Sugar Tree

Amy Rigby | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 2000)
• Original Release Date: September 26, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Koch Records
• ASIN: B00004WJJW
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316,965 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Wait Til I Get You Home

2. Happy For You

3. Rode Hard

4. Let Me In A Little Bit

5. You Get To Me

6. Balls

7. Magicians

8. If You Won't Hang Around

9. Angel After Hours

10. Better Stay Gone

11. Cynically Yours

12. Stop Showing Up In My Dreams

13. Sleepin' With The Moon

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As with its two predecessors, The Sugar Tree is as grounded as a getting-up-there-a-bit hipster divorcée with mounting responsibilities and some stubborn wild hairs, which is to say it's as grounded as Amy Rigby. Lyrically, Rigby remains beguilingly whimsical yet candid as she surveys her world of romantic dues and payoffs. "I've been seeing a couple of guys / But they're like me so I don't want them / They have feelings, they have morals," she 'fesses up in "Balls." Ah, but is the brazen "Wait 'til I Get You Home" ("and the walls come down") addressed to the same callow suitor? Musically, Rigby continues to favor the country-flavored power-pop heard on 1996's Diary of a Mod Housewife and 1998's Middlescence, albeit with a bit more grit this time around. It's the work of a woman who knows herself and isn't afraid to call attention to her blemishes as well as her beauty. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hip and real, October 1, 2000

By 

"[e-mail]" (South Euclid, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sugar Tree (Audio CD)

A strong follow-up to Middlescene on which Amy shows a lot of range. From the "begging-to-be-a-single" BALLS to the wry CYNICALLY YOURS, she has maintained her trademark ability to observe the trials of love ruthlessly while still making you laugh. Neat trick, that. Check out her web-only release "Keep It To Yourself"...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a desert island record, February 23, 2001

By 

David R McConnaughey (Pittsboro, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sugar Tree (Audio CD)

Beginning w/ the Shams and working her way through 3 solo cds, Amy Rigby's songs have glittered wittily amongst the debris which comprises the typical "singer/songer" (male or female)oeuvre over the last couple of decades. Her latest, The Sugar Tree, stands out, even compared to the high standards set by Mod Housewife, in both the consistency of the song quality conjoined w/ the wide variety of styles. And the ace in the hole which makes the cd especially fine is the wonderful backing band led by superb guitarist Will Kimbrough whose empathetic support provides just the right touches all the way through..From hints of the Who on the openening "Wait till I get you home," to quoting the Troggs! on "Balls", on to shades of VU on the lovely closing ballad "Sleeping with the Moon" and touching gracefully on classic roots from Woodstock to Nashville en route on the songs in between, everthing works..My 17 year old son appropriated my first copy to take back to school; a 48 year old woman friend whom i gave a copy to recently said the cd made her week; now i'm back at ..., buying a couple more copies, both for myself and to give away...btw "Wait till i get you home" NEEDS to be on the radio, country, adult, wherever..... Maybe buying a copy to give away along with one's own can break this cd properly???? (added parenthetical suggestion)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unlikely to Make a Bad Record, March 6, 2001

By 

WrtnWrd "Hankman" (Northridge, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sugar Tree (Audio CD)

Three CDs on in her haphazard solo career, Amy Rigby seems as unlikely to make a bad record as she does to make a successful one. Her roots rock anchors whatever makeshift band she's fronting, but it's her basic honesty as a woman and a writer that limits her commercial scope. Just this much cheese on The Sugar Tree and she'd write a hit for herself or more likely another shallower singer (Mary Chapin Carpenter, anyone?). Rigby must be dairy intolerant, `cause cheese ain't nowhere to be found in her tough, funny, achingly honest songs of the struggles of lower-middle-class single mothers, their man troubles, and their brief, bittersweet respites. The Diary of a Mod Housewife is first and freshest, Middlescence more desperate about the cash crunch, but it's The Sugar Tree that's her finest moment so far. Though money troubles and age are her great subjects, I wish her success enough to stop shopping at Goodwill. I mean, look, she's still going to get older!