Gulfport Mississippi, Austin & Dallas Texas

After spending lots of winters going to Dallas ( where I lived with my best friend, Chris Williams), and then onto Austin, my car veered off the highway between Nashville and Lousisana one year, and I found myself driving past the awesome late towns of Pass Christian and Biloxi, MS.  Work was scarce unless you wanted to work on the boats.  But when I met "crazy mary", things started to get interesting. We were catering a party at a fantastic old mansion on the beach when a photographer named  Billy Dugger handed me a biz card and asked me if he could take photos of me. Ok, I said, but only if I could bring a guitar along - and requested a meeting with his portfolio in hand.

After our meeting downtown, Mr. Photographer and I went scouting the abandoned buildings downtown Gulfport. The second story of the J C Penny building was the most impressive. 6000+ sq. ft. of wood floors, rounded brick arches leading to more empty storage rooms. A wooden freight elevator that wore the marks of a bygone era with ghostly hand prints from moving guys.  Billy brought his Hasselblad and we started shooting as I played  music to the empty walls and clicking of camera shutters.  Billy called a week later and said the photos were fabulous and friends at Center Stage in Biloxi were in a pinch for a performer due to a cancellation. That's how I wound up playing a concert four days later. I am still  extremely shy about performing, but upon his insisting, I said ok. He rushed some of the photos down to the local paper...and on it went. This would be my first performance in 5 years and later, the photos would become the cover and back of Deo Volente.
After years of writing songs, singing various festivals, theaters and coffeehouses,  the response of that Biloxi concert was overwhelming and I came home to record Deo Volente in Traverse City.

Amy Jo Fischer