Burke’s Book Store presents an evening with singer-songwriter Amy Rigby, Tuesday, January 27^th at 6:00 p.m. at the Memphis Listening Lab. Amy Rigby will be discussing and signing copies of her new book, Girl to Country: a Memoir (Southern Domestic, $18 paperback) and will give a short performance.

Broken-down vehicles. Premenopausal libido. A punk rock-loving teen to share the culture shock with. I don’t think Hank done it this way. A few years after her 1996 breakthrough album Diary Of A Mod Housewife, singer/songwriter Amy Rigby is still figuring out who she is. Closing in on forty, a newly-divorced mom trying to tour, work temp jobs, and keep a car running, Amy is ready for a change. She trades her beloved NYC for Nashville, where she navigates music, men and motherhood to learn the hard way that outside validation is no substitute for self-belief.

Girl To Country details what happens after the coming of age and first flash of achievement. Following on from her acclaimed debut memoir Girl To City, where Amy fumbled her way to becoming an artist in late twentieth century NYC, Girl To Country depicts the tricky second act of a creative life: how do you keep doing the work you love into your forties and beyond in a game everyone told you was only for the young? What’s the price for juggling parenthood with fulfilling your dreams? And how about love-will it knock you off balance or help you keep going? From one of America’s enduring underground artists known for her honest, kinetic songwriting, Girl To Country is a touching, clear-eyed journey full of unexpected detours.

Amy Rigby has established herself as one of America’s enduring underground/cult/indie artists, combining the insight and humor of country and folk songwriting with classic rock craftsmanship and punk DIY spirit. She started bands Last Roundup and the Shams in NYC’s East Village before launching a solo career with her 1996 classic album Diary Of A Mod Housewife. Her most recent album Hang In There With Me (Tapete, 2024) was called “an absolute masterpiece, a career best” in Louder Than War.

“Singer-songwriter…doesn’t fully describe Rigby’s immense gifts and her devotion to the kind of pop and rock music that singer-songwriters often neglect,” wrote the Nashville Scene. A storyteller both on stage and on the page, Rigby has toured internationally for years and is the author of two memoirs: Girl To City (2019) and her latest Girl To Country (2025).