Search - Amy Martin :: To You

In making To You, one of my top priorities was to create an album that moves, in several different senses. I wanted movement between the songs; a variety of moods, styles and ideas. I wanted the songs to get into the listener?s body; to encourage physical movement. And I wanted to move the heart and mind; to inspire emotion and thought. The foundation of this process is the song itself. In my songwriting, I attempt to utilize both of the tools of my medium ? music and language ? to mine a feeling, experience or idea. The songs on To You hopefully dig deep enough to strike central emotional veins, so they can ring true within the listener?s own experience. I also tried to chose songs that are different from one another in terms of groove and subject matter. Adding bass, drums, cello, mandolin and electric guitar helped me bring out the unique feel of each song, and added fullness and drive. The title of the album comes from a Walt Whitman poem by the same name. Words from that poem are used as lyrics for the album?s title track. I feel honored to have also included the artwork of Missoula artist Stephanie J. Frostad on the CD cover. My intention is for the music, the Whitman poem and Stephanie?s painting to relate to each other in an open-ended conversation, in which the listener/viewer is invited to become an active participant.