Mamie Minch

Mamie Minch first appeared in the NYC live music scene as an acoustic guitarist and singer with a voice and sensibility well beyond her years. One listen to her and you’ll understand- there is music you want to sing, and there is music you were meant to sing. Mamie found her voice in reviving -and writing- antique blues songs, even though whe’s now just over a quarter century old. Minch’s father played fingerstyle guitar on his vintage Martin- he taught her the Mississippi John Hurt and Rev. Gary Davis songs that started her adoration of fingerstyle guitar and became her musical bedrock. She culled DIY aesthetic influences from her teenage exposure to punk and garage bands in her hometown in Delaware; she liked the parallel unself-conciousness in the approach of these musicians and traditional American folk musicians. Around this time Mamie also started exploring Bessie Smith, Sarah Martin, and Memphis Minnie- their unabashed sensuality and the winking, confessional nature of their songs was to become a major influence in her performing and songwriting style.

Upon coming to New York Mamie’s fascination with early recordings found a community of kindred spirits. Some of her first connections were with a group of 78 collectors who would throw listening parties for their rarest finds. She shortly co-founded The Roulette Sisters, a popular all-woman retro quartet that performed originals and covers of blues, country tunes and early girl group harmony peices by the like of the Boswell and Andrews Sisters. She kept growing musically, spending a summer travelling through europe with an Italian anarchist street band, and busking extensively in New York City as part of Music Under New York. Upon leaving the band in 2007 Mamie has been working on her own material as a songwriter and performer. She has played residencies at Brooklyn’s world music mecca Barbes and the 68 Jay Bar in Dumbo, and shared the stage with Dayna Kurtz, Jolie Holland, Bliss Blood, and loads of other talented friends. Her debut solo CD, Razorburn Blues, will be available shortly!