I met with Amy all morning long regarding the Lead Me On tour and rehearsal schedule. We are so excited about these upcoming shows but there is A LOT of work to do between now and the first show. Some of this music hasn’t been played by Amy and the band in 20 years. Fortunately we have 3 weeks of rehearsals to work up all the music and vocals. It is going to be so fun to see this band back together after so many years apart.

More to come…….

I took this photo of Amy, Vince and their kids backstage at the Oprah Show last December and I don’t believe we ever posted it on the website.  You would think it would be simple to post photos and such but the way the website was set up I had to remember to ask the people hosting the site to do those things for me as opposed to being able to do them myself (like I’m doing now).  My hope is that it will be much easier for me to just post things myself and not have to go through a 3rd party so hopefully I will share many more photos and videos than you have been used to through the years.  Anyway, I ran across this photo today on my computer and thought you might enjoy seeing it.  We had a great experience at the show.  Oprah was so kind to Amy and Vince, and the producer, Leslie (in photo w/ family) who co-produced the segment felt like an old friend by the end of our days together.  It was a fun experience for all of us….

So, one of the most common questions asked of me is simply "what exactly do you do for Amy?"  You would think that would be a simple answer but it isn’t.  Hopefully over time, as you read this blog, those of you who are curious will begin to better understand what a manager does, but to start things off I thought I would give you a glimpse of a fairly typical day (this was yesterday)

7:30am – at the computer answering emails regarding a variety of things.  One email is a proposed 60 second radio spot for the upcoming Christmas tour, but the song selection in the spot doesn’t quite feel right yet so it will need to be tweaked.  Another email is from a charity asking for Amy to donate a concert this fall.  Another is from a company wanting to bid on tour merchandise designs…  They keep on coming as fast as I can answer them.

9:30am – meet with Amy to discuss upcoming Lead Me On reunion tour questions.  The meeting is supposed to last 30 minutes but winds up stretching out to about three hours as we decide to tackle as much as we can while we have the time.  During the meeting she plays me two new songs that she has written.

1pm – at the office, finally!  Have to approve artwork for the "Lead Me On 20th Anniversary Collection" that is going to the BMG Music Club.  The regular retail release was in a "digi-pack" but BMG requires releases in a "jewel case" and that means we have to make some changes to the artwork.  (Are you bored yet?)

2pm – new Christmas radio spot is sent and sounds much better.  Need to call back several promoters and talk about their local marketing initiatives on both the ‘Lead Me On" and "Christmas" tours.

3:30pm – review a new website for Philosophy.com.  Amy is partnering with Philosophy on an infomercial (we LOVE the stuff!) and for a campaign to raise funds/awareness for cancer research.  Amy recorded a song called "She Colors My Day" and all the proceeds from the recording are being donated to cancer charities.  To support the effort, Philosophy is creating a cool new website where people can make their own personal photo slide shows to the song.  The website is supposed to go live on 9/29 and I will definitely post a link on this blog.

4pm – more Philosophy.  Amy shot a music video for the song last Thursday in Birmingham and I need to speak with the producer about the time line for seeing the first edit.  The producers/directors decided that everyone they hired for the video should be someone with a personal cancer story which made for a very emotional set.  For instance, the little girl in the video lost her mom to cancer a few years ago.  Shoot – that reminds me, I was supposed to have Amy sign pictures for all of the cast/crew while I was with her this morning.  I guess I need to add that back to my "things to do" list for tomorrow.

5pm – talking to EMI about ways we can promote the Philosophy single on Amazon.com and a few other marketing ideas.  Also approved a few interview requests for Amy to do to support the new Christmas Collection, which will need to be scheduled in the next two weeks.

5:30pm – calling it a day and off to pick up Braden (my 3 year old son) at school.  I’ll turn the phone and computer off until after he goes to sleep and then try to catch up on emails once again before I turn in for the night.

The following article appeared in Billboard Magazine upon the passing this week of Music Business legend, Merlin Littlefield.  What the article doesn’t mention is that Merlin also signed Amy to ASCAP as a young writer/artist back when she was first starting out and his early belief in her was something she never forgot.  Just last week she visited Merlin at Hospice and was so honored when his wife Eileen called and asked Amy to sing at the memorial service later today in Nashville.

