Amy Nazarov, who provides many of DMH's high harmonies and lead vocals on "The Blackest Crow," "When I Stop Dreaming" and other band standards, has a completely random musical background. While as a child in Connecticut she pronounced family carol sings "totally dorky," she was secretly thrilled to be learning a bit about the intricacies of harmony-singing from her music-loving parents, Brian and Carol, accomplished singers themselves, who, as former members of the Hartford (Conn.) Chorale and the Berkshire (Mass.) Choral Festival, performed Orff's "Carmina Burana" and other works.

In grade school and junior high, Amy was tagged an alto but nevertheless enjoyed the exposure to a wide range of material, some of it eminently forgettable ("Killing Me Softly with His Song" just somehow doesn't fly when 4th-graders are warbling it, but Barry Manilow's "I Made it Through the Rain," performed by Amy's 6th-grade chorus and a thousand others around the time the Iranian hostage crisis ended, still gives her goosebumps, though she'll never admit it.) In high school, Amy performed in "The Pirates of Penzance," "Man of La Mancha," and "South Pacific;" the folks attempted to persuade her to learn piano, but she hated the lessons and the practicing, even with that spiffy metronome her mom bought for incentive.

In college and in the years immediately following college, Amy tabled music in order to run in the corporate rat race, but felt the lack of it acutely. Upon moving to California in 1993, she studied guitar and joined an a cappella group in Sacramento. The cycle repeated itself in 1998, when Amy came to her senses and returned to the right coast, determined to get music back into her life; after re-locating to Washington, she joined the Runnymede Singers, a D.C.-based choral ensemble that continues to perform a mix of spiritual and secular material in and around Washington. She later found music and fellowship when a friend invited her to join the 11:15am mass choir of Our Lady Queen of Peace church in Arlington, Va. A Protestant, Amy wriggled her way in nonetheless, to be greeted with open arms by a truly accepting group of lovely people who helped strengthen her vocal confidence by letting her sing solo on a number of contemporary and traditional pieces, many of them concerned with themes of social justice. Amy also had the opportunity to provide back-up vocals for Lianna, a Nashville-based singer/songwriter, at a D.C. gig opening for Vienna Teng.

Amy and Caryn had gotten acquainted while working for the same company in the mid-90s. At Caryn's birthday party in the fall of 2003, the women got to chatting about music. When Amy revealed she was trying to MeetUp an a cappella group into existence, Caryn invited her out to DMH practice, where Amy had a chance to get to know Mike and Belinda better. After a few glasses of red wine, the singers and Mike found their groove, and the new DMH vocal lineup was complete. Amy's first gig with the band was also Bob's and Marcy's first DMH outing: at Vienna, Va.'s Jammin' Java on January 11, 2004. The sea shanties she absorbed by osmosis growing up on the Connecticut coast inject a salty little something into DMH's old-time/bluegrass/gospel sound.

A journalist since 1990, Amy runs her own company, 10th Street Communications, writing articles and providing other editorial services for a range of clients, from Reading Is Fundamental to The Washington Post. The member of DMH most likely to show up at practice playing "Back in Black" really loudly on her car's sound system, Amy is also the band's resident schmoozer and one of three members involved in booking and management tasks. She studies voice with acclaimed bluegrass performer Dede Wyland and lives on Capitol Hill with her husband, Ari.