"I am pretty sure the horse of my broken heart is dead, and I should stop beating it," says Amy Campbell, laughing. Known for her very sad folk songs, solo and in Stumble, the Nova Scotia native got married in 2010, so one would suspect it was harder to conjure up the sadder moments on her new LP Letters Home, songs about life on the road and the spaces between. "I'm just trying to be a better artist, a more artful artist, a more considered and crafted artist," she says. "There's a lot of momentum in my old work of emotional process of being pushed out hard and fast. I don't want to do the same thing over and over. I can still conjure up lots of things to get scared or worried about." Recorded last summer, Letters Home's release was a bit delayed by Bruce Springsteen, of all people; Campbell wanted to include a cover of "I'm on Fire," but it took eight months to get clearance: "I think if I wrote 'Born in the USA' and the Republican party used it, I'd be wary of who used my songs." She believes its inclusion was necessary to the vision of the finished product. "I made it as a 10-song, in-that-order piece," she says, "and I thought a lot about making not just cohesive songs but a cohesive record, and I just didn't want to mess with that."
Sunday July 22, The Carleton, 1657 Argyle Street, 9pm, $10, 422-6335, thecarleton.ca