Record Industry Vet Merlin Littlefield Dies


September 11, 2008
- Country

By Ken Tucker, Nashville

Merlin Littlefield, a former music industry executive
who enjoyed a second successful career in state government, died of
pancreatic cancer at the Alive Hospice in Nashville on Sept. 9. He was
65.

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Littlefield graduated
from Texas Christian University and worked in radio promotion in
Dallas. He also worked for RCA Records in Dallas and traveled with
artists such as Henry Mancini and Elvis Presley. He spent 19 years in
the Nashville office of ASCAP, where he signed artists including Reba
McEntire, George Strait, Lyle Lovett and Gary Burr to the performance
rights organization.

He tirelessly worked on behalf of successful and
struggling songwriters to help improve their careers and lives. He
served on the boards of industry organizations, including the Country
Music Association, the Academy of Country Music and the Recording
Academy, as well as the board of the Nashville Zoo. After leaving ASCAP
and working briefly in music publishing, he began a second career in
government. In 1999, he joined the Tennessee Department of Corrections
before accepting a position as director of planning and development for
the state’s Division of Mental Retardation Services.

In his spare time, Littlefield and his wife, Eileen
Littlefield, enjoyed spending time with their five dogs, Kobo, Saki,
Char-Li, Ernie and Bubbles. He is survived by his wife, Eileen, and his
daughter, Courtney Littlefield of Atlanta. Funeral Service will be on
Saturday, Sept. 13.

Hey there -

Some of you may already know me or may be familiar with my name, but I thought I should start my first blog with an introduction of who I am and what I do.

My name is Jennifer Cooke (aka Jen) and I am Amy’s day-to-day manager at Blanton, Harrell, Cooke & Corzine.  Although there is an incredible team of people in place who help guide Amy’s overall career, I am the one who is responsible for pulling all of the loose ends together and hopefully (more days than not) make things flow smoothly.  Whether it be trying to keep her schedule free enough to afford her the time to be creative and write new songs, planning her recording schedule, coordinating promotional appearances, scheduling interviews and photo shoots, or planning live concert tours, I am up to my eyeballs in all the details.  Amy often refers to me as "the brain."  I guess I have her fooled!  I’ve been doing the job for almost 19 years and no two days are ever the same.  More than anything, I consider myself blessed beyond measure to have landed here in Nashville and to be able to support Amy’s career and life.

There are so many memories that fill my mind as I think about the past two decades of working with Amy.  As I do more blogging I am sure I will reminisce about some of the career highlights that stand out to me and share some of my personal photos from time together on the road.  I’ll try not to bore you and I will read your comments to see if you want more or less memories.  I will also try to answer as many questions as possible.  I want this to be an interactive experience for you and hope that you feel like this new format allows you to feel more actively involved in Amy’s career and gives you a better insight into how she is spending her time.

Speaking of her time — We are both very excited about the Lead Me On reunion tour.  The first time I saw Amy in concert was in 1989 at the Pacific Amphitheater in Orange County, California during the original Lead Me On tour.  I took my younger sister to the concert because she was an Amy fan.  Honestly, I knew nothing about Amy’s music at the time but I was absolutely blown away by the production of the show and, more importantly, I was impacted by the feeling of 19,000 people coming together to hear great music and worship.  It was my first Christian music concert and it had a profound affect on me.  My life has never been the same.

Now here we are twenty years later – older and perhaps a bit wiser.  I don’t know about you, but I know for me that I can always use something to recharge my batteries and get me thinking about the future and how I can use my life and the gifts God has given me to impact the world around me.  That’s the hope for this reunion tour — that we look back and celebrate music from a time gone by in order to energize us all about moving forward in life with passion and purpose.

More to come….

Jen

Met with Amy all morning long to discuss the Lead Me On tour and rehearsal schedule. She is so excited about these upcoming 20 shows but there is A LOT of work to be done before the first show. Some of this music hasn’t been played by Amy or the band in 20 years.