Here are some random pictures from 2014. What a year! Recording. Touring. Hanging with friends. More touring. Celebrating. Zooey. Africa. More touring. Incredibly thankful. Have fun scrolling through these pics…it was hard to narrow it down to just these! xo j&k
So, we played this totally real & not made-up game today where we closed our eyes and flipped through our iPhone camera roll & decided to share whatever picture it landed on:
(Feel free to try this at home kids)
Kate’s Phone:
This picture was taken while we were recording our Heart of Stone album. We.were.tired. And excited. And tired. Fun times 
This was probably in December 2011.
Jill’s Phone:
This was from January this year. In South Africa. We had just finished loading ALL OF OUR STUFF into the car…and OMG…it was all crammed in there. Ryan Camp making a cameo in the pic, ladies and gents.
(If you never saw our African Adventures series, you’re missing out. Check them out!)
Today we are celebrating the one year anniversary of our album release, Heart of Stone. If you never got the album, in honor of the one year anniversary, we are giving it away for FREE on Noisetrade. Who can believe it’s been a year? We can hardly wrap our heads around it.
So.much.has.happened.
There have been so many exciting things…we’ve gotten to meet a lot of you….loyal, kind, amazing fans all around the world. The last year has been incredible in large part because we’ve gotten to meet many of you face to face..and not just know your twitter handles. We’ve met you before & after Kelly shows, we’ve come to your living rooms and backyards, we’ve sweated out a 5k together, we’ve flown across the pond to sing in your pubs & on the streets, we’ve Skype chatted, we’ve talked on the phone…so many amazing memories.
We made a music video.
We started our own jewelry line, #jillandkatejewels.
We recorded our first LIVE album.
We’ve gotten to hear first hand what the album has meant to you. Which songs are your favorites. Which songs comforted you in dark times and which songs made you laugh and dance to shake off an ex. The scope and reach of the album has been greater than we initially thought it could be.
We made it to #39 on the iTunes Pop charts.
As we look back among all of these happy memories as the one year anniversary mark hits we also feel a deep sadness. A year ago today Will Gray (our manager) showed up at our door with flowers and pastries to celebrate the release. He had flown in earlier in the week to be with us throughout all of our release week activities…and now he’s gone.
How could it be that just 12 months ago everything was fine? Will was here. Making us laugh. Dreaming with us. Planning our world -j&k-take-over…haha…(yes it will happen.) Eating cupcakes and twizzlers. It just doesn’t seem possible that he’s not here anymore.
Our show at the Coffee Bean was the last time we saw him before he got sick. We saw him 3 more times after that in the 10 months he was battling his cancer.
We know he is always with us. He imparted so much good information to us. He really didn’t just manage us…he loved us and mentored us. He instilled great ethics and values. He gave us a foundation. A foundation that we thought he would continue building on for our whole lives & careers.
So we move on knowing how excited he’d be about all of the things coming up. We just wish he was here to be with us through it all…
It’s a bittersweet day. He wouldn’t want us to be sad. He would want us to work hard and love hard, to do good work. To be good friends…read what he wrote about friendship:
“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it’s the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when they discover that someone else believes in them, and is willing to trust them with their friendship.”
William Gray, circa 1996
So we move forward.
We’d love to hear any memories, stories or mementos of how Heart of Stone has impacted you over the last year if you feel like sharing
Thanks so much for making this such an incredible year. We put together a photo & video memory stream below of some of the things we did since last September. Hope you enjoy all the pics….
xo
j&k
PS. Almost all of these pictures & ALL of the video are all because Ryan Camp has traveled & worked with us pretty much every day of the last year…Will highly recommended him to us and we began working together during our release week last year. Thank you Ryan for your hard work, going on several adventures with us, for your ridiculous photo/video skills and for always putting up with our shenanigans.
