Update on Tami Gosnell

I just received this email from Tami Gosnell today and thought I'd go ahead and post it. I'm sure she wouldn't mind.

Hello everyone!

I finally got a chance to sit down and fill you all in on what's been happening! At the beginning of May, I went to Cannon Beach, Oregon to do some songwriting, catch up on some business with my manager, and play a show at the Warren House Pub. I actually got some press out of this impromptu gig.

American Idol Contestant Surprises North Oregon Coast
Gosnell plays Warren House in Cannon Beach

(Cannon Beach) -- The tiny town of Cannon Beach got a bit of a surprise Wednesday with an appearance by a former contestant on Fox's "American Idol" show.

Tami Gosnell played a practically impromptu set at the Warren House Pub that night, to a mellow but somewhat full house, filling the show with powerful acoustic versions of her original material and a rousing, rather intense set of covers from a variety of eras. She also cut loose a bit for BeachConnection.net cameras and added some amusing material near the end of the show.

Gosnell appeared briefly on this last season's "American Idol." Her audition and subsequent quick dismissal from the show made a major impact on the press at the time, garnering much attention by the media as the big pick during the show's preliminary airings of accepted auditions. Gosnell was shown getting praised by even the ill-tempered Simon Cowell, getting the green light to join the top 40 contestants in Hollywood. She was among the first 16 to be nixed from that group, footage which the show also aired. On top of her gutsy audition, it showed her walking out and telling people nearby that she'd made it into the first cut. It later showed her walking out and telling cameras she was cut from the first Hollywood group.

Gosnell is currently under the wing of music industry promoter/producer Scott Stimpson, who lives part time in Cannon Beach. Stimpson is co-owner of two music companies: one which manages up and coming acts like Gosnell; another that has in the past booked major national acts, such as Guns 'N' Roses and Hootie and the Blowfish.

Stimpson brought Gosnell out to the area to perform coffee house-style, just before she had to head back to her hometown of Denver, Colorado.

"She had quite an impact on the audience when her segments first aired," said Stimpson. "She had the most hits of all the female singers at the time. The Associated Press ran a story saying she was basically the most interesting at that point."

That AP story did some siazable things for Gosnell's career, she said. The show itself was major publicity, but the subsequent media buzz was even bigger.

"We're now in touch with a lot of publicists who want to work with her," Stimpson said. "We're heading to Memphis to record some songs soon, and there's a record company in L.A. that's interested in her.

There's a great team that's developing here. She's been talking to the press constantly since the show."

Stimpson said Gosnell's buzz included numerous comparisons to Janis Joplin, including comments she was the closest "American Idol" would ever come to having someone like Joplin on the show.

Gosnell's voice has much of the same bluesy, commanding style that was indicative of Joplin, but her material has a surreal sense about it: almost as if Mazzy Star or Tori Amos had joined forces with the deceased icon. Her songwriting is intelligent, even complex in moments. Her own material far outshines whatever she can possibly do to reiterate the songs of others', no matter how passionate the performance. It's not hard to wonder if she was artistically injuring herself by associating with the "American Idol" franchise, widely regarded among music critics as a problematic, aesthetic cancer in the U.S. music industry.

Gosnell goofed around briefly with various patrons. After an extended break, where the show appeared to have ended, she started in again with some interesting covers from bands like Pink Floyd. Gosnell and the audience got particularly wild near the end of the evening, according to various reports from residents. This included one man taking his shirt off during the show and amusing everyone--- The Beach Connection

On May 13th, I arrived in Nashville for some songwriting sessions with some great writers there, including Amanda Williams (amandawilliamsmusic.net). It was very productive, fun, and inspiring. Then I played some songs at Blue Bar on the 14th and Fuel on the 15th. Then we hopped into a great studio and recorded one of the songs we wrote called 'The One That Got Away'. Thanks to Amanda, I had a blast in Nashville and I will be making regular trips to and from there for more writing, playing, and recording.

The last weekend of May I attended the Durango Songwriters Expo in Santa Barbara, CA. I made so many great contacts, got to hob-nob with some major players in the business including a private sing-along with Tony Scalzo of Fastball. I also got to show some of my talent on stage at the late night open mic, and I must say the response was great. The weekend was so inspiring I wrote some new songs- once again reminding me that my music knows no genre it just simply is!!

June was a month of gathering even more inspiration as I spent almost 2 weeks on the road beginning in Northern California. I played an opener for the Jerry Garcia Band there in Guerneville, had a few days off to look for a place to live. On the 19th, I saw the best show of my life. Roger Waters of Pink Floyd played the Oakland Coliseum. They did the whole Dark Side of the Moon album and also songs from The Wall, Ummagumma, and Animals. Tears streamed down my face as they fused music, politics, pure raw emotion, and multimedia in a way that no one can. Then it was off to Moab, Utah to play a show with my cohorts Baked Iguana at Frankie D's. I had a great time there, the club was great, and Moab is so beautiful, I had to stay an extra day!!

Thank you all for reading my update, and thanks for spreading the word about me. I am recieving over 1,000 hits a day now and have a map showing where visitors come from on the home page. We're wordwide baby!!

Peace out!
Tami Gosnell