11 posts tagged “indieheaven”

My song, Lonely Days, has been selected as one of Indieheaven's Top 20 songs for this month.  That means two things:

1.   It is on the Top 20 Radio chart at Indieheaven for the month of May.

and

2.  You go to the Radio chart and rate it...every day, if you like...so that it moves up the chart.  If it's one of the top 10 at the end of the month, then it will automatically stay on the chart for the next month.

Thanks for listening and voting.

Well, I'm honored to announce that I've been nominated in three catagories for this year's Indieheaven Momentum Awards in Franklin, TN:

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
SONG OF THE YEAR ("Every Reason")
ALBUM OF THE YEAR ("Coming Home")

The awards will be presented at this year's IndieHeaven CIA Summit2008 conference on March 29, 2008, and are given based on votes received online between now and March 1, 2008.  So, if you are so inclined, you can click HERE and cast your vote.

You can visit www.ciasummit.com for more information about the Christian Independent Alliance Summit.

THANKS FOR VOTING!  YOU GUYS ROCK! :)

Perhaps it's because I know her.  Perhaps it's because I've been around for a bit of the story.  Perhaps it's because I can just simply relate to what's being written.  Regardless of the reason, I am moved.  I am moved by the creativity.  I am moved by the honesty.  I am moved by the vulnerability. 

You've heard me mention her before--my friend Amy Gustafson.  I met her through Indieheaven back in February and we've been good friends ever since and occasionally get to enjoy singing together (whenever we happen to be on the same side of the continent). :)  Well, Amy has just recently stepped into the wonderful world of blogging and what she is writing is striking a deep chord in me.  So I've asked her permission to invite you all to take some time and read her blog, particularly the current four-part account of "How I Spent My Summer Vacation".

Oh, and while I'm at it...you can also get a taste of her music on her artist page over at Indieheaven.

(Thanks, Amy). ;)

I just posted a "Every Reason" on the Fan Faves chart over at Indieheaven.  Actually, it was on the chart on the old site, but now that the site has been vamped up a bit, I thought I'd try it there again.  Besides, there's a college radio station in Kansas that's playing "Every Reason" on their Saturday night program, so I thought it'd be a good idea to push that song right now.

You can vote more than once, but only once in a 24-hour period.  Thanks for your support, guys!

Hey everyone!

If you haven't been on the Indieheaven site in a while, then you don't realize that they have a brand new site..full of fun features for us artist types, one of which is the Fan Faves Chart where we can post songs and have our "peeps" vote for them.  How well a song does on the Fan Faves chart may determine whether or not the staff include it on the IH Radio Chart which is then often listed in various magazines (Relevant, CCM, etc.).

So, here's what you do...

1. Click on the Indieheaven Banner above.

2.  Go to "Fan Faves"

3.  Find "95" by Mindy Boyd on the chart and give it your vote. (Hint:  right now it's at the very bottom) ;)  You can vote once every 24 hours for the next 30 days. 

You're also welcome to check out my artist page by clicking on the banner below.  Thanks for your support guys!

This week I'm playing the "Let's-see-how-much-I-can-fit-into-one-week" Game, so I've been dying to post this sooner, but it has been absolutely nuts around here.  Anyway, if you haven't read my previous post about what happened to my guitar this week, then you should go ahead and do that now before reading further.  It will help you with the significance of this post.

So, as you guys know, I was rehearsing on Wednesday night for a conference that I'm leading worship for this weekend, when I discovered the hole in the back of my guitar.  Completely distraught, I gently placed the guitar on the floor in front of me and stared at it for a while in the fetal position.  Then I came home and immediately began blogging, posting, emailing, calling and texting people about it.  So much drama!   The next morning, I woke up and checked my email, blog, posts, phone, etc. for any responses about the "tragedy" and continued to stress over it.  Later that morning, I was scheduled to have breakfast with a friend of mine from church, so I got in my car and headed over to the bagel shop where we planned to meet.  It's only about 5-7 minutes from my apartment, but as I was driving, I decided to turn off the radio and when I did, immediately the Lord said, "Uh, Mindy?  Hello.  Talk to Me."  And at that moment, I realized that I had never even once mentioned this situation to the Lord.  So, after confessing my utter self-sufficiency to Him, I proceeded to say, "Lord, You have given this guitar to me, and You know that in the ministry that You have called me to at this point, I need a guitar.  I don't know what's going to happen with mine, but I'm going to trust You with it, and believe that You want to take care of me."

