Amen Sister Girlfriend Holy Water Revival brings singer/songwriters to Renaissance Center
Release Date: 1/20/2004. Expired: 2/6/2004
The Renaissance Center and Nashville radio personality Devon O’Day are teaming up to present the Amen Sister Girlfriend Holy Water Revival, a special tour of exciting women singer/songwriters, in concert Feb. 6.
The 7 p.m. performance featuring gospel, gospel-rock, Christian country, contemporary Christian and country music will be a benefit for scholarships for children to attend Camp Renaissance, the center’s popular summer day camp.
The show’s lineup includes O’Day, Kim Patton-Johnston, Lane Brody, Eve Selis, Tia McGraff, Robin English, Mary Sue Englund, Sonia Lee, Joanna Cotton, Elizabeth Montgomery and special surprise guests. It will be videotaped by the center’s award-winning Multimedia Department for broadcast on The Renaissance Channel (Comcast 19 in Dickson).
In addition to the concert, there will be a silent auction, each artist’s CDs on sale and a limited number of tickets that include a pre-show reception with the artists.
Tickets for the concert are $5. There is a limited number of $25 tickets, which include seats in the front two rows of the center’s Performance Hall, admission to a reception with the artists in the center’s television studio and a CD from one of the featured artists.
“We are excited about bringing the Amen Sister Girlfriend Holy Water Revival tour to a facility as unique and state-of-the-art as The Renaissance Center,” said O’Day, a 25-year radio veteran, animal rescue activist, author and the voice behind dozens of national commercials. “I know that the energy of our acts and the energy of the audience we expect to get in Dickson will combine to blow the roof off.”
O’Day is the producer and a personality on the most recognized country music morning show in America, Gerry House and the House Foundation on WSIX-FM in Nashville. The Louisiana native is also host of the syndicated Country Hitmakers, a weekly country music show heard in 130 markets. She is a successful songwriter with credits that include George Strait’s The Big One and Space by Pam Tillis.
For the past 25 years, O’Day has also been active in animal rescue programs and recently authored a collection of shorts stories called My Angels Wear Fur, released through Rutledge Hill Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. These true animal stories culminate in the human element of rescue making this a book of self-help, spiritual enrichment and sweet soul-vitamins.
O’Day is also a multifaceted voice talent who can be heard on commercials for KFC, Drexel Heritage Furniture, Dixie Crystals Sugar, AT&T, Gold’s Gym, Hilton Hotels, Cato’s, Gupton Motors, Arctic Cat, Dillard’s and others, as well as national radio specials featuring Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, John Michael Montgomery and more.
She also appeared in a November episode of the ABC sitcom Hope and Faith, which stars O’Day’s sister, Faith Ford.
Kim Patton-Johnston crosses musical genres as a songwriter who draws on her Irish and Cherokee lineage to write from her heart. Her songs range from the Dove Award-winning Count Your Blessing by The Martins, to Stuck In Love for The Judds’ reunion to Elisabeth, which became CMT’s most requested video by Billy Gilman. Her songs have been recorded by Trisha Yearwood, Tim McGraw, Lee Ann Womack, Susan Ashton, Sierra and many more.
She also is an innovative producer, captivating performer and inspiring speaker. Her voice can be heard on CBS, featured on the military drama JAG. She has toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada as a speaker and performer and has produced songs and developed artists for Capitol, Sony/Columbia and Warner Brothers, along with several independent labels.
Lane Brody had her biggest hit to date in 1984 when her duet with Johnny Lee on The Yellow Rose of Texas was on the top of the charts and became BMI’s Most Performed Song of the Year. Her performance of Just a Little More Love for the 1982 CBS movie The Gift of Life was nominated for an Emmy and in 1983 she sang Over You for the soundtrack of the movie Tender Mercies, which was nominated for an Oscar.
Brody’s music crosses the lines into all categories, as she has shared the stage with country legends such as Dottie West, Tammy Wynette, Waylon Jennings and more, yet Detroit legend Bob Seger considers Brody a rock singer and she has jammed with jazz superstar Oscar Peterson. Her latest CD, Pieces of Life, finally captures the full breadth of Brody’s music and vision.
For years she has been one of the country’s top single soloists, singing for products such as McDonald’s, 7Up, KFC and Juicy Fruit Gum, while also working as an actress and model. She appeared as a guest star in a 1981 episode of Taxi and made her dramatic acting debut in the ABC series Heart of the City, where she played the role of country singer Jenny Jamison and performed three songs, including her own Everything But True.
For the last seven years, Eve Selis has been a top singer/songwriter on the San Diego music scene. She plays more than 100 dates a year and has headlined coast to coast, from the House of Blues in Hollywood to the legendary Bitter End in New York. She has shared the stage with Travis Tritt, Chris Isaak, Counting Crows, Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Doobie Brothers, Jewel and Joan Osborne, among others. She also is one of the top female artists on the MP3.com Web site, where she has more than a million downloads of her music. She has landed 12 number-one hits on MP3.com’s various charts, including Rock, Alternative, Adult Contemporary, Americana, New Country and Alternative Country.
Selis spent almost two years in Nashville writing, performing and recording with Patton-Johnston and producer Doug Crider, husband of Suzy Boggus. Her new CD, Do You Know Me, was co-written with some of Nashville’s top writers. Selis calls her innovative sound “roadhouse rock,” and is a unique blend of soaring pop melodies, hard-hitting rock and roll, and alternative country twang.
