Press
“Listener music with excellent words detailing emotional feelings, expressed in sounds and voices”
The Ahs on Mountain Stage
November 26, 2009 - Classically trained cellist Tony Rogers and banjo player Amy McIntire perform their distinctive string music together as The Ahs. They began playing music in rural New Hampshire in 2005, moving shortly after to Portland, Ore., and then again to Hinton, W. Va., three years ago. Their second album, Leonard Cohen's Dream, captures their ethereal chamber-folk and intertwining vocal harmonies.
Mountain Stage band members Ron Sowell, Julie Adams and host Larry Groce sing background vocals on "Rhododendron" (West Va.'s state flower), and Bob Thompson joins in on piano.
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Photo & Blurb in Charleston Gazette, November 7, 2009
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Mattea returns home for concert
Oct 17, 2009 @ 10:00 PM
By DAVE LAVENDER
The Herald-Dispatch
The Ahs - The Hinton, WV duo of Amy McIntire and Tony Rogers made its debut in 2005, at the Keene Music Festival in New Hampshire. Classically trained, Rogers draws from years of studying German etudes and Bach Suites while McIntire grew up steeped in the folk tradition. With a sound alternately described as "comedy and tragedy" and "symphonic folk," Rogers’ explosive cello lines compliment McIntire’s pared-down, ethereal banjo riffs while their harmonies blend effortlessly.
"They moved here, and like a lot of people who live here, they certainly have a lot of interest in traditional Appalachian music, and you can tell by the way they sound," Groce said. "With a cello and banjo it's not the usual traditional music but it is today's spin on the old traditional sound."
http://m.herald-dispatch.com/life/x1656917808/Kathy-Mattea-returns-home-for-Mountain-Stage-concert
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http://graceisover50.com/category/creativity-matters/music/
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“The Ahs are an eclectic mix of musicians, a wonderful blend of classic and down home folk with a slight celtic influence. This is the perfect CD for those of you that enjoy a fine glass of wine and a relaxing evening. Amy’s soft vocals bring to mind the gentle rhythm of a summer rain and Tony brings a classic flavor to folk with his cello. “Yonk Uh” and “Water in the Wine” set a faster pace that adds to the flavor of this CD, which I would highly recommend you give a listen”.
Cindy Taylor
WTNJ 105.9 FM
Beckley, WV
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THE AHS
Leonard Cohen's Victory
“... I wish I was back in high school aga-iiinn... I know so much more than I did then...” So The Ahs end Who Said to Me on their new album, Leonard Cohen's Victory, turning virtual cliché into virtual epiphany. Lyrics like that should turn a song to stone, but when Tony Rogers breaks “again” into two notes, he weaves a spell.
Welcome to Ahs. On the left, you have Amy Grace McIntire, with banjo and a voice which flows like a river at sundown, sometimes floating and melodic like Sally Ellyson (Hem) and Jeanette Beswick (Amelia Jay), sometimes more dramatic like Kate Bush, but with frailty. On the right, wielding cello with emotion and attitude, is Anthony Lee Rogers, voice at the ready.
Anchored by the roots of banjo and cello, they draw from numerous sources, most notably classical and folk, but what they play is neither chamber music nor folk. Deep within them, they have latched onto something which, when let loose, is captivating and yet hard to define. Part Jane Austen, part Amadeus and part Steeleye Span, The Ahs have a strange sense of music, banjo and cello feeding off of when not dancing around one another. And this isn't bluegrass banjo we're talking about here. This is Amy Grace McIntire banjo. There is a world of difference.
As for the songs themselves, Leonard Cohen's Victory, the title track, carries a dramatic punch with its banjo/plucked cello folk theme leading into downright elegant Kate Bush-like chorus. The chugging rhythm of the cello on Water in the Wine is perfect offset for McInitire and Rogers' harmonies, and the dirgey and folky If Chips Could Fly gives McInitire a vocal workout which she handles admirably. Then there is The Wedding Song, ready made for the cinema, roots reaching all the way to Europe and beyond. Like I said. It's hard to define, but you can stick your earhorn up to the computer speakers and hear it on their MySpace page. You won't regret it.
If you want to kick up your heels and dance, Leonard Cohen's Victory won't do it. If you want to lay back and listen to beautiful music, this may well be your disc. You might learn something, too. Like rhododendrons only grow on the north bank. I have no idea if it is true or not, but when McIntire sings it, I want to believe it is. And like Rogers, I wish I was back in high school again. You know, Ahs is a good place. Wizard or not, I like it. A lot.
Frank O. Gutch Jr.
Rock and Reprise
http://www.rockandreprise.net/ahs.html
published May 26, 2009
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The Ahs make an uncommon variety of spare, haunting classical folk, occupying a delicate and gorgeous area between the spindly pluck of Amy McIntire's banjo and the lowing moan of Tony Rogers' cello.
_Portland Mercury: Jan 21, 2009
