Official Website of JillandKate

We just got home from seeing Amy Grant host the Lighting of the Green at Lipscomb University. It’s the 2nd time we’ve gone and she’s hosted it for 10 years. IT IS THE BEST…mostly just because Amy is there and that’s pretty much all it takes…but…it gets even better….she invites friends to come play songs…she talks in-between their sets…and then she plays songs. WE GET TO STAND IN TENNESSEE WHILE SHE PLAYS TENDER TENNESSEE CHRISTMAS! Do you know what a big deal this is? We both grew up listening to her music AND her Christmas music…so it’s surreal listening to these songs sung in the same way, with her same awesome voice….standing in our now home city of Nashville.

Amy Grant…just doing her thing.

AND if that doesn’t sound magical enough….tonight Vince Gill came out and sang too(!!!!) He’s never done it any year before…so this was special. He sang “Oh Holy Night” and “Give Me Jesus”…not sure there was a dry eye after he finished singing his second song. What a voice.

Vince in his white jacket looking all dapper.

What hearts those two have. Cool to see a couple so dedicated to one another.

All the feels…we are just gonna go to bed smiling from ear to ear tonight because, well, Amy & Vince and us and about 3,000 other people were all standing in a room listening to these songs…celebrating music and Jesus and community.

What a gift this season is. Unto us a Savior is born.

xo

j&k

Oh you guys….hello…IT’S DECEMBER! Which means that our 4th annual 31 days of blogging begins TODAY!

{cheers.} {claps.} {hoorays.}

Besides it being the very first day of 31 days of blogging, it is a HUGE day for us because we just announced our brand new ALBUM “ELEVEN” & pre-order options!!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PRE-ORDER OPTIONS & pretttttty please order your copy…and a copy for your mom, dad, brother, best friend, neighbor, aunt, uncle….haha…just kidding. Not really…but really….

We have been working on this music for over a year and we are honestly SO EXCITED for you to hear it. Our friend Dave Welsh produced it. He plays in a little band you might know called THE freaking FRAY!!!!!!!! We’ve been fans of theirs for years and pretty much own every single album of theirs that has ever come out…so you can tell that we are a little bit excited to have Dave producing this album for us.

Join us here on the blog for these fun, festive 31 days ahead of us. OH, and, we just boosted our Etsy store like wow. Over 100 new items were posted this morning. j&k coming at you in every direction

Happy December…let’s make it an awesome one.

Love you all,

j&k

There have been a few moments in the last few weeks that have really hit me. They are moments that will stay with me for a long time–etched in my brain. They have displayed the power of music and re-affirmed in me a love for what I do. I wanted to share a few of them with you.

The first was at a fair in Montana.

We were singing with Trace and there was a girl in a wheelchair in the center section right in front of the stage. It was evident that she had some sort of disability, but that did not keep her and her friends/family from pushing her to the front of the crowd to get her as close to the stage as possible. They raised up her wheelchair and she sang along to every song she knew. Her friends would help her raise her arms and wave along to the music. It was such a beautiful moment. I actually had to look away because I started to tear up so much. It was a powerful image of how people connect to music and how it moves the soul. She beamed with light. I will never forget her face.

The second was at our last show in Hyannis, MA. It was at a venue unlike any other I’d ever performed at before. It was in the round and the stage spun slowly as we performed. If you need a visual, here is the website (http://www.melodytent.org/)

The cool thing about the stage rotating is that you could get a really good look at all of the faces in the crowd. A few songs into the show,  Trace recognized an Army unit that had family at the show. The unit was serving overseas so Trace took time to acknowledge them…and the entire audience applauded. The next song in the set was “You’re Gonna Miss This” and as the song started I saw two women holding a sign with their soldiers’ unit numbers and tears were flowing down their cheeks. They sang along and cried and I wanted to walk right off the stage and hug both of them. Ugh. Plus, the lyrics to that song just seemed to articulate that moment perfectly. Right after that, I looked over and saw a man, probably in his late 60′s, bent over and sobbing. You guys, if there is something that breaks my heart into a billion pieces, it’s older men crying. I can’t handle it. I wondered if he’d lost a child in that unit serving overseas. My heart just broke. I kept my eye on these precious people throughout the night and watched them cry and then smile and laugh as the show went on. Trace is such a wonderful entertainer–it was amazing to watch him take these people on a journey. Forgetting about their circumstances…lost in music. Ugh. It did my heart so good. I loved every second.

I have always believed that music brings people together. It speaks a universal language. It can transcend mood, obstacles and distractions. It can change you. These moments the past few weeks have shown me that over and over again.

Music just gets me.

Every time.

-k

Hey! We just wrote a brand new song called “Better” for Song on the 17th! We hope you like it xo j&k

“Better”

We’ve been broken from the minute
That we left the door open
And we let love in
And you know that we tried
Oh how we tried

Now we’re living on our own
Looking for whatever we can to fill our time
All this time

The drinks go down a little bit easier after the first one
And my legs learn how to catch up to my body
And that’s how I learned how to run
I learned how to run

Why do we do it alone
When we could do it together
Don’t you think that would be better
Don’t you think that would be better

Why do we do it alone
When we could do it together
Don’t you think that would be better
Don’t you think that would be better
Better than being alone
Better than being alone

We gave up too soon, too fast, too much
To understand what we were leaving behind
Now we’re looking all around for whatever we can to make it right
Make it right

The drinks go down a little bit easier after the first one
Now the words come out a little too easy
And that’s how I learned how to hide
I learned how to hide

Why do we do it alone
When we could do it together
Don’t you think that would be better
Don’t you think that would be better

Why do we do it alone
When we could do it together
Don’t you think that would be better
Don’t you think that would be better
Better than being alone
Better than being alone

Better than being alone
Better than being alone
Alone

And the drinks go down a little bit easier after the first one

Why do we do it alone
When we could do it together
Don’t you think that would be better
Don’t you think that would be better

Why do we do it alone
When we could do it together
Don’t you think that would be better
Better than being alone
Better than being alone

(c) J.Pickering, K. Rapier, 2014.

Well…we finally did it…we went into the studio and recorded some of our very favorite covers!!!  You guys have been asking us to do it for a while & guess what??? We DID!!! Wooohoooo!!! We started covering songs on our blog/YouTube channel years ago and have gotten such kind responses…we decided to pick a few of our favorites and put them on an album.

Now, we know what your first question is going to be…WHAT SONGS DID YOU PICK TO COVER?

Well, we aren’t spilling that just yet. What you do need to know is that we will be releasing our first SINGLE & MUSIC VIDEO on February 11th. Ahhhhhh…..we are so excited!

So stay tuned and keep being our awesome family of supporters!! You guys are our promotion team. You guys are our publicity. So thank you for sharing our music with your friends, thank you for RTing our tweets…thank you, thank you.

We are so proud of these covers and so proud to call you a part of our team. We couldn’t do it without you. Seriously.

We are all in this together.

xoxo

j&k