Amber was only 17 when she started busking on the streets of Seattle, her home town.
Around the time she was 18, she found and fell in love with Swing Dancing and, more specifically the music being played at these dance events. At the time, Amber had no experience in Jazz and had never been exposed to it growing up. Amber, being the musical person that she was, wanted to start pursuing jazz and exploring this new unfamiliar genre. She started going down rabbit holes listening to everything she could and learning the history of jazz along with its ties to Lindy Hop and New Orleans.
After meeting some other musicians in the Seattle jazz scene, she started singing in her first ever jazz band, “Street Remedy”. They would busk at the Seattle Center, and it was during this time that Amber began training in singing jazz and bandleading. At 18, She was happily living in her van and busking daily at Pike Place Market to make ends meet.
When she was 19, her and some fellow musicians took a road trip to New Orleans, where they would busk on Royal Street outside of Rouses. Amber immediately fell in love with the city and knew she had found her place in this world.
After heading home, all she wanted was to get back to New Orleans. She finally moved back when she was 22 and began what would become her New Orleans musical journey. It was that year she came up with the name Amber Rachelle & The Sweet Potatoes The Band got their first gig at Maison in March 2020, and the very next day the whole city shut down due to the Covid Pandemic.
Fast forward to 2021, the city is reopened, and Amber was ready to finally pursue her dream of playing music in New Orleans. She revamped The Sweet Potatoes with a whole new line up and played her first show since 2019 at The Maison.
During their first year , The Sweet Potatoes grew exponentially. They began playing numerous venues all over the city, including The Jazz Museum, private parties at the Beauregard Keyes House, and The Local Swing dance’s 10 year anniversary party.
They recorded their first Album entitled Too Sweet.