Two minutes later, I arrived at the bagel shop and my friend asked me how my day was going.  "WELL!  Let me just tell you!"  So I pulled out my computer and proceeded to tell her about the guitar and show her pictures.  As I was doing that, I noticed that I had a private message in my inbox from Indieheaven.  It was from another artist that I met last weekend in Nashville at the Indieheaven conference.  She had read the message that I'd posted on the IH message boards and sent me this:

I have a Martin D16 Special Edition, and God has been leaning HARD on me to give it away. I have been reluctant until now.
Mindy...It's yours...just tell me where to ship it.
It needs a pick up, but it's a great guitar.
I love you, girl, and I am so sorry about your guitar.
Autumn

At this point, tears are streaming down my face because I am blown away by the fact that God, being so tender and so attentive, would care that much to answer me so personally...and quickly...and that He even heard me in the first place!!  I imagined that He had a big grin on His face as He watched it all unfold.  But then, He already knew how it
would unfold years ago.  He knew I would have this need and even THEN began stirring the idea in Autumn's heart
that she would give this guitar away.  Here's the catch though: I have a hard time with the whole receiveing thing.  I know there's a TON that's connected to that on so many different levels, and it's something that God has been dealing with me about for a long time now...and apparently, continues to do so.  So, I called her and we talked at length about what God was doing, and both agreed that it came down to simply being obedient.  She was being obedient to give it, and I am having to be obedient to receive it.

I took my guitar up to the Martin factory that afternoon and had them look at it.  Unfortunately, to have it restored back to it's previous condition would cost more than the guitar is worth.  But he told me that he could fix it to make it playable, but that would cost money as well, so he was gonna tell me how I could fix it myself and save myself some money.  "Take some glue..." :::cringe::: "...and squeeze it in here, then wipe off the excess, put a clamp on the guitar and let it dry for a couple days."  :::sigh:::  When I asked him about the hole, he said, "Well there's nothing you can do about that.  They've got brown duct tape now!  You can just cover it with that and paint a little black strip on it if you like."  :::SIGH:::  It was painful to hear.  However, my first thought was, "I need to tell Autumn that it's fixable...that I can still play it...that I don't really NEED the guitar now!"   But as I spoke with her, it was clear that God was saying, "Mindy, I want you to have this guitar.  I want you to be obedient." 

Isn't that just like me to say, "But wait a second, God...look, I can fix my brokenness.  I can cover it up and it'll look just fine.  No one will even know."  But the brokenness is still there, and so He instead says, "Mindy, I want to make you brand new.  I want to give you a new life that will completely replace the old.  Take it, Mindy.  It's yours."

I'm floored by God's tenderness toward me, but I'm so thankful.  I'm thankful that He heard me, and cared.  I'm thankful that Autumn heard Him and obeyed.  I'm thankful that I am hearing Him and learning.  Learning to trust.  Learning to receive.  Learning to just simply obey.

**********
So of course, I'm going to be taking this opportunity to plug Autumn Calvert and her music!!!!!  This woman is the real deal!!!  I love reading her posts on IH because she is just genuine to the core...and her music is testimony to that!  So, if you have a couple minutes, swing by her Indieheaven page and check her out! 

Well, last weekend in Nashville was a BLAST!!!  It was so much fun hanging out with all the artists that I've been meeting on the Indieheaven message boards over the past few months.  The conference was jammed packed full of wonderful information and encouragement from the Indieheaven Staff, industry professionals, and well known artists like Margaret Becker, Shaun Groves, and Phil Joel.  It was definitely worth the jet-lagged 12 hour drive from Pennsylvania. 

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was meeting and hanging out with Amy Gustafson from Oregon.  Please check out her site and music!!  She is gifted artist, with a very tender heart toward God.  Not to mention the fact that she is a 100% bona fide HOOT!  I think we laughed most of the weekend.

 

                After the conference was over, we grabbed Rachael from the Indieheaven staff and took to the streets of Nashville Sunday night.  We had an absolute blast!  Then on Monday, we peeked in the windows and roamed around the grounds at that the Grand Ole Opry House.

