AMY SHREVE EPK


 

 

 

PLAYER
Amy talks about her early interest in the harp,
writing music,and the CD, The God of All Comfort

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Merritt Island, Florida, Amy spent much of her time on the Gold Coast beaches. At age five, while attending church she took to heart the sermons of her pastor. She understood her need for a Savior and gave her life to Christ. Amy’s family was entrenched in politics and after her father’s appointment as General Council to the Secretary of State, eleven year old Amy and her family moved to Florida’s capitol.

Although Amy missed the coast and her friends, she thrived in Tallahassee. She attended First Baptist Church where she was a part of a strong group of believers who were supportive, encouraging, and accountable to each other. In highschool she was involved in theater, cheer leading, tennis, and as a teenager Amy competed and won the title of Miss Teen Florida. She managed to have room for one other very unique talent... Amy loved playing the harp.

Music had always been important to her and she loved to perform as a young child. After arriving in Tallahassee Amy was introduced to the harp and continued to practice and learn the instrument. In Jr High she had a sense that God would use her talent for His glory. After her senior year in high school she began to compose music and lyrics. She then attended Wheaton College near Chicago where she majored in music and continued crafting songs.

 

 

 

 

 

PLAYER
Concert radio advertisement from 2022
Afraid of the Dark • You're So Beautiful • This Is Our God • Eden

 

 

 

 


As she drove between Wheaton and Tallahassee she would stop in Nashville and pursue co-writing relationships with writers who had publishing deals. Before Amy left Wheaton College she co-wrote with a budding songwriter classmate, David Hamilton, which produced an album cut to their credit. Upon graduation Amy moved to Nashville with the intent of writing music for the publishing contacts she had developed. However, soon she became more than a writer.

Neil Joseph from Word Records suggested that Amy write a couple of harp instrumentals to present to him because Word was embarking on an instrumental line to compete with Windham Hill Records. Also, Amy had just purchase a new electric Salvi harp. The first solid body electric harp in production. An engineer, Keith Compton, who worked with Sparrow wanted to record the electric harp because he thought it would be interesting. Amy played the songs she had just written for Neil to be used on Keith’s demo. Later, Compton played the demo for a budding producer. Knowing they had a potential record for Sparrow’s Meadowlark instrumental line, they immediately sent Amy's music to Billy Ray Hearn, the head of Sparrow at the time. Sparrow made an offer the next day to sign Amy for for a two record contract. Neil Joseph encouraged her to sign with Sparrow and Wes Yoder acted as Amy’s advocate negotiating the details of the contract. In just three months, Amy moved to Nashville, was under contract, and was writing for her first record.

During her first recording "Peace in the Puzzle", Amy found herself overwhelmed and nervous being surrounded by talented Nashville stalwarts like her Producer Peter York (Phil Keaggy) and Engineer Norbert Putnam (Dan Fogelberg, Jimmy Webb, and Joe Walsh). During the recording sessions Michael Card, and other Sparrow artists that she had looked up to, would pop in to the studio. The stress of recording eleven songs live to 2-track didn't inhibit her ultimate success. Jazz Is magazine reviewed the recording as the best harp recording they had ever heard. One year after arriving in Nashville her first record was in the marketplace distributed worldwide by Capitol Records.



 
MUSIC MINISTRY AND LIFE ON THE ROAD

Being signed as a Sparrow artist so quickly was an encouragement to Amy. She was new to Nashville and seemed to be making quite a mark. But, two years after her contract, Sparrow started to change direction. Amy’s second record was cancelled along with the whole label and the Meadowlark line was sold to a German company called Delta Music. Amy was not sure which direction to go with her music. Knowing how well she communicated with people, and how she wanted to serve God, Gary suggested she take her art and talent to the church. After a few trial bookings Amy was convinced this was her calling. She recorded her first vocal/harp record called “I am His and He is Mine” in 1991. Gary began to book concerts in Michigan and Wisconsin that Spring and Summer and by August they were a year in advanced bookings. They made a bold step and leased out their home in Nashville. Little did they know they would not go home for four long years . They traveled the USA and Canada circling North America a half dozen times. During that time Amy recorded three more CDs “Christmas” 1993 and “Harp and Willow” 1995 independantly and “Solo Flight Harp” 1992 for Benson Records.

