Album Review: Amy Irving Was BORN IN A TRUNK And Now She's Singing All About It

Heigh Ho, dear lovely rainbow tribe, welcome back to Bobby's CD sandbox where we offer our broken-down breakdowns of new music releases. So, strap in and get ready, as Bobby goes on the record ABOUT the record.

This week's entry in the BobbyFiles comes from newly-minted recording artist AND cabaret performer Amy Irving. Yes, that Amy Irving. You see, dear Bobby readers, when one is an acting icon and one of the great actors, who is also from a show business family, one continues to spread one's wings throughout the evolution of life and the life of an artist. Amy Irving's wings, my dearlings, have been well and truly spread.

During a trip to City Winery to see La Irving in action (to celebrate the release of the album BORN IN A TRUNK), Little Bobby got to hear the lady talk about her life in a theatrical family and how that lead to the creation of this recording. BORN IN A TRUNK is currently a digital release, so there won't be any liner notes to read, so you will have to let us do the work for you. So, Amy Irving has a son named Gabriel Barreto, who is a music manager. Gabriel believed his Mom might make a good recording artist, and he had a band that he believed would meld well with her aesthetic, so he did a little "Crossing Delancey" matchmaking, and, voila, Voices are ringing out in the night. The band working with the Oscar-nominated singing actress is called Goolis, and there are wonderful bona fide duets between the two musical entities on this CD which is made to represent the life of the actress. Each of the ten tunes on Born In A Trunk harkens back to something specific in Amy Irving's life - her life as a performer, as well as her life as a person.

For instance, how clever is it to start the album with WHY DON'T YOU DO RIGHT?, the song that Amy voiced for the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Even though Irving appeared in big (really big) movies in her life, RR was a monster truck of a smash, and Amy's sultry rendition of the Peggy Lee hit was widely discussed, oft-played, and one of the break-out moments in the blockbuster. Here, though, it isn't Jessica Rabbit doing the singing - the frontrunner of Goolis, Jules David Bartkowski, made a jazzy earthy arrangement that allows her finally do the classic the Amy Irving way, adding in some beats and rhythms, and straight-forward vocals properly placed for a student of the art of singing, with the layers a storyteller wants, and the attitudes of a woman who knows herself. It kicks the album off with sass and style and the message that this collection of songs is all about The Life Of Amy.

What follows on Born in a Trunk is nine additional songs dedicated to Irving's movies (Jobim's HOW INSENSITIVE refers to the film BOSSA NOVA), her relationships (McBroom's Errol Flynn is a nod to Irving's theatre director father, the legendary Actor's Workshop founder Jules Irving), and her family history (QUEEN OF THE CASTLE honors Amy's role in RUMPLESTILTSKIN, which starred Amy, her mom-Priscilla Pointer, her stepfather-Robert Symonds, and was directed by her brother David). In ten songs, Amy shows the listener that her skills as a storyteller translate perfectly from the stage to the screen to the studio, as she delves into the layers of the lyrics, using all the tools in her arsenal to tell the tales of her life, and, true to the Amy Irving legend, she does it in ways both interesting and intriguing. Amy Irving has a wonderful, unusual sound to her voice - it's pretty, it's pleasant, it's palatable, but it's different, which is something that Amy Irving has specialized in all her life. Irving always chose interesting roles in every medium she worked in. Once in those roles, she made interesting acting choices, to bring the characters and stories to life. Now, she is choosing interesting songs to represent her life's journey, and making those same interesting acting choices, with a voice that isn't like those you usually hear. There's a special quality about her voice, a quality that reminds this rainbow reviewer of two of his favorites: Audrey Hepburn and Twiggy. Although these other famous actresses weren't (specifically) known for their singing and vocal training, there was always great emotion in their musical performances, always a little more heart than a person might expect to find in a musical performance. Amy Irving is a trained singer, and it shows, but, oh, the emotions: they are so rich and replete, so gorgeous and glorious - you can't help but fall in love, one track after another, as this actress with a beating heart in her throat draws the listener ever closer.

Favorites on the album for this fan are I WILL FOLLOW YOU INTO THE DARK, a cover of a Death Cab For Cutie tune that online research informs is dedicated to Amy's husband, Ken Bowser, and I NEVER DREAMED SOMEONE LIKE YOU (a nod to a little flick called CARRIE) that has some really impressive and haunting vocals. And who doesn't want to hear Amy Irving sing with Willie Nelson, her co-star from the smash-hit movie Honeysuckle Rose? Well, this album gives the fans the duet I'M WAITING FOREVER, and the magic that flowed all through that movie is still there - the two old chums sound as sweet and in sync as ever.

All in all, my dearlings, each individual song on Born In A Trunk is a treat (and, by the way, that is Amy's mama, Priscilla Pointer, with Baby Amy on the cover) but when all ten musical monologues are lined up end to end, what we have is a musical memoir, a play, if you will. And, as any great American actress will tell you - the play's the thing. So, for her monologues in music and her ten-act play, Amy Irving's maiden voyage into the land of CDs, cabarets, and concerts gets our admiring and impressed

4 out of 5 Rainbows

Follow Amy Irving On Her Pro Insta Account: HERE

She Also Has A Link Tree: HERE

Listen To BORN IN A TRUNK On Your Spotifies: HERE

Follow Amy's Terrific Collaborators, Goolis, On Their Insta: HERE

As Well As Her Talented Son, Musician & Manager Gabriel Baretto On His Insta: HERE

Album Cover art by Taylor Wright Rushing (@twrushing)

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