Her 2000 CD, Long Road Home, won Best Pop Album in the San Diego Music Awards and was nominated for Album of the Year. Selis was named Best Adult Alternative Artist in 2001 in addition to nominations in 1999 and 2002. Her video for Show Me What Love Is won a San Diego regional Emmy award.
Tia McGraff began writing songs and recording at the age of 19 after winning the Canadian Open Country Singing Contest. The Ontario native wrote with the likes of pop and rock legends Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive (Taking Care of Business, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet) and the Guess Who (American Woman, No Sugar Tonight), Mark Slaughter of Slaughter (Up All Night, Fly to the Angels) and Dan Hill (Sometimes When We Touch), and released two independent albums in Canada.
After moving to Nashville and taking a job teaching music in a Christian school, McGraff felt the call to write songs about “real life in a real world where we have a real God helping in every situation.” Her latest release was part of a compilation CD, One Less Tear, benefiting cancer research and including guest appearances from Olivia Newton John and Kevin Sharp. McGraff co-wrote the title cut and performed another song on the album.
“Tia McGraff is a fantastic singer with her own vocal personality, which reminds me of an early Linda Ronstadt,” Bachman said. “She is a very intuitive songwriter who knows what a song needs to make it tick.”
Growing up in a musical family, Robin English harmonized with her mother, father and sister on country, rock, gospel, blues, folk and bluegrass music at every family gathering and political functions in Texas. She got her first taste of a studio at age four when she watched her parents produce a country album of songs they had written. Robin made her television debut at eight on the Mansfield Opry in her hometown. She continued to work on her songwriting, producing and performing skills, including harmonica, guitar, acting and dancing.
Robin moved to Nashville in 1992 to pursue her music career, graduating with honors from Belmont University with a degree in Music Business and English. She signed her first record deal with Sony in 2000 and had the opportunity to co-produce with Paul Worley, Kyle Lehning, George Massenburg and Kim Patton-Johnston.
Her first single, released in August 2001, was on Billboard’s top single sales chart for nine months and was among the top 10 most requested videos for Great American Country. She has opened for acts such as Clint Black, Brad Paisley and others and is currently writing and recording her next project while continuing to play live shows with her band.
Originally from Minnesota, Mary Sue Englund began singing professionally in college, eventually forming her own six-piece band, The Crew. They enjoyed success touring the upper Midwest headlining their own shows and supporting such country acts as Lorrie Morgan, Barbara Mandrell, Marty Stuart, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain, Alabama and Trisha Yearwood.
Englund and guitarist David Oleson broke away from the Midwest in 1998 and made the move to Nashville with the goal of expanding their talents as songwriters and performers. In 1999 the Nashville Predators invited Englund to record their official theme song, Stick It to ’Em Boys, on the Warner Brothers Special Products label.
Englund and The Crew have been touring the United States with their most recent album, Somewhere Between, spending much of their time playing the Wildhorse Saloon stages in both Nashville and Orlando.
Sonia Lee is a singer/songwriter who moved from Rochester, N.Y., to Nashville in 1998 to truly be a part of the songwriter community. She signed her first publishing deal with Tate Music Group last November. “It feels good when you get to the point that someone else believes in your songs enough to go out and pitch them,” Lee said. “I feel very grateful to have gotten this far.”
While in New York she performed live in various bands and groups such as Calico, Dark Side of the Moon and It’s My Party. But her heritage and musical family inspired her to go in a different direction. Her parents, who emigrated from Ukraine, had encouraged her at a young age to be involved in all sorts of cultural activities, from Pysanky Ukrainian Easter eggs to learning Ukrainian folk dancing. Her grandfather, who became the archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada in Toronto, sang with her and taught her traditional songs when she was a child.
Being so proud of her Ukrainian heritage, it seemed natural for Lee’s first project to be a Ukrainian one, producing an album of songs that are dear to her heart, learned at a Ukrainian childhood camp and even one of her own songs. Upon hearing one of the Ukrainian songs, Patton-Johnston instantly wanted to produce Lee’s album. “I’ll never forget the first time she heard one of the songs, because she called me and said, ‘I have no idea what you’re singing about, but I’m in tears over here.’” Lee hopes the album will reach a variety of music lovers, not just Ukrainians, prompting her to take great pains, with a lot of help from her parents, to translate the songs into English.
The stage band for the Amen Sister Girlfriend Holy Water Revival will include some of the top musicians in Nashville.
Eddie Bayers has been named drummer of the year eight times by the Academy of Country Music. He has played on more than 150 gold or platinum albums with artists such as Jerry Garcia (The Grateful Dead), John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Vince Gill, George Strait, Bob Seger and more.
Guitarist John Willis is one of the most in-demand players in Nashville and Los Angeles. Artists he has played with include Shania Twain, the Bellamy Brothers, George Jones, Billy Ray Cyrus, Blake Shelton, Trick Pony, Alabama, Britney Spears, John Berry, Terri Clark, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson and most contemporary and southern gospel groups.
Bassist David Hungate was a top California session player for years before he hit it big as a member of Toto (Rosanna, Africa, Hold the Line). He also has played on two albums by Chet Atkins.
O’Day promises a night of incredibly diverse music, ranging from gospel to rock, from country to Christian, from folk to Ukrainian all on one stage.
“There are few chances that come along with such a variety of talent in a single show as we have with the Amen Sister Girlfriend Holy Water Revival,” O’Day said. “And not only do you get a great show, but all the money goes to help kids through scholarships to Camp Renaissance.”
For more information call The Renaissance Center at (615)740-5600. To purchase tickets, call (615)740-5570 or visit The Renaissance Center box office at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.
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