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I started singing after seeing the movie "Annie", and would sing the whole sound track to my cats.  My stage was on the roof of my daddy's Cadillac. 

 

When I was 12, I picked up my mom’s cat gut string guitar, and taught myself to play chords.  The first song I learned was Red River Valley.  I was then able to share my love for music with my dad’s sister, "Aunt Evelyn".  She played guitar and sang.  In the evenings I would go to her house, sit on the floor in front of her and strummed along with her playing and singing Old Rugged Cross and Amazing Grace.  My dad started to take me to opry houses close to our town, where I was invited to sing with the house bands.

 

When I was 15 my mom bought me my first guitar.  Two years later my dad took me to a recording studio where I recorded the first song I wrote.

 

I went off to Texas A&M University where I studied business and also took a music psychology class.  It was amazing to see how music helps people with certain brain injuries - how someone with Alzheimer's, not able to remember a loved one, could hear a song from their past and remember all the words.

 

My dad was helping me pursue my dreams of singing, when I was diagnosed with cancer.  After a few years of setback, we were again on the path that lead to visiting Nashville, when in 2008, my dad had a stroke.  While he was in the hospital, I dusted off the music psychology book and played music for him, sang to him, and made him play instruments, anything, to help him heal. 

 

Unfortunately, after being in the hospital for 5 months, he passed away.  My journey of music was shaken, however the passion was still there.  George Jones summed it up perfectly in the quote below.  It took time, but I got back out there.  I also obtained an Associate Degree in Fine Arts (Dance) and Interior Design, performing with a professional dance group in Houston and working in an interior design firm.  Yes, I still had plenty of creative juice flowing to play gigs (guitar & singing) in clubs, too

 

In 2012, I made it through several rounds of the X Factor’s Audition process.  Then the next year I moved to the family farm and started focusing on that engrained pursuit that lead to Nashville once again.  This CD represents the “Wild Heart” in me, and a surge into “electrifying” the instruments.  I’ve been blessed by family, friends, community, musicians, songwriters, producers, who all say…just be Annie!  

 

What does Music mean to me:  Its my way of communicating, of transitioning from one stage of my life to another, of remembering the past.  Its my way of communicating my soul and spirit, and a way to cleanse my heart.          

 

     My wish is for this music to release these emotions for you, too!    

Annie