Well the day has finally come (yesterday) – NEW Amy Grant music on Itunes and the long awaited launch of the full new design of www.amygrant.com. On top of all that, in the past week we have set Amy up on twitter (@amygrant) and I am also twittering official Amy news (@friendsofamy) and the rest of my life/work days (@jencooke). We are also in the process of updating Amy's facebook and myspace pages and hooking everything together so that the flow of information is faster and more efficient.
All of these things are exciting development of ways we can connect Amy and her music to her audience but it also can be a bit mind-boggling to keep track of. I woke up this morning and thought "Ok, I have to twitter, update facebook, blog, and then respond to twitters"…. oh yeah, and I have to give Braden a bath, get him off to pre-school, do my regular work emails and manage the side of Amy's career that has nothing to do with twittering! The addition of social networking is fun and informative in real time but it also creates a busyness to an already very busy work schedule. But it is all good — just be patient with me (a constant plea) as we continue to work it all out and get it integrated.
Good news today – "Unafraid" is #12 on the Christian singles chart on Itunes and the "She Colors My Day" ep is #4 on the album chart. Both are climbing. I can't wait to tell Amy — it will encourage her to see those numbers and remind her that there is an audience who LOVES when she releases new material.
Speaking of new material — she has 7 more songs already completed. We are considering releasing them in eps rather than full length albums just so we can keep the music coming to you on a more consistent basis. For those of you who continue to ask for physical releases and not just digital, we hear you and are trying to figure out the very best way to do that.
Several people have asked me about production of the new stuff. Well, Amy has taken a very different approach on these recording and is working with producers she has never worked with before. On "Unafraid" and on several other new tracks she is working with Lead Me On tour band members and legendary session players Greg Morrow and Mike Brignardello. The producer connection started during the 20th anniversary LMO tour – - Greg and Mike LOVED the new songs she would close the night with and asked if they could help her in the studio and create the tracks. Amy has been very hands on with them and has co-produced all the tracks. So far they have 5 completed and more to come.
And then in a shift in a totally different direction she was introduced to two young producers (Ian Fitchuck and Justin Loucks) who she met through singer/songwriter Mindy Smith. Ian and Justin work with several young independent artists in Nashville and are very talented. Amy has so enjoyed getting in the studio with them. They create a very open artistic/creative community and the place is a revolving door of artists coming by to sing on each others projects. Amy loves it.
Amy has been spending a lot of time recording her sessions with her new flip camera and we will begin posting her homemade videos in the next two weeks on www.amygrant.com. I'll make sure to "tweet" when they are up! And I'll blog. And I'll update facebook…and myspace…. And so the cycle continues….
Blessings to all of you today. Remember – love will make you UNAFRAID.
Jen
