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Who Are We?

Alpha Omega News Interview 1/20/03
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Who Is Shannon?

I am first and foremost a songwriter - Everything that I do now has arisen out of my prayerful desire to share the songs with others who might receive encouragement and hope from hearing them. I sing, play piano and mandolin (and a bit of guitar) and I perform as a solo artist and with my 7 piece band. To me songwriting is more like ‘musical journaling’ - preserving on paper what God is teaching me about being in relationship with Him. I always take inspiration from David - the Bible’s greatest songwriter. He wasn’t afraid to write about the hard stuff, and to share his journey with others. I think when we are willing to speak freely about the joy and the pain we encounter in our Christian walk, we all grow stronger together in Him. That is why my music ministry is called Lift Me Up Ministries: seeking grace one song at a time. All the songs we chose for Modern Day Eve, my new CD, are songs about the ‘present-past-future’ picture of our Christian walk, and how Jesus truly is the dividing line that separates where we’ve been from where we are headed - Home!

My own life story is a testament to the power of God’s healing grace - I was healed of a 15 year battle with anorexia and bulimia in order to serve God through music. God really is the Great Healer - He can restore where it seems there is no hope of restoration. I was 5’6” and 92 lbs., and He brought me back to health and gave me a way to serve Him and Everyone He loves. It was a miracle of grace, and that same miracle is available to Everyone who asks Him into their hearts.

What Is Lift Me Up Ministries?

Lift Me Up Ministries exists to offer the healing, uplifting and unifying power of music to all who will hear it. I explained a little bit about where the name comes from above, and right now Lift Me Up Music, my publishing company, Eve Records, my indie record label, and The Song Factory, a new enterprise with my producer, MD Thompson of the Ivory Tower (www.ivory-tower-realizations.com) all fall underneath the umbrella of the music ministry. We also have a CD donation program in partnership with Scott Cook of Reluctant Records (www.reluctantrecords.com) in Dallas - with this program I can donate copies of Modern Day Eve to homeless shelters, assisted living facilities, hospitals and charities who can’t afford to buy CD’s to give to their clients. So we are excited about that. My booking agent, Skip Clarke, handles all of my bookings (832.275.6894 or booking@shannoncutts.com), and my producer and I are focusing more on song publishing as well. We have also begun work on 2 concept music videos and a live-concert promotional video, which was all made possible through the generous donation of a friend of the ministry. So it is shaping up to be an exciting year for us!

What Music Category does Modern Day Eve Fall Into?

Modern Day Eve is CCM pop/acoustic rock with some Celtic/World and even a bit of Urban influence. I grew up in the bluegrass world - when I was 17 I was second in the country in the Winfield National Mandolin Championships. I’ve also studied jazz and a bit of classical music, and I love all types of music. So the CD, while a predominantly pop/rock project, definitely incorporates various elements from other musical styles that my producer and I also love.

What Does It Mean to be a Modern Day Eve?

To me being a modern day Eve means admitting that what was broken in the post-Garden of Eden days remains broken - we are still very busy hiding ourselves from God in so many ways. Today’s ‘garden’ looks a little different - fast cars, cell phones, workaholic lifestyles - but its effect on us is the same. When Adam and Eve ate the apple and hid from God, He came walking around the Garden looking for them to find out what was wrong. So when God saw us doing the same thing down here on Earth, He sent His son, Jesus, down to walk around and find us and ask us why we are still hiding. There really is only one thing that separates us from the Adam and Eve of ancient days - and that one thing is Jesus. Being a modern day Adam or Eve to me means seeing what is broken in our lives (all this busyness and fear that makes us hide from God and ourselves) and seeing what can fix it (God’s love through Jesus Christ) and then taking responsibility to come out of hiding and let God love us back into a fully open, trusting relationship with Him. Every song on Modern Day Eve speaks to a different facet of being in relationship with God - from deepening our understanding of the quality of His love to understanding more about our own hearts, to dealing with regret from the past and embracing hope for the future, to living as we are and where we are with the acceptance that we are perfectly placed in God’s eyes, and finally to being able to begin to see that in Christ we have all the hope and great good fortune we will ever need to live the beautiful lives we’ve up until now only dreamed about. I hope you enjoy the music and I warmly invite Alpha Omega News readers to www.shannoncutts.com to hear the music from Modern Day Eve!

With blessings and love in Christ,