“I began singing and performing as soon as I was walking”

“I started with piano lessons in elementary school, like most do, but grew aggravated with the classical approach and I quit in middle school because I just wanted to play songs I liked which at the time was nearly exclusively Sara Bareilles, Regina Spektor, and anything Disney.“

“After graduating highschool, I forced my dad to take me to Ireland (I raised the money, but I’m not the kind of girl you let travel alone). One evening we moseyed into a pub where I heard the autoharp for the first time. I told my father it was the most magical thing I’d ever heard. I was gifted my harp that Christmas (2014)and it has become my songwriting companion and good traveling buddy because it’s far more portable than a piano.”

“I don’t know how my health doesn’t affect my art. Being diagnosed with MS as young as I was, my experience with illness has shaped my perspective so intimately, I wouldn’t know how to split the fine hairs of illness vs. family vs. culture vs. geography etc“.

“I learned a young age that honesty is the

price of compassion,so honestly–

I’m not the most afflicted. I’m not the

most deserving, but, I need help, and as much as I can get.”

I have scars on my brain and have to take a lot of precautions to maintain my health. I’ve been sick for most of my life and I know I need all the help I can get, so I’ve learned to help myself.

My work skill set pertains to childcare and hospitality (they call me Mary Poppins ). I write stories for children and songs for all ages, and I make lots of friends who contend with me.

I’ve learned, as well, that helping myself means, there are times where I must ask for help.

Nutrasine, a critically essential supplement I’ve taken since I was six years old, was discontinued in 2014 after the passing of it’s inventor. In a miraculous turn of events, my family now owns the rights to produce and distribute Nutrasine for myself and others like me. You can help by donating to my ms.annegirl PROJECTS.

https://www.msannegirl.com/projects/

Songwriting has always been profoundly organic for me. Melody and lyrics come simultaneously 99% of the time, and depending on where I am or what I’m doing when the song starts to come, I’ll either sit down with my harp or piano and start figuring out the chord progression, or I (most often) record sound bites on my phone and save them for a rainy day.

when I was 3-5 years old I had a habit of sitting on strangers laps and asking them to tell me a story (true story). I’ve likely heard more versions of Three Little Pigs than any child ought to be allowed, but it was only the beginning. I began babysitting at nine and by twelve had quite the collection anecdotes, so all of my children’s books are based on, or inspired by actual events (I always include a dedication to the tater-tot who gave me the idea, see I Wanna Be An Animal and There’s a Bleck On My Plate on Amazon). I struggled with insomnia in middle school-early highschool and so the night became my creating space. I’ve discovered how to harness powers during daylight hours, but I still occasionally have sleepless-seasons that result in a new album/book/God-knows-what…

TOOT, the album, was recorded during my exacerbation in 2016. I only had strength to record my vocal/piano/harp tracks then go back to sleep, so there are things about it if I had gotten to participate more in the production process I’d have done differently. TOOT was mostly a gift from my brother (Isaac McCready, sound engineer) to me. During my 4 month exacerbation, I wrote around thirty songs and TOOT is really just the tip of the iceberg of what I created in that season. So, I guess, recording an album for me so far has just been a record of time passing and standing still. That said, I hope to release a demo album this fall titled “Golden“.

“MY “resolve” is the result of never being allotted the courtesy of having secrets a day in my life. For readers who likely won’t understand the scale of being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at six years old, the day I was diagnosed, I became international property. My MRI’s were being studied across the globe and every two hours or so, medical students came knocking on my door to “observe” me (ask me to do things I wasn’t strong enough to do). I wasn’t old enough to understand or explain to anyone what was happening to me and got used to grown-ups speaking for me, speaking over me, and talking about me like I wasn’t in the room. My music and stories have become my way of taking ownership of my story because I am in the room; I am international property because I’m not a mistake and have found a way to belong. My sole source of encouragement these days is the Holy Spirit because I live at rock bottom (literally what my doctor told me) and down here it’s just me and him vs. the world. The impact of my relationship with God and music has most positively expressed itself through my senior friends“

“I’ve recently begun playing at a local retirement community every other Wednesday and their feedback is the richest. My new favorite comment is, “You have a lovely voice, but you’re just so pleasant to look at!” Readers can’t know that I’m no beauty queen, but I’ve been told time and time again that I have joyful presence, that I bring levity to heavy situations, that I seem to easily find the most practical way to accomplish a task. I was told to give my very best and in all my years, despite the recognition my voice has received, I’ve come to know the greatest gift I’ve been given is my perspective; it is all I am and all I have to offer, and though I’m learning through trial and error not to “throw my pearls to pigs” all in all I ‘put myself out there’ because where else am I supposed to go?

AND SO, ….I SHARE

msannegirl.com

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