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Thursday, April 17, 1997
An All-Around Amy Account
Good day, friends!
Met with Amy yesterday morning. (Please note - we began work in earnest onthe June issue of the FRIENDS OF AMY newsletter yesterday.)She had taken her morning run in a leisurely fashion enjoying severalconversations with neighbors along with way. I was the first thingrepresenting "responsibility" that walked through the door when I arrived atnoon. Oh, well. Guess someone had to burst that bubble and you know what atask master I am :-)
With Gospel Music Association Week nigh upon us - the pace is liable to bepicking up real soon. It all starts for Amy on Saturday at 2:30 pm with aperformance at the Geo Theater at Opryland (a GMA event). Saturday night,she'll be sitting in for Pam Tillis with friends Tricia Walker, Karen Staleyand Ashley Cleveland at The Bluebird Cafe for "Women In The Round" at 9:30pm. To date - I have not been successful in securing tickets to a Bluebirdappearance by Amy. The phone lines are jammed, their web site has no ticketinfo, they haven't responded to my email requests, my groveling hasn't workedand I just don't want to pay a sitter so I can go stand in the parking lot ofthe place and hope to hear something over the PA system. Amy also mentionedthat she's working on her own "in the round" gathering at the tiny butbeloved above-mentioned venue with Randy Scruggs, John Hiatt and PattyGriffin for May 5. I've already started groveling...it's every person forthemselves!
But back to Dove Week! Amy will be attending a radio and label functionduring the week and hosting the Word Spectacular concert on Wednesday night,so if you're going to be at the conference this year - you'll probably seeAmy around somewhere!
On the topic of the new album...Amy's headed back into the studio to recordwhat will hopefully be the last track (and potentially the first single!) ofBEHIND THE EYES. The way I understand the reasoning is that because thisalbum is so very strong (possibly her strongest to date) they want every songto meet the highest standards. Apparently there is one tune they feel is notquite up-to-par with the rest and want that "just right" song to replace itand kick off their radio releases. She will be recording a song that sheactually had on hold one year ago, but passed on it knowing that she wantedto concentrate on her own writing for the project. Not having heard it sincethen, she immediately began singing the chorus as soon as the title wasmentioned as a recent possibility. She describes it as "so hooky" (that wouldbe "full of musical hooks, easily remembered") and it describes a coming hometo a small town and everyone you've known is gone. Great visuals for a video.She's very pleased about it and was going to swing by the studio yesterdayafternoon to get set up for recording in the next couple of weeks.
With all that in mind - there really is no concrete release date to speak of.I've heard both "August 19" and "sometime in September". Suffice it to say -we'll have to wait until closer to the time to have an actual date.
My sense is that like LEAD ME ON, a lot of healing will be facilitated bythese new songs. As it has been so often in the past, these songs will mostlikely be just what we need, just when we need them! And speaking of LMO, adear friend in Lancaster, Pennsylvania was telling me that their localChristian music station WJTL just did a listener voted "Top 500 Songs of AllTime". Of those, Amy had the most with 14, Michael W. Smith had 12 and Jarsof Clay had 9 (pretty amazing from just one 10-tune CD!). And the #1 for alltime was "Lead Me On". I remember attempting to sing along with that tapewhen I first got it and it was three months before I could get through thissong without choking on it. It's powerful and it's truth and that's what willlast!
Stay tuned for further developments and more details on the upcoming Amy-listPromotional Give-Away BEHIND THE EYES Countdown to launch May 1. We're goingto be drawing for winners each week with a few surprises added in. To date,I've listed 45 prizes to be given away through the month of September. Andremember, if you receive the Amy-list in your mailbox - you ARE subscribedand you ARE entered to win!
I'll keep you posted and I trust you'll do the same!
-Lori Mc