amy courts: en route

I’m a singer-songwriter, wife, mom, stepmom, runner, and many another thing. I was formerly based (for 8 years) in Nashville, TN, but in October 2011, the Husband and I packed our house, the dog, the cat, and the kid into a moving van and headed north. We now reside in Minneapolis, MN, where winter has yet to frighten me. I used to have a lot of opinions. Okay, I still have a lot of opinions. But subject matter and intensity have changed somewhat. I am, in other words, a victim of parenthood. In any case, if not for the paper and pen (and Minneapolis parkways, and Mizuno Wave Precision and Vibram Five Fingers running shoes) with which I expunge myself of matterless opinions and/or life stress, I might go crazy. How do you like that, ye lucky benefactors of my occasional madness?  So as long as you’re here, I hope you enjoy the random ramblings about my family, running, a few songs-as-they-happen, the occasionally deep thoughts, even more occasional reviews and political theories, etc.

I’m married to the a very cool and yet somehow hot man named Paul who works a day job so I can stay at home with our sweet little boy, and/or travel across the country playing songs on my guitar, and who occasionally moonlights as my lead guitarist. Here’s to hoping he won’t be a moonlighter for much longer, and that his night job will become his day job. Till then, he deserves 50 points extra per day at the office. And also in the mean time, you should go listen to his music and buy it, so as to help in our efforts.

When I married him in 2006, I also inherited a step-son, Matt, who may well be the nicest, deepest, and certainly the most intelligent teenager on the planet. He reads a ton of books (and is so well-versed in the Harry Potter phenomenon that he was able to answer all my questions with well reasoned answers), and plays piano and drums and is very very good at both. He also enjoys horse racing. Online, that is, with millions of fake dollars.

On May 6, 2011, Husband, Matt, and I welcomed this little monkey, Elijah David, to our world. He’s still little and sweet, and is the subject of many songs, blogs, and twitter/facebook updates. Mostly because he is way more adorably photogenic than any human has right to be. Plus, he’s the only son-by-dna I get to have (you can read about that whole situation here), so my bias admittedly runs deep. Thus, I am well on my way to running out of memory on my iPhone AND camera, thanks to the literally thousands of pictures I’ve already taken of him. And (as I write this) he’s only 10 months old.

Adorably rounding out our little family are the following aminols: Our how-did-this-happen-to-us-we-are-definitely-dog-people cat Norman, who joined our family by virtue of being a stray little kitten with ribs and spine protruding from his malnourished fur. While I might have been able to send a full grown cat back to the middle school track, I couldn’t very well send a kitten back there. And this is how we learned how cats weasel their way into our hearts: they are born cute kittens. And Senora Bora Mandolindabella (read: “Mandy”), our could-be-a-Beagle-but-mostly-just-a-mutt dog who is, according to Paul, me, and everyone who has ever visited our home for more than three minutes, the best dog ever. She is an omega dog who cuddles, rinses our dishes, responds to “dog,” “dummy,” “bark!,” and “hey stupid,” and who is still not sure what to do about becoming second-in-command to a tiny human baby who pulls on her tail.

In our spare time we write songs, read books, play scrabble and RISK and LIFE and Sorry! and Apples to Apples and card games and Fact or Crap. We run along the Minneapolis parkways. We play outside with our dog while leaving our stupid cat inside unattended. We water plants that will almost surely die. We talk about politics and religion. We go to church. We enjoy watching Parks & Recreation, 30 Rock, and The Office, and are addicted to LOST, The West Wing, and cheap sweet wine from the liquor store down the street. We spend countless hours meandering to and through utterly irrelevant websites and watching movies. And in all, we generally live a pleasant life.

On a professional note, I’ve recorded two albums, both of which are currently available online and at shows: My debut 7-song EP (released May 2006), produced by Charles Judge (Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana), and my newest album released at the end of July 2008, These Cold and Rusted Lungs, produced by Neilson Hubbard (Matthew Perryman Jones, Matthew Ryan, Kate York). Both are available at my online store and on iTunes, and a few freebies are even available at NoiseTrade.

Since making those records, I’ve done a little touring and I’ve written a few more tunes which I sometimes share here, and other times just post to my facebook page (go ahead and “like” me while you’re there) or Twitter feed (go ahead and “follow” me while you’re there), cause that’s all the rage these days. In any case, I hope you’ll pick up some tunes and listen and read along.

um, i LOVE that picture of matt.

Comment by leanna jackson October 12, 2008 @ 3:36 am

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