking into last night’s Amy Farris memorial/tribute at the beyond capacity Continental Club, grief hung like the dark clouds over South Congress. A native of Austin, Farris passed away late last month in L.A., at the age of 40.
Most recently she was the fiddler for Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women, but the redhead also performed with local heroes Kelly Willis, Bruce Robison, and Alejandro Escovedo, as well as musical giants Ray Price and Brian Wilson.
The show had the feeling of a wake, with a projector showing a slide show of Farris photos and a couple of altars with pictures and candles on opposite ends of the stage. There were many somber moments, but also some lighthearted ones, as her fellow artists shared remembrances of playing and being around her.
Jon Dee Graham lovingly called her “a pain in the ass,” while Kelly Willis tearfully claimed, “Amy was the girl I wanted to be” and Damon Bramblett said, “She was the sweetest person I’ve ever known.” Jesse Dayton shared stories of both playing with Ray Price, and performed songs from a couple of her favorite artists, Roky Erickson and Bob Wills. Exene Cervenka of X spoke about the two writing songs together and how it was a thrill for both of them.
Alvin closed the night with a version of the Guilty Women that included Warren Hood taking Farris’ place on fiddle. The set included a couple of songs from, as he referred to her, “our little brat redhead,” including “Anyway,” the title track to her solo disc, which he produced. Alvin told a story she had related to him about her first rock show – X performing on Sixth Street when he was in the band – before storming into “Fourth Of July” with Exene joining in for a mini X reunion.
He ended with Wanda Jackson’s “Let’s Have a Party,” a tune he claimed Farris used to end her own shows, Christy McWilson and Lisa Pankrantz sharing the vocals and shaking the room. The mood lightened briefly, but the sorrow over a career that ended much too soon remained long into the rain-soaked night.
This article appears in October 16 • 2009.