Jennifer Cooke's Update on Amy Happenings this Fall
SRobi...@aol.com
Summer vacation has ended for the most part in Nashville, Tennessee
and kids are back in school full time, football has started (go
Titans!), and although the days are still long and hot, it won't be
too much longer before we feel the first hint of fall in the air.
Feels like the perfect time to recap the summer and give an update on
the fall activities...
This summer was dominated by a few key events. The first one was the
incredible Challenge America event at the Kennedy Center in
Washington, D.C. It was truly a spectacular night and an incredible
launch for the Challenge America team. Just last week, Amy and Vince
traveled to Aspen for the annual golf tournament they host for
Challenge Aspen and they were able to talk to the newly formed
Challenge America Board and hear about all of the exciting
connections, invitations, and developments that have happened since
the June 8th concert. More than anything, it is amazing and inspiring
for Amy and Vince to hear of the lives that are being touched by this
initiative which reaches out to our returning wounded war veterans and
tries to help welcome them home. For more information on how you can
be involved, feel free to visit the Challenge America website here.
The other huge event of the summer was the family trip to Africa.
Exploring Africa with her children has been a longtime dream of Amy's
and yet I don't think she had any idea going into the trip just how
much of an impact it would make on her and on each one of the kids. I
think they all came back changed for the better and it will be
interesting to see how those changes take hold and morph in the months
to come. One result of the trip for Amy is that it completely re-
energized her relationship and commitment to Compassion
International. She is so excited to explore the relationship with
Compassion and how she can be used to help further their cause to help
children and families in need all across the world. Feel free to
visit Compassion International
Now that those two monumental events are over and summer is drawing to
a close, Amy is shifting gears (in her very slow Amy fashion!) back
toward songwriting and recording. She will head back in to the studio
to put down a few more songs in the next couple of weeks. We have
purposely kept the fall performance schedule very light in order to
keep her focused on new music.
Speaking of schedule, here is a general idea of what the rest of the
year looks like in terms of Amy's performances, appearances and
charitable activities (some of this has already been posted or
mentioned in message boards):
September 9 - Amy will help host the Grammy Salute to Vince Gill in
Nashville, TN.
September 11 - Amy concert in Peachtree, GA.
September 15 - Amy and Vince photo shoot for Good Housekeeping (Feb
2010 issue)
September 16 - Amy performance for a private event at Opryland Hotel
September 17 & 18 - Amy attends the dedication of the newly remodeled
Amy Grant Room at The Target House at St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, TN
September 26 - Amy's performance for the Extraordinary Woman
conference in Roanoke, VA
October 3 & 4 - Amy participation in the "Jack & Back" fundraiser for
MS (t)
October 12 - Amy's performance in a Gospel Music Association benefit
concert in Nashville TN
October 24 - Amy's 2nd Annual "Yard Sale" at David Lipscomb University
November 4 - Amy's participation at a Theta Luncheon in Oklahoma City
November 9 - Amy's participation at a benefit at the Ryman Auditorium
in Nashville, TN
November 11 - Amy helps the Red Cross kick off their Holiday Heroes
program in Washington DC
November 18 - Amy and Vince receive the Massey Leadership Award from
the Mental Health Association of Middle Tennessee at Lowe's Vanderbilt
Plaza in Nashville, TN
December 1 - Amy participates in the annual "Lighting of the Green" at
David Lipscomb University
It promises to be a busy and rewarding fall. Oh, and for those of you
who have asked or are wondering, Amy and Vince have decided not to do
a Christmas tour this year. Perhaps 2010?
More to come,
Jen
Robby Rob
Well, boo-hoo. I know of another major female artist who is on a world
tour and recording her second release for this year at the same time.
Get with it, Amy girl.
nickelshrink
LOL! I won't argue, since i don't know who you're
referring to. But i'll just ask ...you know, in a friendly curious
way! ...is that person also doing as much charity work as
Amy and does she have 2 (or does Amy still have 3?)
pre-teen to teen kids at home? And even the college kids
use up time, attention and money during non-school months.
I agree though -- if she's writing so many songs, i'd sure
love to get a disc or 2 out of it. When Simple Things came
out it did sound from interviews at the time, like that album
followed a dry songwriting spell, like she had to really
work to build up enough songs to fill an album, and that
does not seem to be a problem now.
--
pax,
ruth
Save trees AND money! Buy used books!
http://stores.ebay.com/Noir-and-More-Books-and-Trains
Robby Rob
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I was referring to Tori, Ruth. I hate to sound bitter, but I guess I
am just a little disappointed that we didn't get what we were supposed
to out of the year, esp. when we get conflicting updates about 3 songs
completed here and 3 songs completed there and spent this and that day
songwriting.
nickelshrink
I don't know but this is just a guess -- i think we can
*partly* blame The Internets. In the old days, we had no
idea how long it took to get a song from:
songwriter's idea
to finished
to demo
to scheduling studio session
to tinkering and changes in the recording sessions
to alternate takes
to final version
to recorded
to commercially available.
Now we get each step and we know about a song
very early in its process. Maybe it always took this
long to get it through all its stages, to buyers.
It also sounds like, the sales of the strictly digital EP being
not-so-hot, they aren't as enthusiastic about releasing more
songs digitally because they know they pretty much need to
offer real CD's to Amy's um ... classic-format oriented fans
and that digitals will weaken CD sales.
Robby Rob
Very true but yes, us um, well, more groomed shall we say audience
prefer our CDs? lol :)
nickelshrink
"Groomed"! yeah, that's it!
Does this mean i have to comb my hair?
SRobi...@aol.com
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I agree, the internet has definitely spoiled us. :-) But I guess we
Amy fans should be used to the fact that we tend to have to wait
awhile before we can get an Amy CD into our hands, especially since
the '90's, It seems like she's having a great time experiencing this
creative songwriting period in her life and working with younger and
newer producers on occasion as well. Although I tend to get
impatient at times, I realize that I would prefer that she takes the
time to give us some really great material and not just try to hastily
put something together to put on iTunes to appease her listening
public. I'm hoping for a really fine finished product that will be in
CD form (as I love the photos, info, lyrics, liner notes etc. that are
tangibly included).
Over the past 2 years or so, it seems that Amy has been writing a bit
and she has shared some of the songs in different acoustic settings
and even at her Lead Me On (Revisted) concert in 2008. But even since
then, she has posted about doing more writing with new and different
songwriters, so this next release should really be interesting. So
far, we have either heard or heard about the following songs:
1. What The Angels See
2. Better Not To Know
3. Shovel in Hand
4. Threaten Me With Heaven
5. Welcome Home (Jennifer just posted that this song will be part of
a gift book with Stephen Mansfeld as a tribute to the veterans
returning home and will probably be out early next year.)
6. When Lonely Comes
7. Hard Times
8. Mercy On Me
9. Two People
10. Find What You're Looking For
(Not sure if these are the actual titles, but she probably has enough
songs to put out a CD now, but it's great thats she's still writing
and perhaps her summer experiences may have inspired her to write even
more. So it all sounds promising. Uh, all we have to do now, is wait
because with Amy, "it takes a litte time some time........." :-)