Wednesday, June 11, 2014

19 Kids & Counting: Cousin Amy Goes to Nashville

I've known a lot of people who have gone out to New York or Los Angeles to "make it" as actors, but somehow it never occurred to me that musicians might do the same thing in Nashville. I don't know that Amy has much of a chance, but I am glad that she gave it a shot. It would have made more sense to look at what else she did during her two weeks in Nashville (what the episode covers seems to only be about three days), but maybe that'll be shown in some future installment, or saved for a "record label announcement" episode. Regardless, I don't want to have a season following Amy... she's just not that interesting.

19 Kids and Counting (& Amy) "A Big Announcement" (Special): Cousin Amy talks about life growing up with many cousins - she used to come over to the Duggar home during recess, and later skipped classes and brought friends over there, going through a barbed wire fence. [the Duggar parents were okay allowing Amy to skip school and be there?] The kids in the family guess what Amy's big announcement will be, with nobody nailing it. [though I question if a few (like Joy) really knew...] Amy tells everyone that she is moving to Nashville to try making it as a singer, though she hasn't written much yet. [seriously? that's what I'd be working on!] JimBob mentions the obvious - that there are tons of people in Nashville trying to do the same thing.

19 Kids and Counting (& Amy) "A Duggar Leaves Home" (Special): Amy has been nannying and babysitting for about 30 families in the area over the past six years, and has saved enough money to stay in Nashville for two weeks. [it doesn't seem like she's researched the steps, though...] It's 9 hours away, and her mother and grandmother accompany her.

Once there, she meets with music producer Jamie Slocum, who takes her to meet Pete, the GM of the Grand Ole Opry. Then, she meets with an old friend, David Adam Byrnes, who has been trying to make it in Nashville for seven years. [ouch.] He suggests she try singing on a street corner, but it takes some convincing before she warms up to "Amazing Grace." [that the amount of work surprised Amy was worrisome.]

Later, Amy practices at the hotel, but her mother suggests warm-ups, then tries to harmonize, frustrating her. Then, Grandma also sings along. [this was just a weird segment.] Then, it's off to Jamie's studio to work on a couple of songs that she'll sing at an open mic night. The first is a power ballad she knows well, but Jamie doesn't think Amy puts much emotion into it, and tries to give her suggestions. [he called it awful, actually.] Grandma tells Jamie that he's being too hard on Amy, but at least her next attempt is "not bad," though she has pitch and timing issues. [you know, she's never mentioned taking private voice coaching... she really should consider some true musical training.] They move on to the second song, which is an upbeat number she doesn't know, and causes her some strife. It trips her up at the open mic event, too, and she has to re-start very painfully. [she didn't seem prepared AT ALL.]
TLC
 The exec thought Amy was nervous, but is interested in possibly hearing more from her. [meh.]
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