Amy Jack’s Oklahoma musical roots run deep. Her Scots-Irish great grandparents were among the early settlers who took part in the land run to Western Oklahoma before it was even a state. They brought with them the traditional Scottish and Irish music and instruments that influenced the earliest country music. Saturday nights for her family meant dancing to fiddle music and singing around the piano.
“My great-grandfather even bought a house in town so his family could take music lessons,” says Jack. The native Oklahoman was also raised in a family of music teachers.
Country music was a natural fit for Amy, who said, “Country is mainstream where I’m from, and it was all around me.” She grew up loving to perform and was often asked to sing at weddings and clubs. She once entered a contest at an Oklahoma City honky tonk right across the interstate from where Garth Brooks competed in a similar contest. While she didn’t win that night, she found consolation that Garth didn’t win that night either.
After graduating from the University of Oklahoma, Jacks first met Merle Haggard when she applied for a PR job with him. She ended up in the music business, landing a job at iHeart Media. This experience surrounded her with music, and she was able to listen to interviews with major artists in the studio. “I just wanted to learn everything about the product I was representing,” she says.
Amy says that Merle Haggard was “a huge support system for me over the course of my career.”
She was approached in July 2013 by Haggard’s team, asking if she wanted to record in Merle’s new studio. “I immediately told them, ‘Yes, when can we start?’”
Merle Haggard’s music and sound were an early influence on her and, she says it “has stood the test of time for me. When I was a little girl riding my bike with a friend, I heard ‘Okie From Muskogee,’ and I had to listen to the whole song before I could go off and play.”
She began recording her album Introducing Amy Jack in September 2013 and continued working on it in April 2015. She says the team had already done a lot of work before she arrived at the studio to record. Haggard gave a lot of helpful insight into all aspects of the project “from selecting the final songs to the production all the way to the musicians to use for the record.” She says, “He suggested I record one of his songs so I decided to ‘one up’ him and recorded two—’My Favorite Memory’ and ‘Got Lonely Too Early.’” Jack co-wrote ten of the other songs on the CD. She continues to write songs with several of the co-writers on the project, including Duane Hitchings, who wrote some of Rod Stewart’s greatest hits. She says she met Hitchings her first month in Nashville, and he not only has helped her with her writing and taught her about the music business, but has been like a big brother.
Merle Haggard’s death in April of 2016 had a huge effect on the CD project. She is so grateful for the time she was able to work with him. The album launched on January 17, 2020, which Amy said was her way to “keep my word to the great Merle Haggard.” Plans to promote the recording were affected by the quarantine resulting from the COVID pandemic in March. She believes, though, that this is just one of life’s “many ups and downs” that represent an opportunity for growth and that foster an appreciation of the good times. Like other recording artists, she has capitalized on digital platforms to promote the music.
While Jack lives in the Dallas area now, she regularly commutes to Nashville, “only a two hour flight.” During the pandemic, while she’s been staying closer to home, she has been particularly grateful to her fan base for their support.
Amy Jack looks forward to live performances in bigger venues again. Thanks to discovery of her music by the same sports music agent who promoted Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out?” several of her songs have been picked up for sporting events and broadcasts, including “For the Love of the Game,” featured by the U.S. Olympic Committee’s “Road to Rio” Tour and “Shake and Bake,” selected for a Fox Sports segment on Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield. She also had the opportunity to perform at outdoor venues for the Olympic committee and to sing acapella in a crowd of 20,000 at an Oklahoma City Thunder NBA game on opening night.
Amy says that she has recorded a lot of songs that lean more toward pop, intended for film and television, but her heart remains in country music. The music selected for Introducing Amy Jack showcases a more personal side to her musically. She looks forward to singing these songs live again for fans and perhaps sharing a stage with some of her musical heroes. She counts her blessings that she was able to work with one of her greatest heroes. After all, she says, “There’s no story like Merle Haggard’s life story.”