Living on the road took it’s toll and in 1995 they tried to encourage the tenants to rent somewhere else. Instead the tenants bought the Wixtrom's home. Gary and Amy sold the house and moved near downtown Nashville in the Vanderbilt area. Shortly after the move in 1996 Amy signed a distribution deal with Light distribution for their label, Wix Records. Subsequently Light released the CDs “Christmas” and “Harp and Willow” into the CBA marketplace. Sales went well and Amy was working on “Haven” 1998 to add to the label. However, In 1997 Light began to have trouble and became the target of lawsuits after their parent company Platinum Entertainment from Chicago made some bad business moves shortly after becoming a publicly traded company. Their best prospect “Sixpence None the Richer” was in disarray, unhappy about their future at Light and the whole company imploded. Once again Amy was left without the means to distribute her CDs into the marketplace. Still, Wix Records released the single and title track called “Haven” to radio. “Haven” charted in CCM’s radio top 30. But Amy and Gary were frustrated with the business of music.


 

 

 

AMY AND GARY LIVE
LINCOLN BEREAN IN NEBRASKA
Worship and mini concert (7:39 montage)
Audio: Dry line in - live to 2-track, no post audio mixing
 

Amy thinks back "We did not know the kind of changes that were about to take place in the next five years. We were about to enter a new and painful season of life. By 2002 I had lost every member of my family except for my father. Two years earlier we had our first child Elise, on November 30, 2000. Earlier that year on March 1st, I buried my mother in Tallahassee, FL after a long struggle with sickness. Eight weeks after her funeral, we found out we would be parents with our first and only child. My mother would never know that I, her ownly child, would be a mother. My grief over my mothers death was accentuated by the fact that she would never hold her only grandchild".   Four weeks after Elise’s birth, Gary fell from the roof of their home and ended up in traction for two and a half months. These were some of the most trying times of their married life. Amy could not keep up with the demands of a one month old baby, an incapacitated husband, and the ongoing grief due to her mother's death. Physically and emotionally they fell apart but survived by the grace of God through friends and churches across the country who cared for them. However, they were not sure they could continue traveling and performing around the country.

 

 

 

BEAUTIFUL SCARS (ACOUSTIC) LIVE IN TULSA
Video: John Grooters
 

In 2002 Amy finished Whisper a record that contained several songs and references of the grief she was going through. Songs about mourning, heaven, and the fact that we are strangers on this earth. She was crying out to God for hope in the midst of her anguish. Until the fall of 2008 she was uncertain whether she should continue in ministry or if she should move to other work. The angst of being on the road along with knowing that God was not finished with Amy's music kept the couple in a strange limbo. In 2003 they began a relationship with the Voice Of The Martyrs which continues today. Recording two records for their ministry and leading worship at their conferences motivated them to continue with the ministry. Through VOM, Amy and Gary have been blessed to rub shoulders with many who have been persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ around the world. Their stories of persecution have encouraged the Wixtroms and moved Amy and Gary to pray for them and their persecuters. In 2008, Amy and Gary were at a crossroads.

 
 

NEW RECORD AND RELATIONSHIP
 

Then, in September 2008 they received a phone call from Dee Brestin, a friend who had authored several books and has sold millions of copies. Amy and Gary had previously performed with Dee at a few women's conferences. Dee had an interesting proposition. She wanted Amy's music to be included in a study guide she was working on for Zondervan. Amy loved Dee and she loved the idea of being connected with her. Dee was writing a new book called “The God of All Comfort", a book based on the grieving she experienced after her husband Steve died of cancer in 2004. There would be a study guide that would go along as a companion to the book. Amy was the right artist for many reasons. She truly has a gift of compassion and sensitivity towards those who are in pain and her music soothes the disheartened.

In February 2009 Zondervan contracted (although the agreement took until June to get signed) Amy to provide a 10 song CD for the study guide. Within a month we had two offers for a 16 song version of “The God of All Comfort” CD that would once again be distributed. Amy chose Discovery House Music. Not only are they a record company but they are heavily involved in ministry through the Radio Bible Class and their “Our daily Bread”. Amy had the opportunity to be distributed through Word and she appreciated their interest and would have loved to have partnered with them. Yet, she was thrilled to be with a company and ministry in Discovery House and RBC that puts a premium not just on the music they release but the character of their artists as well as the depth of the music. Discovery House signed The God of All Comfort CD 2010 and The God of All Grace CD 2013. Combined with the recordings, The God of All Joy 2012 and The God of All Hope 2018, The four records have become Amy’s Anthology. The call from Dee Brestin revived Amy's desire to tour. Also in January 2010, Amy and The Voice of the Martyrs commited to each other for the bulk of VOM conferences. As of January 2020, Gary and Amy have led worship at over 200 VOM conferences.

