About the Project
“Amplifier Heart” is a rock/Americana/jazz oratorio for a five piece band and two singers that interweave songs from Sam Shepard’s plays and a poem by Patti Smith, “Sam Shepard: 9 Random years 7 + 2”.
Sam Shepard is one of the leading American playwrights of the last fifty years. His plays, including “The Tooth of Crime”, “True West” and “Curse of the Starving Class” have garnered every prize a play can be awarded.
He often writes song lyrics in the plays, usually without providing music.
Shepard and singer/songwriter Patti Smith spent time together in the 70s, and she wrote this poem about Shepard. Through the lens of time, Shepard’s vision of America, along with Smith’s take on Shepard’s personal myth, resonate to provide the material for which composer Jim Ragland has composed the music.
Jim Ragland is a long time theatrical composer and sound designer who has worked everywhere from the fringe to The Kennedy Center in a career that spans 25 years and over 120 shows. His credits include “The Kentucky Cycle” on Broadway and “Fences” at South Coast Rep
Production Team
