From drive-by birthday parties to family-only proms, families across the country are finding unique ways to cope with the effects COVID-19 is having on the important moments in their lives. For one Ohio family, that solution came in the form of an at-home concert series, “The Shelter In Place Tour.”
The Stamper clan’s life has almost always revolved around music. When Kyle and Christy Stamper welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Abigail, they were youth pastors at a growing Florida church and leading worship every Sunday. If you ask Abigail’s mother in the right audience, she’ll even tell you the story about feeling the inkling of labor starting…while onstage singing at church.
From Florida to Indiana to the Carolinas and then back to Florida, the Stamper family’s musical and spiritual endeavors propelled them onward. Kyle and Christy added a son. Christy homeschooled and both kids excelled. Abigail, though, was especially ambitious.
Because music was so important to her and the rest of the family, she learned to play any instrument she was handed. She also started going to community college full time at just 16 years old.
It only made sense, then, that when it was time to fly the nest, Abigail would continue her musical pursuits. Her parents took a job leading music at Towne Church in Middletown, and Abigail ended up at Anderson University, a small private Christian college in Indiana, studying music business.
At 19, Abigail, who is tall, blonde and friendly just like the rest of her immediate family, was almost ready to graduate. She found out during her senior year that she was accepted into the prestigious internship Best Semester program through the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities at the Contemporary Music Center in Nashville, Tennessee. While she was there, she and the other participants in the program worked on writing and recording their own music.
At the end of their internship, they were set to embark on a small tour together. But god and Mother Nature had other plans.
She was in her apartment the night tornadoes ravaged East Nashville; the trendy part of town Abigail frequented during her short time in the area. She and her new friends spent time working on the clean-up.
Then, only a couple weeks later, COVID-19 began rearing its head across America. Venues across the country were canceling performances and closing down. Abigail’s internship was ending early.
“When we found out, we actually thought we were being grouped together because there was another tornado warning that day,” Abigail says. ”However, our director told us we were being sent home and it was truly the most crushing thing to hear.”
Abigail found herself back in Ohio, back in her parents’ home and unsure what her future would hold.
“It’s so difficult to complain at all because most everyone is losing so many precious things, many are even losing family members,” Abigail says. “It’s devastating, which is why my friends and I in the program have all tried our absolute hardest to remain positive and continue working with whatever resources we have to continue making our dreams of music a reality. However, it is still difficult to process as this program was something so many of us had spent our whole lives dreaming about and working toward.”
Enter the rest of the Stampers, namely her little brother.
“It was actually my younger brother, Isaac, who had the idea for a house tour,” Abigail says. “It was the first Saturday in April that I was supposed to be on tour with my friends from Nashville, and I was extremely sad thinking about what could have been. At dinner Isaac said, ‘Well, we have plenty of rooms in our house, so you could still go on tour.’ He said it as a joke, but my family decided to make it real.”
While Abigail took a call, the remaining three Stampers set out to fully visualize the Shelter In Place Tour. They figured out dates to perform over Facebook Live. They even put together a list of venues, which included places like the family bathroom and Abigail’s bedroom.
Every few days, the family broadcasted on Facebook Live from somewhere in their home. Changing instruments faster than most people change underwear, the Stamper family put their talents on full display, always making sure to highlight Abigail’s strengths.
From old hymns to songs Kyle and Christy wrote as a young couple, their time of music is filled with songs that tug at heartstrings and bring both smiles and tears. Abigail has her own original songs, too. Her sweet voice rolls through the spiritually deep and emotionally tender lyrics with the ease of someone who has been singing her entire life. Because, well, she has.
People from across the country — scattered family, church friends left behind and even a few strangers — tuned in to hear them sing. It may not be exactly what Abigail had pictured for her senior year of college. And it’s certainly not the typical “tour.”
But it shows an optimism and maturity you wouldn’t expect from a now-20-year-old who just watched her dreams go down the drain.
The future is uncertain. Music will last forever. And, if this family’s answer to a canceled tour is proof at all, Abigail Stamper’s music is likely to last nearly as long. Her next big plan: Save up and head back to Nashville.
You can find music from Abigail and her classmates’ Best Semester project at Semester38.com and follow Abigail’s journey on her Instagram.
Bonus: If you want to help commemorate the Shelter In Place Tour and, likely, help fund Abigail’s next musical adventures, tees are available at bonfire.com/the-stamper-family-shelter-in-place-tour-2020.
This article appears in Apr 15 – May 5, 2020.