 
 

THE DIAGNOSIS
 

On October 22, 2015 Amy was given some bad news. Three weeks earlier she notices some lumps in her neck. After CT scans and a biopsy she found herself on that Thursday afternoon in an oncology doctor's office being told that she had a rare cancer and had three to six months to live. Her reply was okay (like it was no big deal). She was a bit excited to know that soon she may see Jesus. However, this was just another short pause in her ministry. Very much alive and cancer free in September 2018, she finished a new record aptly titled, The God of All Hope, the fourth CD in her Anthology Series.

Amy's message has evolved through the cancer experience. The peace of Christ and her lack of fear has sustained her as she continues to fight against a disease that strikes terror into those who do not have the assurance of life with Christ. TO READ AMY'S TESTIMONY ABOUT CANCER

CLICK HERE




 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCERT PROMOTIONS

 

We will send you a variety of files for promoting the service or concert.

Photos, Posters, Press Release, Testimony, and Videos

Below is an example of a press release and an e-poster

       

AMY SHREVE PRESS RELEASE

 

PRESS RELEASE TEMPLATE FOR AMY SHREVE

 

Amy Shreve will be hosted by (CHURCH) in (CITY) for a Concert on (DATE) at (TIME) (edit)

 

Amy a, singer, songwriter, and harpist will be joined by her husband and producer, Gary Wixtrom, backing her with guitars and mandolin. Amy has performed with the ukulele, guitar, and piano on stage as early as five years old. At eleven she began mastering the harp. Graduating with a music degree from Wheaton College, Illinois, Amy landed in Nashville to pursue a music career. After signing her first record contract with Sparrow she was immediately signed as a staff writer at Birdwing music where she honed her skill as a writer.

 

She has opened for Larry Carlton and Michael McDonald, performedat the NRB and Praise Gathering, and has worked with Tommy Sims (Bruce Springsteen), Norbert Putnam (Dan Fogelberg), Brian Hardin (Motown), and Peter York (EMI). Amy has recorded sixteen records for six companies and has been nominated for a Dove Award. Her musical influences Michael Card, Counting Crows, Lifehouse, Evanescence and several Irish artists including Enya have helped her develop her musical style. Co-writing and arranging with her husband has added a pop element to the music. The result is an appealing alternative sound.

 

Amy will singing her upcoming releases Eden and Take Me Away. Her previous release, The God of All Hope (2018) was her last in a series of Anthology albums. In 2010, a sixteen song vocal CD called The God Of All Comfort, the first in Amy's Anthology series, was signed and is distributed by DHM a division of RBC Ministries and with Zondervan. Since then, The God of All Joy (2012), featuring the songs Beautiful Scars and Afraid Of the Dark, and The God of All Grace (2013), a follow up hymns release also distributed by DH. Author and speaker, Dee Brestin contracted the use of 10 songs from Amy's first anthology record to use in her study guide to her book The God of All Comfort, as well as syncing Amy's songs to many of her teaching videos. In 2018, Fellowship for Perfoming Arts, founded by Max McLean, in NYC used Amy's arangement to A mighty Fortress in their touring production of Martin Luther on Trial.

 

Amy tours the US, Canada, and Europe.

 

She speaks and performs at churches, universities, and conferences, including leading worship at over 200 conferences for 'The Voice of the Martyrs'.

 

In 2015 Amy and her family found themselves in the middle of tragic situation that God used to test their faith and trust in Him. Through it all, the good and the bad, there is no doubt that He is a good God. Amy’s message of God’s perfect peace in the midst of difficulty through the music will comfort you, encourage you, and will challenge you to fall in love with a God who cares deeply for you.

 

The Church is located at (ADDRESS) The concert is free, an offering will be received. All are welcome. (edit) END

       

SAMPLE E-POSTER

 

We will also design the poster with your direction

You can:
Print out and place • send to email lists • post on social media • add to website

300 dpi @ 8.5 x 11 inches

 

       

SAMPLE E-POSTER 2

 

We will also design the poster with your direction

You can:
Print out and place • send to email lists • post on social media • add to website

300 dpi @ 8.5 x 11 inches

 

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