Wow, first I can’t believe that we’re already to the end of December. Time flies when you’re busy, and having fun!! In looking back, 2017 has been such an amazing year. So much happened! I feel grateful, blessed, humbled, and proud of this year and everything I accomplished.
January
I travelled to California for the annual Whisperings Award Show and Gathering. I performed with Joe Bongiorno at Kim’s Piano, and helped run the online broadcastfor the Whisperings Concert. It was so fun to see all my piano friends and perform for everyone who came to our concert.
February
I released my seventeenth album, Life, which I am very proud of and is my favorite album of all the albums I’ve released thus far. I had a big pre-sale leading up to the release, and two sold out CD Release Concerts at my home in Salt Lake City. The album debuted at #7 on the New Age Billboard Charts!! I also held an online CD Release Concert a couple of weekends later, and started a big radio promotion campaign for the album as well. My pianist friend, Scott D. Davis, also came to visit for a week which was really fun since we hadn’t hung out in a couple of years. I also had a professional photo shoot to update my repertoire for the first time in four years.
March
My 2017 Valley View Concerts series started, with my first guest being Kori Linae Carothers. I also celebrated the 3 year anniversary of moving into my “Valley View” home. My sister and I also took a trip to Seattle for a long weekend to explore the city and see one of our favorite artists in concert, Agnes Obel.
April
My son celebrated his 20th Birthday and I started my weekly “Monday Morning Improvisations” series on YouTube. I also travelled to California for the annual Indie Music Channel Awards, where I won “Best Instrumental Song” for “Give It Time” off of my Life album. The second “Valley View Concerts” with Lynn Tredeauhappened as well.
May
I attended the Zone Music Reporter Awards in New Orleans and was a featured performer for the event. It was one of my best ever performances and one of my favorite moments of the year. I also travelled to Sedona to hang out with my friends, Amy Janelle and Joe Bongiorno, and record my first single release, Dismissed.
June
The third “Valley View Concert” with Adam Andrews happened and then I travelled to the Caribbean on the second annual “Audiosyncracy at Sea” cruise which featured Elijah Bossenbroek and Matteo Palmer this year. It was a ton of fun!!
July
My friends, Lisa Downing and Pete Foster, came to visit at the beginning of the month, my sister and I both celebrated our birthdays, and I spent the majority of the summer just relaxing and taking time to enjoy time for myself. It was a much needed respite from the busy first half of the year. I also went live with a completely new and updated website with a new design, new shopping features, and easier to access webstore for desktop and mobile.
August
The fourth “Valley View Concert with Catherine Marie Charlton happened, and the following weekend I released my first single, Dismissed, along with an animated video. I also started a big deck/porch rebuild to update my outdoor living space, and converted it all over to Trex decking. At the end of the month I travelled to Nashville for the CD Baby DIY Conference and hung out with my friend, Joseph Akins.
September
I travelled to Pennsylvania to perform in three sold out concerts with Greg Maroney at his house concert series, and had the best time! I also travelled to Idaho to celebrate my friend’s wedding, and had the fifth “Valley View Concert” with Michael Logozar. I also won for Best Instrumental Song in the Utah Music Awards, and lived through construction for the entire month while my deck was being rebuilt. And the biggest moment was when I bought my dream car, a Tesla Model S!!!
October
I travelled to Austin, TX with my boyfriend to attend the Formula 1 Races, which was really fun, and had a chance to see my friends, Jamey and Stacey Osborne, and Howard Mackert, as well. After we returned, I spent a week recording my new Christmas album, “Christmas - Plain & Simple III”, and enjoyed the sixth “Valley View Concert” with Matthew Mayer. We had the best time hanging out and it was my favorite concert of the year.
November
My sister and I travelled to Southern France to visit my music friend, Ryan Stewart, and his family. We explored Nice, Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Carcassonne, Le Beux, and Monaco. It was such a fun trip and was so good to see our friends again, especially after we hadn’t seen them since they moved in the summer of 2016. After getting back home, it was a mad rush to release my eighteenth album release, and third Christmas album, “Christmas - Plain & Simple III” over Black Friday Weekend. I also started a new health journey, and have lost 14 lbs and 5.5” off my waist in just a month’s time.
December
At the beginning of the month I released my second animated video to go along with my arrangement of “Sing We Now of Christmas”. We finished off the “Valley View Concerts” season with two completely sold out shows, with Tim Glemser. I travelled to Washington State to visit my friend, Jennifer Thomas, and learn how to video edit. We created THIS really fun and silly video of our adventures while I was there. My friends, RJ & Ellen, came to visit just before Christmas. And we had a most delightful Christmas celebration this last weekend. I received a phone call from Pandora Radio telling me I rank in the top holiday artists, alongside Michael Buble, Mariah Carey, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Pentatonix, etc. That was such a happy and exciting call!! They even featured me in an incredible article talking about my spins on Pandora. Wow! My music also skyrocketed on Spotify, growing to almost 600K monthly listeners, and over 2.5M spins for the month of December alone. So grateful!!!
Every year in January, I make a list of all the goals I want to accomplish for the year. In looking back at my list for this year, I accomplished all of my goals except one. I released Life, began a weekly improvisations series on YouTube, rebuilt and redesigned my website, released my first Single Release along with an animated video, released my Christmas album, along with another animated video, I performed for the ZMR Awards, attended the Audiosyncracy At Sea cruise, worked on my personal health, travelled with my boyfriend and my sister, and made some much needed changes to my home. The only thing I didn’t accomplish was a tutorial series on YouTube, which I plan to accomplish in 2018. I am very proud of myself for everything I’ve accomplished this year and look forward to accomplishing more in 2018!
Coming Up For Next Year…
I hired a new marketing team that I’m very excited to work with. I plan to continue the improvisation series, more Valley View Concerts, a tutorial series on YouTube, more single releases, more videos, daily inspiration series, some mini-tours, sales and giveaways, more albums, more traveling, and some fun surprises I don’t want to reveal just yet!
Thanks to all of you for being part of my journey and for helping to make 2017 such a fantastic and eventful year!!!
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