When Amy left to catch her plane, I headed up I-65 through Kentucky and into Indiana.  When I was about 13 miles from my destination, I stopped to get gas and took this picture of my dashboard:

Yes, the odometer reads 200,000 miles...and yes, the gas tank reads empty, but that's just a little foreshadowing for you of a story to come later...:::sigh:::  Actually, the odometer should probably read about 220,000 because a few years ago my spedometer quit working which caused my odometer to stop working for about 20,000 miles, so now the reading is completely inaccurate, but there are certainly more pressing things in life to worry about.  I filled the tank and continued on toward Columbus, IN where I had the fun privelege of meeting and hanging out with none other than our very own Susan!  

It was fun meeting the 3D version! :)  And she even let me drive her jeep...with the top down...because the weather was nice that day!  In fact, I'm pretty sure that was the last day of nice weather that I remember to this point. :::sigh, again:::  Anyway, I got to see her new house, and visit her favorite coffee joint, and attend one of her Bible studies with her.  So, thanks for letting me crash for a while, Susan!  I had a great time!

I was supposed to do a couple shows in Ohio, but for some reason they were cancelled, which was actually a blessing because I haven't had a voice since I got back from Germany!  Plus, it allowed me to head home early so I could attend my nephew's 2nd birthday party and be home with the family for Easter.  So, after spending the night with some friends in Columbus, OH, I started the last leg of my trip home.  I just crossed over into PA when I noticed that my gas tank was on empty again.  I hate stopping for gas.  Some states like New Jersey and Oregon hire people to pump it for you...and that might make it easier for me to stop, but for the most part, I just hate having to stop.  Which is why I typically wait until the VERY last minute to do it.  This particular time was no exception.  But when I noticed that I was low on gas, I was already on the PA Turnpike which means I have two options: 1. get off at the next exit and pay the toll, or 2. wait for the next service station.  Well, since the gas light hadn't even turned on yet, I opted to wait for the next service station...I knew there was one coming up, so I passed by the exit and continued on.  However, no sooner did I pass the exit when I saw the sign. 

"Next Service Station 10 miles"

"Hmmm.  This could be interesting," I thought.  The really unfortunate part about this was that right after I saw that sign, I entered the portion of the PA Turnpike that goes through the "mountains" ("mountains" are in quotes for those of you reading who are from CO, or OR, or some other western Rocky Mountain state).  Regardless, of the size of the mountain, pretty much any upward grade is a not-so-great scenario for my car when I'm low on gas.  So, as my car sputtered and coughed its way up the way up the hill, the only thing I really could do was pray....something like this:

"God, I know I'm an idiot.  But I also know that the ONLY way I'm going to make it over this hill is if YOU get me over.  Pleeeeease get me over!"

I turned my hazard lights on and drove on the shoulder a couple times, but I made it over, and as I coasted down the other side, I saw a sign that said, "Service Station 2 miles".   I felt pretty confident about making it, but wouldn't ya know it, 1/2 a mile down the road I found myself on the side of the road staring at a wide open field to my right, a few houses on the other side of the Turnpike to my left, and absolutely no sign of a gas station in sight. :::SIGH::: 

But then I remembered!!  I have a gas can in my trunk with a little bit of gas in it...perhaps enough to get me to the station!!!  (Yes, you guys are smart enough to figure out why that was there!)  So I got out and went digging in my trunk for the gas can...but...to my dismay, I was without a funnel, which in reality didn't really matter anyway because there was only about 4 ounces of gas in the can which probably wouldn't have even gotten me back on the Turnpike.  So yeah, I was stuck...and remember that part about driving the jeep on the last nice day?  I forgot to mention that while I was rooting around in my trunk it started to snow. :::SIGH, AGAIN:::  My last resort was to call AAA, who told me I had to call the Turnpike people because it was an offical road or something like that, who then had to call their service guy to come out and help me. 

An hour later...:::sigh:::...I was finally on the road again...and I have to say, when I finally made it home, it felt really, really good to sleep in my own bed again!

Just got in about 4 hours ago.  It's been great to be here with my family and love on the nephews and pet the Maddiecat.  But I'm heading out again tomorrow afternoon for an Indieheaven conference this weekend in Nashville, so my time here is short lived.  After the conference, I'll be driving through Indiana and hopefully be doing some shows along the way in Ohio, so I'm not really going to be home-home until th 9th or 10th. 

That said, I'm going to go take a walk with my mom.