Interview with Amy Jackson, from a rough childhood to bootstrapping to get her music out

So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

I grew up, beginning in 1964, in Cartersville, GA which was then a small town of 15,000 NW of Atlanta but which is now a suburb of the ATL. I was abused by most of my family and several family “friends” so I’m not in contact with family anymore. I wrote my first memoir/novel, Rebekah’s Closet about some of my experiences, but then it takes off into fictional adventures in Paris and jungles around the world, for a nonvengeful, fantasy, peaceful ending. I’m a Buddhist, though I was raised Presbyterian. Let Karma find the guilty, I say. But I had a rough time of it, so I’m still on medications and in counseling twice a week. Visual art — painting, photography — and writing — singing — all of these are wonderful outlets to express my emotions — and, I must say, my multiple personalities, which are emotions and memories, and very different pieces of identity, some wild, some quiet … I had the urges to create, the voices to find the brush, saw the paintings and had to find the paint, loved the music and had to sing along — you know? I sang in the church early on, that was the best part, joined the choir, the chorus in school, then a mixed gospel group in college, and even had one glorious class from Sweet Honey in the Rock back in the day. But I grew up listening to Ray Charles and Jazz masters on Public Television in the sixties … just radical, mind-blowing stuff, and then switch channels and hear Jimi Hendrix and The Doors and The Beatles on the HiFi my brothers were playing. Creedence Clearwater Revival and Neil Young. Music was everywhere growing up.

How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

I kept my name even though I was abused. I figure I earned the right to keep my own name, you know? Amy Malinda Jackson. And I also like the name Handmade Records because I like the feel of that, we do so much at home, in-house.

What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

I think it helps when people don’t know who you are, and when you have a small budget, to get your music out there. We have some really long pieces as well, like the spoken word pieces Memiel and Summer Thicket set to music. We just decided at some like, let them go out into the universe. Now, for the other projects, giving away a few cuts for free, they are like teasers before the whole CD is released.

Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Oh, I’m still a start-up, but I’m 48 years old, so I’ve been starting up for quite a while in one media or another, right? Heh. I just care more about what I’m doing and less about what people think. I try to be the best Amy Jackson I can be and don’t compare myself to others. I admire tons of people, though and get inspiration from clouds and artists everywhere, right? You have to keep an open eye and heart and mind, soul. But you can’t lose hope. I cast a very wide net of submissions and then it’s like fishing, you don’t know who is gonna bite.  I still try not to have expectations and I admit I still get a bit down when I get a turn-down letter, but I turn right back around and cast that net or create something new.

Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

I mostly record and create in-house. I do well with spoken word stuff, but live singing, I’ve only done solo once. Eep! I need more practice to get the feel of it, just like I did to get the poetry under my belt, just like I did to get the artist talks happening. It’s like anything to get the jitters to go down. With the poetry and the artist talks, I just laugh and laugh at myself and either run with it or start from where I left off, create with it.

Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

I don’t see that happening. I’m fairly disabled. I’m filing for disability because of the abuse, what it did to me. I also have many physical disabilities. I just don’t see it happening.

Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

I have written one song, and it was the hardest medium I’ve faced yet, comparable to poetry and novel/memoir writing. It comes from the heart/soul/gut. Or at least the song, Flood Plain, did. It was 2004, in February, before Katrina, which gives me chills as I write this still. I wrote it based on a poem from years before, which was from a drive through a Tennessee flood plain, to Memphis.

Do you have a band website? Do you have a Facebook or Twitter? Do you use Bandcamp, Spotify, ExposedVocals or SoundCloud to share your music?

I have my website for everything, so far, which has a music section. www.amyjackson.cc. I have a Facebook but it’s for personal friends. Twitter is amyjacksoncc and you can access my blog through that as well as through the About section on my website (which is about my personal and creative process). I have a SoundCloud account which is also amyjacksoncc. Sense a pattern there?

What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

Not yet. Not anymore.

If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

I would go to Hawaii with my husband and dog Chipper, and paint my ass off and lay in hammocks and cool beds, alternately. And sing. And write. Shrimp and rum are in there somewhere.

Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

We use Apple/Mac products proudly and Motu but need Protools from what I hear. Jason needs the bass he had when he started his first band. Jason would know, not I — he is the gear engineer/producer guru (Jason Stelluto, my husband).

How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Twitter, Facebook, word of mouth, email updates to friends, website, blog …

If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

Chris Whitley, Jim Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Patty Griffin, Elvis Costello, Neil Young, … I better stop …

So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

We are working on a tribute album to Joni Mitchell called Blue and Then Some: A Tribute to Joni Mitchell. We are also creating an album for Jason’s fledgling foundation The Henry Clay Henry Foundation, to honor his father who passed several years ago of cancer, and the hospice who helped him and the family so much. We are really lovingly creating tracks for that as well as the Joni Mitchell project. And we are hoping to get the funds to release last year’s Silhouette: A Tribute Album to Chris Whitley, which took two-three years to create with Dennis Nielsen of National Public Radio.

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Resting, painting, writing, walking Chipper, enjoying Nature, reading, daydreaming, gardening, cooking …

Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

Lord no. It was bought for me by one of my brothers for a birthday or Christmas present. It was Vince Guiraldi’s soundtrack for Peanuts.

How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

It’s like everything else I do. I have to schedule the time, prioritize it. Make it happen. Make life happen. Make music happen, because I care.

What should fans look forward too for the rest of 2013 and beyond?

Fun and poignancy.