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To say that guys attracted to the lovely singer-songwriter Amy LaVere undress her with their eyes wouldn't be such a stretch.

After all, if they've seen the Christina Ricci/Samuel L. Jackson thriller "Black Snake Moan," they've already seen LaVere in her underwear.

It's the second big-screen role for the Memphis resident in the past couple of years (the first was a few brief seconds of screen time as rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson in the Johnny Cash bio-pic "Walk the Line"), and despite her natural talent and affinity for music, it most likely won't be her last.

"Now that I've had a taste of it, I would love to pursue it," LaVere told The Daily Times this week. "Music has always been my focus, and it's what I really want to do; acting is something I would really have loved to have done when I was younger, kind of like how every girl wants to be a ballerina. I just really lucked into it, and I believe I have a natural ability at it.

"I think about how hard I've worked to get where I am musically, and I think about how hard actors and actresses work, and then I think that I don't really deserve the opportunity. And at this point, I have a lot of responsibilities to my record label and my music, so acting would be second to that. But after I support this new record touring, I'm probably going to knock on an agent's door to get my name in the hat for other movies."

The new album to which LaVere refers is "Anchors and Anvils," released this week on Archer Records. It's a sultry, jazzy, rootsy sounding affair that's not dissimilar to the music made by Blount County's own RobinElla. From the opening track — the bittersweet murder ballad "Killing Him" — through the languid waltz of "Tennessee Valentine" to the salsa inflections of "That Beat" through the funky vibe of "People Get Mad," LaVere is all over the map stylistically. It's a mish-mash of genres and influences, but her angelic voice pulls it altogether like the plotline from a David Mamet film at movie's end.

"I've always been all across the board stylistically as far as what I write," she said. "I'm not only just centering myself, but I have to hone it into some sort of scene to make the record cohesive."

Produced by the legendary Memphis studio wizard Jim Dickinson, "Anchors and Anvils" is the culmination of two years and hundreds of gigs' worth of hard work. Born in a small Texas/Louisiana border town, she was nurtured musically but uprooted frequently — her family moved 13 times by her freshman year of high school, eventually settling in Detroit, where she fronted a punk band while still in her teens.

In the early 1990s, she gravitated to Nashville's Lower Broadway, playing upright bass as half of the roots duo The Gabe and Amy Show. By 1999, she had moved to Memphis, enjoying the freedom and artistically collaborative spirit of that city. She eventually released her debut album, "The World Is Not My Home," in 2005, earning her rave reviews from the national press.

In the interim, she supported herself with steady gigs around Memphis, the Southeast and at a surprising number of private parties.

"I was tiring of that to some degree, because that's not necessarily a very attentive audience, but it is an incredible place to rehearse," she said. "You can grab their attention when you want to and not when you don't want to. They're not going to scrutinize or pay attention if you miss a note or the arrangements fall apart.

"As far as how the music grew from the first record to this record, it was nothing more than life experiences. Everything was completely organic, and I just wanted to show a little something different. The first record was all about me, but this one is just about a fraction of me. I don't censor myself in the creative process, but where I center myself is in what I allow to be released or heard.

"I know a good song when I hear it, and I don't always write a good song," she added. "For example, I only allowed three of my originals on this new record, but lucky for me, I'm sitting on a bank of really great songwriters in Memphis."

She's also partnered up with other artists in that city. Craig Brewer, the director of "Black Snake Moan," is a personal friend, and when she heard about the part available to her, LaVere jumped at the chance to act again.

"With the music, I set the rules; I'm the boss there," she said. "With the acting, you're exposing yourself in a different way. It's really raw and not necessarily on your terms, but on the terms of your character. 'Black Snake Moan' was very different for me in that the character was trashy, and it was really challenging.

"It was really challenging to ask, 'Can I do it? Can I really be in my underwear on the big screen?' And I got a glimpse of what that's really like for the actors who go there with it. I just really wanted to be a part of it and do the best that I could, but it was a hard three months."