Nashville Scene's Critic's Pick

On her 2017 full-length Rhythm of the Rain, Nashville singer-songwriter Amelia White shows her mastery of a social-realist mode that matches perfectly with her folk-country-pop music. I guess you could call White’s music the great mean of East Nashville country-pop-folk. (I have to hyphenate my genre designation because it’s the only way to express the synthetic nature of the fabled East Nashville sound.) White recently released a spiffy four-song EP, 11 AM, which she recorded with fellow songwriter Brett Ryan Stewart. 11 AM registers as pop, right down to the way the record’s most striking track, “Mr. Sunshine,” plays in the Nashville section of Brian Wilson’s sandbox. “Mr. Sunshine” is unabashedly romantic, with White and Stewart negotiating a lucent set of chord changes in a gorgeous song that carries just a hint of pain. White says she’s readying a new full-length for release in spring 2022. Another fine Nashville tunesmith, Kim Richey, handled the production duties. Friday’s show at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge will feature White with a full band — expect help from local luminaries like guitarist-producer Dave Coleman and pedal-steel whiz Paul Niehaus.