Release Week
CLICK TO WATCH THE RELEASE WEEK WRAP UP VIDEO
Last Show With Kelly Clarkson & Co in London, England
CLICK TO WATCH OUR LAST BACKSTAGE VIDEO FROM LONDON
CLICK HERE TO WATCH US SING “WHEN IT DON’T COME EASY WITH KELLY AT OUR LAST SHOW
A Night For Hope Benefit Show
CLICK TO WATCH THE NIGHT FOR HOPE RECAP VIDEO
Shows in London
CLICK HERE TO WATCH OUR LONDON RECAP VIDEO
Visit to the Houses of Hope Africa in South Africa & Zimbabwe
CLICK HERE TO WATCH ONE OF OUR AFRICAN ADVENTURES VIDEOS
J&K 5K Weekend in Nashville, TN
CLICK HERE TO WATCH A RECAP OF OUR J&K5K WEEKEND
Recording Our LIVE Album
(the above pics are courtesy of Pockets of Film –thanks Emily!)
CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO FROM OUR LIVE RECORDING
Shooting Our FIRST OFFICIAL Music Video
CLICK HERE TO WATCH OUR MUSIC VIDEO
Songs & Stories Tour
It’s June 3rd folks…which means that it is non-other than Jason Halbert’s BIRTHDAY! We did a blog last year with pics & we decided to do it again this year. We have the pleasure of working alongside him & this last year has proved yet again why we are so thankful for him! He is our fearless musical leader on the road, a great friend, kick-A running buddy & an example of a fabulous husband and father. Also, he is always inspiring us to take pictures to document our many travels so we decided to put together a collection of those from the last 12 months. We are so happy to know him, laugh with him and j&k are looking forward to seeing what awesome things are in store for JH this year.
Jason…first off…..HAPPY BIRTHDAY…
This is how we see you a lot…
Sometimes you wear a shirt to remind us who you are and what you’re doing there…
Australia soundcheck…
VH1 Unplugged rehearsal.
“STRONGER” video shoot rockin’ the key-tar.
No clue when this was…some rehearsal in the last 365 days
When things really get going you’ll move on to this instrument…
Power faces.
Food is an important staple…Cracker Barrel pit stop…hmm…
Chowing down on Koi NYC. Yum.
Music City Hot Chicken Festival, Nashville, TN.
BK & long car rides….good combo.
Just normal breakfast table conversations happening here…
We like to run…Sydney, Australia.
Run club…West Hollywood, CA.
We hauled our butts over that bridge & back…hoo-yeah run club 2012! San Francisco, CA.
We admire all of Jason’s modes of transportation….swing….
Mini-car…
Surf board…
Bike…
We also support a creative wardrobe…when you feel like wearing all grey animated uniforms….
And wizard costumes…
And star shaped glasses….
And yuppy yacht apparel…
And bibs…
And neon green suits…
And mostly when you wear your party rockin’ LMFAO lovin’ gear.
Group shots extravaganza….
These next few pics didn’t have a category but thought they were honorable mentions of good times!
Weirdest city ever for a wine bar…Reno.
Dance party on the bus.
Best day ever…Universal.
Jill’s birthday….Denver, CO.
Made up game…entertainment for at least 30 minutes.
Free drinks on January 1st flying to New Orleans!
Culture Committee party Jacksonville, FL.
Jay Leno!
Dressing room at SNL. Aben looks thoroughly entertained.
Recording in Australia.
Some coffee shop somewhere in the world…
Best German driver ever. #preoseccoforever
New iPhone photo app DIPTIC…all of us demonstrating the “jet lag”
UK X-Factor.
Stretching it out before our pre-flight to Australia.
NO idea where this was but I bet we were having loads of fun!
Australia.
Until next year….
-j&k-
Hi friends…
So, since getting off of the STRONGER tour in mid-April, we’ve been here & there & everywhere it seems. So let’s get caught up on the fun things that have been going on…since bullet points are so fun we thought we’d bust some out:
I like to think that Keith & I (kate) shared a moment in this pic Hahaaaa….
Before heading to Florida we enjoyed a little downtime in the studio in Nashville finishing up our album….which we will be releasing info about in the very, very near future…and we are so excited about it…we cannot wait to share it with you guys. Listening to first mixes of songs we constantly think about you guys and hope that you’ll like it. Seriously…some of you we mention even by name…knowing that it’s a favorite…hoping that you’ll like what we’ve done with it. So thank you for inspiring us to make music & being involved & supportive. We love you guys.
Driving around Nashville listening to mixes…
Lots of love….
-j&k-
