“Kamminga sings like she was born and raised in Nashville – crystal clear with a twang”
Amber writes unpretentious, catchy popsongs with the honest storytelling of country music. It’s no surprise that music from Nashville got to Amber Kamminga from the just as rural town, Grootebroek (population: 9.000). The modern country of Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini and Taylor Swift sparked big dreams for the small town girl.
Music has brought Amber to many beautiful stage in the Netherlands such as Paradiso, De Vorstin, Patronaat, Sugarfactory and to national radioshows such as 3FM and Radio1. After releasing her first self-produced EP ‘Star-Crossed Lovers’ in 2017, she got to play the famous Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. Her adventures in Nashville were documented in vlogs for renowned Dutch magazine Viva.
She went on to release her newest single ’Name of Love’ in April 2019, supported by a mini-tour in Nashville where she performed at several writers rounds and stages like True Music Room and the Nashville Palace. The single was well received by music blogs both in and outside of the Netherlands, resulting in Amber’s first UK tour sponsored by Buckle & Boots Country Festival in October 2019 supporting UK acts Raintown, Sally Rae Morris and Gary Quinn.
In 2019 Amber also joined publishing company The Write Girls as a songwriter. During the visits to Nashville and writers retreats, Amber realised she is first and foremost a songwriter and co-writing has become one of her favourite things about the industry.
“Amber Kamminga quickly settled into the style of story telling and demonstrated not only her song writing skills, but her humour, honesty and emotions. Encouraging an audience sing along to her newest single “In The Name of Love” she was very honest in the way she talks to the audience and equally honest in her songs.” – Silverball Country (concert review, Birmingham)
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PERSONAL
I have always loved to express myself through writing – from six-page horror stories in elementary school, to English poems in high school, to country songs in college. Writing poems started as a way to vent, but it didn’t take long for those poems to be put to music once I picked up a guitar at age 12, inspired by Avril Lavigne’s debut album ‘Let Go’.
After that, it took me about 7 more years before I actually dared to perform one of my songs for a friend, who later on gave me the courage to perform in front of a crowd. That’s when the ball started rolling. In the following years, by trial and error, I learned how to be a performing artist, book my own gigs and hone my craft. There were lots of ups and definitely some downs on the road to figuring out where I wanted this to go.
It was only at a songwriting retreat in Nashville in 2017 that I learned that my greatest love is actually songwriting and that I take great pleasure in writing with and for others, more so than being in the limelight myself. This resulted in a shift of focus; next to working a fulltime job, I now direct my time and energy towards writing and I make my Nashville trips about co-writing and learning about what it is to be a songwriter. That doesn’t mean I don’t still love to tell my stories on a stage every now and then – after all, us musicians all crave some recognition from time to time ;-)
