Born into a family of classical musicians, Amy was on her way to a career playing French horn (attending Interlochen Arts Academy on a scholarship) when she discovered Jazz and Joni. She switched her attention to voice, quickly developing her vocal “chops”, and enjoyed many musical and acting roles in Chicago and the Boston area. Amy cut her jazz teeth while studying with Chicago’s great jazz vocalist, Jackie Allen, and eventually lead her own swing band “Vitamin Love”. A mountain and small-town girl at heart, Amy put down roots in Western North Carolina in 1999. In 2004 she and a couple of other women songwriters met at the Swannanoa gathering and formed Songsisters (Songsisters@mac.com). Amy’s belief in the power of artistic expression lead her to the study of Expressive Arts while in the Boston area (earning an M.A. in Expressive Arts Therapies). Amy enjoys helping others’ develope their own “voice” and has been a faculty member of the Asheville Music School since 2002. Staying close enough to home to tuck her little boy into bed most nights, Amy pours her heart into performing with regional acts Tuxedo Junction and Simple Folk (Corajean.com). Amy also enjoys the good fortune of collaborating with the now-Asheville-based Richard Shulman (Richheartmusic.com) and multipercussionist and composer River Guerguerian.
As Sure As the Moon Will Rise is Amy and Richard’s first recording collaboration and is dedicated to Amy’s mother and Northern Michigan’s artist, teacher, mentor and conservationist the late Suzanne Stupka Wilson.
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