I Got It From My...

My Ganny was a classically trained musician. I grew up hearing stories of her infamous solo at Carnegie Hall in New York with the Madison College Glee Club (now James Madison University). I can still hear her playing "Summertime" by Gershwin on the baby grand piano in the center of her farmhouse living room. She got it from her mother, a classical pianist who taught at the Collegiate level, which was quite an accomplishment for a woman way back then). That legacy of music was passed on to my dad and his siblings and then to me and my cousins, except...

I was the kid who threw a fit and begged to quit piano lessons. I flat out struggled to read music. It just never clicked for me and because of that, I disqualified myself from being a "real" musician. When it came to singing, I was shy aside from the occasional church or talent show solo. Needless to say, music definitely wasn't in my career plans. I didn't think I had anything to offer a world full of incredibly talented musicians.....until I fell into songwriting as a young adult.

When I released my first solo CD (remember those?!) in 2010, it was not the singing or performing that mattered most to me, it was the message in the songs. I had survived the hardest season of my life and couldn't hold back the flood of songs that told not just my story, but of the hope that I had found in my faith through the heartache.

One day not long after, I walked into my Grandmother's farmhouse for a regular visit. To my surprise, the first thing she wanted to talk about was my music. I'll never forget the encouragement I received from her that day. "Honey, your hymns are wonderful!" she said with the kind of beaming pride only a grandmother can have. Personally, I wouldn't have called my little songs "hymns," but it was precious to me that she did - it meant that she listened to the messages of faith I had written from my heart. To have her whole-hearted support made me feel like a "real" musician after all.

I hope she's listening from heaven as I release these songs about what I learned from her life and legacy. I have a feeling she's smiling over that too.