An American singer-songwriter who lives in Germany, Marybeth D'Amico (pronounced Duh-MEE-co) came to songwriting relatively late in life. But she makes up for it with the passion she puts into her music.

A journalist by trade, in 2002 Marybeth had lost her position as an editor at an Amsterdam-based magazine. With some time on her hands, the wife and mother of two, who had recently taken up the guitar, began penning her first songs on the living room couch.

But it was the discovery of singer-songwriter Patty Griffin that gave her songwriting a sudden jolt. "What struck me was how emotionally riveting yet simple to play her songs were," says Marybeth. She began hungrily studying the songwriting craft not only of Griffin, but other contemporary singer-songwriters she admired, such as Lori McKenna, Antje Duvekot, Kathleen Edwards and Deb Talan.

Though drawn to dark themes, she also loved the melodic pop music from the 60's and 70's she grew up listening to: the Beatles, the Eagles, CSNY, the Mamas and the Papas, the Beach Boys, and classic singer-songwriters such as James Taylor, Carole King and Carly Simon. Growing up, music had played a prominent part in her life -- whether she was harmonizing with her siblings to the Peter Paul and Mary albums in their parents' record collection, starring in her high school musical or playing flute in the band.

By late 2003, Marybeth had a handful of songs, which she began singing at open mics in Munich. She also co-founded an alternative-country band, Far From Home. She took her first solo steps in 2006 with the five-song EP, Waiting to Fly, followed up with gigs in Bavaria and Holland.

Marybeth’s follow-on, the self-produced debut Heaven, Hell, Sin & Redemption, has received critical acclaim. Dutch Americana/Roots publication Altcountry.nl drew comparisons with the latest works of Lucinda Williams and Kathleen Edwards. HHSR debuted at #10 in the Euro Americana Charts and was selected as a top DIY pick in Performing Songwriter magazine. The independent debut eventually came to the attention of Continental Records, under which the labels Proper (UK) and In-Akustik (Germany) are  re-releasing the album in November 2009.

Marybeth has toured in Germany, Holland and the UK and made her US debut in October 2009. She has shared stages along the way with Jeffrey Foucault, Rod Picott & Amanda Shires, Rachel Harrington and Zak Borden, Michael Weston King and Markus Rill. 

Heaven, Hell, Sin & Redemption was recorded and produced in Austin, Texas by Bradley Kopp, who has worked with the likes of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Iain Matthews,  and Eliza Gilkyson. It features top-notch musicians such as Lloyd Maines on dobro and pedal steel, Richard Bowden on violin, David Webb on keyboards and Paul Pearcy on drums.

The album gets its' dark name from the characters that inhabit the ten songs: from the single mom who can't seem to settle in one place to the minister involved in a sex scandal; the young couple that decides to break away from a fundamentalist upbringing to the true-to-life story of a guy sitting on Death Row in Ohio. But no cause for depression here: most of the melodies are infectious and will have you humming along.