Queen of West Memphis Country plays The Halloran Centre

Amber Rae Dunn a part of Memphis Song Writers Series

By THE TIMES NEWS STAFF

news@theeveningtimes.com

Straight out of the honkytonks and rich Delta soil that she grew up in, West Memphis has once again turned out a bluesy, silkyvoiced country singer, Miss Amber Rae Dunn. This Delta Girl harkens back to the likes of other Delta crooners from the area, like Charlie Rich, Conway Twitty and Johnny Cash. Amber Rae was one of the featured artist/ song writers, at The Halloran Centre Memphis Song Writers series on Thursday night, February 17.

She’s a local girl, born and raised in the Wonder City, daughter of Larry and Tamie Dunn, and is one of seven children that was raised in the Dunn family. The Dunn’s have a long-standing history for over 50 years in the West Memphis hair Styling Business.

“The people the stories the simplicity of life. I’ve fallen in love with the business that captured my dad’s heart so many years ago,” Amber said.

As with most musicians, the vocation is a hustle. For her day job, Amber Rae cuts hair in her dad’s barber- beauty Salon here in town.

“ Barber Shop, my second album is a tribute the profession I grew up in.” Amber said.

She has also put her 2012 degree in sculpture from the Memphis College of Art to use as a visiting teacher with DeltaARTS. Lucky for us, the music muse came a callin’ six or seven years ago. She’s both a songwriter and a talented vocalist in the vein of old country singers such as her role model Loretta Lynn. Her first album, Arkansas Line was produced by Mark Goodman of The Blackwood Brothers fame and two-time Grammy winner. The album was recorded at MGP studios in Nashville that has recorded such noted artists as The Oak Ridge Boys. Goodman just passed away last week.

Her second album Barber Shop

was released in January of 2021, produced by Nashville producer Billy Smiley. Her latest releases are also being recorded through the Sound Kitchen Studios in Nashville by former White Heart guitarist and five-time DOVE Award-winning producer Billy Smiley.

“I tend to write melodies and lyrics at the same time.” Dunn said. “Short catchy lyrics come fairly easily to me, but the verses, well… they are harder.” Amber said. “One of the most challenging songs she has written is ‘Ryan’s Song’. It’s about my little brother who died. One song in a million can never capture the gut-wrenching pain of knowing you have nothing, but memories left of someone. I moved to Nashville and was going to give myself five years to see if I could make it in this business. I worked in a local barber shop in East Nashville. My brother, Ryan, was killed in a motorcycle accident in West Memphis and I came home. I have written a song about him entitled ‘My Ryan’. It’s on YouTube.”

When asked if she could share the stage with anyone who would that be? Her answer was immediate, “Little Jimmy Pickens, he’s one of my favorites,” she said.

Amber was challenged to wrote music by song writer Yubu Kazungu, whom she met in college. She later joined his Reggae band, and he is now a member of her band The Mulberries.

Amber Rae has been stacking up accolades since her first album premiered. She has won Nashville’s Next Best Country Artist of The Mid-South and was nominated for three years in a row as Country Artist of the Year; Female Vocalist of The Year and Entertainer of the Year with Tennessee Music Awards. Dunn has served as Vice President for two years for Memphis Songwriters Association. Dunn has opened for big name country acts Gary Allen, Radio Romance, Jordan Davis and The Rhodes Show.

If you’d like to catch Dunn in action, she co-hosts a songwriters showcase in Memphis each week called “Meet Me in Memphis” at South Main Studios. She is set to play at the North Mississippi Songwriters Festival at the Pizza Grocery in Corinth, Mississippi, on Saturday, March 19, at 11 a.m. She will play on Thursday, May 12, at 7 p.m., at the Green Room in the Crosstown Concourse in Memphis. The Memphis Song Writers Series is hosted at the Halloran Centre and is hosted by Mark Edgar Stuart. The series features local and regional tunesmiths.

“I’ve always wanted to do something like this, like the Bluebird Cafe thing in Nashville.” Stuart said.

The series continues on Thursday, March 17 at 7 p.m. Entry is just a minimum donation of $5. It is a small intimate setting and is well worth the cost of admission.

Photo by Jane Russell

Amber Rae, accompanied by her friend Andrew Cabigao on guitar, during her recent performance at the Halloran Centre.