Happy Holidays, my friends!
I cannot believe that fall is almost over and winter is upon us. 2011 has just flown by! I spent all day yesterday making Christmas ornaments and a star garland out of paper. Christmas makes me feel crafty, what can I say?! :) (Speaking of Christmas, my Christmas record is up on iTunes, so if you're feeling merry -- you can grab a copy now!)
It has been a very busy year for us and I haven't written you in awhile, so I thought I'd just give you a mini update! This year has been full of creating, and has had an over arching theme of "collaboration". I have had the privilege of getting to co-write, sing, perform and record with some wonderful and talented musicians from Portland, OR and Nashville,TN. Some of these people include Matthew Perryman Jones, Sam Ashworth, Charlie Peacock, Daves Highway, Matt Brown of Ruby Hill, Mackie Roberts, Andy Leftwich of Ricky Scaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Matt Slocum of Sixpence None the Richer, Shawn McDonald, Paul Wright of Rootdown, and Chris Stevens. If you're wondering why a handful of the people I mentioned are country artists, let me just say that another theme of 2011 has been "country music". I had the honor of getting to write songs for a couple of different up & coming country acts through Charlie Peacock's record label and publishing company, "Twenty Ten Music".
One of my favorite songs I wrote this year is called "Lay it Down" and Daves Highway recorded it on their new album (listen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlYP6eN7nfY). Our band had been playing "Lay it Down" out and about for the last year or so - you may have even heard us play it... I presented the song to Daves Highway and they liked it so they put it on their record! They even personalized it by writing lyrics for their own second verse. (I just finished my original version of this song and it will go on my next record, which I am currently working on.) I had the honor of co-writing with Sam Ashworth and DH for almost all the tracks on their new album!
I was also fortunate enough to get a couple co-written cuts on another up and coming country singer's record named Mackie Roberts. You can check him out on iTunes. Another fun country music moment in 2011 involved getting a country song that I sang for Charlie Peacock in the FOX movie "Change of Plans". That DVD/CD combo pack is available at Walmart stores and online.
Since I was a little girl, songwriting has been the love of my life. So getting to write songs with and for these artists has been a glorious experience! And I have always loved country music! So getting to branch out and write it has been a blast!
I wanted to let you know that I have several of these song collaborations up on my Youtube page, including duets with Matthew Perryman Jones and Sam Ashworth:
http://www.youtube.com/annagilbertmelodies.
I also wanted to let you know that my Christmas CD is available on iTunes -- it's been a great experience releasing a Christmas record and the response has been a blessing! If you've not gotten a chance to get a copy, you can get it on iTunes or buy a copy here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/annagilbert5.
Thank you so much for your support! I will have more updates soon about the next record... In the mean time, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas Season!
Blessings-
Anna
P.S. Our next show is this Saturday night, Nov 26 at 6pm at the WOW Hall in Eugene, OR. We are playing a Girls Rock Festival, and one of my favorite groups "Betty and the Boy" will be playing as well. Hope you can make it!
