Amy Rigby Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Classic ‘Diary of a Mod Housewife’ at Spotty Dog

Amy Rigby, 1996 (photo Ted Barron)

Amy Rigby, 1996 (photo Ted Barron)

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Folk-rock singer-songwriter Amy Rigby celebrates the 20th anniversary of her debut album, “Diary of a Mod Housewife,” which has become a modern classic, with a long-overdue vinyl release of the album and a concert at Spotty Dog Books & Ale, where Rigby can often be found working behind the bar and cash register, on Saturday, October 22, at 8pm. Joining Rigby are husband Eric Goulden aka Wreckless Eric on bass, original “Mod Housewife” drummer Doug Wygal, and guitar wizard Alex Turnquist.

Amy Rigby is a songwriter, musician and performer best known for her album “Diary of a Mod Housewife” and Little Steven’s Underground Garage favorite track “Dancing With Joey Ramone.” She was part of the late 1970s downtown NYC no-wave nightspot Tier 3 gang, and formed bands the Stare Kits, Last Roundup and the Shams before beginning her solo career.

For the last twenty years she has toured the U.S., Canada, UK and Europe, appearing on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, World Cafe, Whad’Ya Know, All Things Considered, BBC Radio 6 Music’s Marc Riley Show, and Mountain Stage.

Amy Rigby, 2016 (photo Ted Barron)

Amy Rigby, 2016 (photo Ted Barron)

When Rigby turned 37, the age most people think it’s about time to grow up and settle down, she did the opposite, and released her first solo record, “Diary of a Mod Housewife,” a concept album inspired by years of juggling artistic dreams, day jobs, and relationships, with the added challenge of motherhood. She says, “It was an early mid-life battle cry complete with manifesto that ended ‘not… ready… to give in… yet.”

“Diary of a Mod Housewife” combined real-life lyrics and transcendent melodies with a passionate music fan’s collection of pop, rock and country influences. It was a critical smash and commercial success; voted #8 album in the 1996 Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics’ Poll, and landed Rigby on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, noncommercial and college radio and in every major magazine and newspaper in the US. Rigby has been a panelist and performer at CMJ, South by Southwest, Bumbershoot, Lilith Fair, Rockrgrl, Folk Alliance and Southern Festival of Books conferences, and had her portrait drawn for the New Yorker. She was a staff songwriter for Welk Music in Nashville and has had songs covered by They Might Be Giants, Ronnie Spector, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and Laura Cantrell.

 

Rigby lives with her husband and sometime duet partner Wreckless Eric in the Hudson Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

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