Amanda Broadway - Me Without You (2011)

Amanda Broadway is a blues singer and songwriter based out of Nashville, TN. She relocated to Nashville after graduating from the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY where she studied Music Industry and Voice. After spending a couple of years writing, performing, and honing her sound, Amanda went into the studio to start working on her first record. On August 2, 2011, she independently released her EP, Me Without You, which immediately shot up to number 8 on the iTunes Top Blues Albums chart.

Recorded in Nashville, TN at Fireside Studios and The Insanery, Me Without You features an impressive line-up of some of the town's best session players, including Rob McNelley on guitar and John Deaderick on keys. The EP is a collection of seven songs, all written by Amanda, and co-produced by her and Max Abrams. Seven may be an odd number of tracks for a record, but from an artist's perspective it makes perfect sense.

"I never really sat down and thought of a concept for the EP - I was just writing about what I knew. For me, these particular songs went together and when I was ready to record, I couldn't imagine adding or taking away anything. They're all coming from the same place. I wrote them during a very transitional time in my life when I was doing a lot of soul-searching. Some were written in college up in New York, and some here in Nashville. A lot of them are about one relationship that was pretty tumultuous. Moving on from that as I settled into a new town by myself was difficult." Me Without You is a blues record, but elements of many other genres can be heard. Amanda infuses qualities of soul, pop, funk, gospel, and country into her songwriting and production. "I'm not a purist.. I would say I am blues-based, or oriented. When I write, I don't like to pigeon-hole myself into a specific style. With a great love and influence of so many kinds of music, it wouldn't be me to only write in the 12 bar blues form."