What a Wonderful World

It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time – working on a Christmas tour with some terrific artists, including the group NewSong. You probably know their song “Christmas Shoes”. (A little trivia for you, “Christmas Shoes” reached #1 on the charts in 2000, tying as the fastest song to hit #1 in Billboard history!) The tour also included American Idol finalist Chris Sligh, Ayiesha Woods (a new artist on Gotee Records), and the rock band Rush of Fools.

It was pretty fascinating as we integrated use of a video of Louis Armstrong singing “What A Wonderful World” with the band and their singer. If you have a chance to see it before the tour ends, it would definitely be worth your while! And it’s always fun working with a bunch of talented artists doing one song together. For the “Little Drummer Boy” I had the violin player from Todd Agnew’s band, Ayiesha singing, and…well, pretty much everyone on stage; it was great seeing every artist set aside any ego to become a part of the entire show. Talk about some memorable moments!

So now it’s nearly Christmas and I’m spending some time with my family. Hanging out, having Christmas at home, enjoying my kids (sort of thinking “what a wonderful world” myself!). And I’m catching up on a little work, because the new year looks like it’s going to be pretty busy.

Lots of new things are happening in my world. For one thing, I’ll no longer be working exclusively with World Vision U.S. and their artist associate program. I’ve had a great run with them. We’ve raised over a billion dollars for kids around the world, and we’ve gotten 50 million dollars in tour support for artists, both indies and majors. I will continue to work with World Vision Canada. But now, I’m actually looking forward to helping a number of other charities who want to start similar touring support programs.

I’ll also be working on the Winter Jam tour again – rehearsals start for that the first week in January. And it looks like I’m going to be working on a headlining country tour as well. I’ll be doing several conferences and workshops, too. And, hopefully, I’ll get some time in on editing a new band product and live music makeovers that I can make available to all of you real soon. I also have a singer/songwriter product that’s getting near the final stages of editing.

Whatever YOUR plans are for the holidays and for the upcoming year, I wish you a merry Christmas and all the best in 2009!

Tom Jackson

Tom is uniquely talented and skilled at transforming an artist's live show into a magical experience for the audience; helping artists at every level create a live show that is engaging and memorable, teaching them to exceed their audiences' expectations and to create fans for life. Tom has taught indie and major artists of every genre. He has worked with Taylor Swift, Le Crae, Home Free, The Tenors, Shawn Mendes, The Band Perry, Francesca Battistelli, Jars of Clay, & many more. Tom also teaches at colleges, conferences and events worldwide.

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