A timeline of my music interests:
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| Dad and I playing guitar when I was 3 years old. Well, he was playing guitar. I was just pretending! And, what's up with my hat? |
0-4 years old: The house I lived in from when I was born until I was 4 years old had a recording studio in the basement that my dad built. He was in a couple of bands and music was always a big part of his life. I grew up pretending to be a rock star by recording my hit singles in the studio and dancing to the tunes my dad played on his guitar. He even gave me a toy guitar because I wanted “to be just like daddy!” After several attempts at teaching me chords, I sadly never did learn to play the guitar, but dad certainly gave me an appreciation for the instrument.
5-9 years old: The first band I ever liked came about after we moved to the house we still live in today and I met a new neighborhood friend there. I was 5 years old, drinking out of a Vitamin C juice box and saw a group of five guys on there. “Who are they?” I asked my friend. “The Backstreet Boys!” he replied. He told me they were his favorite band (and yes, this was a boy). We started listening to them and I bought my first-ever musical item—it was the Backstreet Boys’ first album on a TAPE. Yes…a tape. My admiration for BSB turned into more of an obsession when a new neighborhood girl moved in across the street. We had BSB dance parties and I shared with her my diary entries about how cute Nick Carter was. When I was 9, we went on a 5 hour road trip to Grand Forks, ND to go to our first BSB concert together and this was my first concert ever! Nick Carter even waved to me and at the naive age of 9, I said I could die happy after that.
10-12 years old: My parents grew up with classic rock and roll and that’s what they listened to around the house. Among my dad’s favorites are Kansas, Yes, Rush, and Eric Johnson. It wasn’t until high school when I finally realized that this was good music because after my BSB phase, dad accidentally brought me up to be a country girl. My dad discovered Shania Twain one day when she sang a duet with Elton John to “You’re Still the One.” My dad formed a huge crush on her, bought her tape “Come on Over” (yes, another tape!) and listened to it constantly. In effect, I also loved her music.
My dad and I went to Shania Twain’s concert when I was 12. Her opening act was Emerson Drive. After never listening to country music before other than Shania, I surprisingly liked Emerson Drive. That night, I also learned that there was a country music radio station in the Twin Cities called K102. I began listening to this station because I was getting sick of listening to all the same songs on the mainstream music radio stations and I also wanted to hear Shania and Emerson Drive. It was very hard for me to listen to country at first. I did NOT like it. I then got a “Now That’s What I Call Country” cd and that’s when I began to tolerate, then like country music. Rascal Flatts was one of the first bands off that cd that I really liked with their song “Love You Out Loud.” Because of my father’s crush on Shania, he turned me into a country music fanatic!
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| Me playing at my middle school orchestra concert at 13 years old. |
13-15 years old: Throughout middle school and the beginning of high school, I did lots of experimenting with different kinds of music, not just country. In middle school I gained an interest in orchestra music because I began playing the viola/violin (the only instruments I can play besides the recorder ha!). My favorite is Trans-Siberian Orchestra. My mom also loves their music so we have been to a couple of their concerts. It’s not Christmas unless you have TSO blasting on the surround sound system!! My general appreciation for music also began to grow at this time because as I advanced in the sport of figure skating, I began to see how important the song choice is when creating a program. Figure skating is an art by using movement to express emotions and ideas; music enhances these aspects of figure skating.
Then, after an incredibly strange period of time in 7th grade when I had an unhealthy obsession with Clay Aiken, my music interest really broadened. (I will write about my infatuation for Clay Aiken in a blog post sometime.) The All American Rejects and Ingram Hill were my favorite bands for quite some time. I also liked some alternative/rock type of music like Fall Out Boy, Creed, Hoobastank, All Time Low, Switchfoot, Thousand Foot Krutch, etc. Josh Groban soon became one of my all-time favorite artists and I even did a figure skating routine to his song “Remember” from the movie “Troy.”
16-17 years old: It was the last two years of high school when country music became the only genre I usually listened to. If I wasn’t listening to country, then I was listening to pop music like Jonas Brothers, Jesse McCartney, and re-visiting BSB. On the country side, I was one of the first Lady Antebellum fans and I deemed them my favorite band for awhile. Then, they became EXTREMELY popular. Do I know talent when I see it or what? Josh Gracin was also an artist I liked A LOT. His album “We Weren’t Crazy” brings back a lot of good memories from spring of my junior year of high school. Then, in April of 2009 I discovered the band, Love and Theft. Their music is what led me into a whole new world and new passion for music. You can read about Love and Theft here.
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| Interviewing Justin Moore on his tour bus! 4-30-10 |
18-19 years old: Moving away from home and going to college was quite difficult for me at first. The hardest part was that I had to quite figure skating, which was part of my life for 10 years. No longer being part of the figure skating community was extremely hard for me to accept because they were like family to me. Everything in my life changed, but the music I listened to did not have to change. Once I got more into music, I joined message boards and twitter and began going to more concerts. Soon, I became part of the music community. I started going to concerts on almost a weekly basis because there were free ones on my campus and my local country radio station, K102, always had music events going on. I even became an intern for a local music entertainment TV show that got me into concerts for free and I got to meet some musical artists like Green River Ordinance and Never Shout Never (Christofer Drew). I even got to interview an artist—Justin Moore!! After the interview and going to his show, he became one of my top favorite country artists. The summer after my freshman year of college was one of the best summers of my life because of all the amazing concerts I went to and I met some of my closest friends at those concerts. With no exaggeration, music changed my life and was there for me when I had nothing else to lean on.
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| In Chicago for the Country Music Festival in Millenium Park with some of the INCREDIBLE friends I have met from around the country because of music! Oct 2010 |
CURRENTLY: I am 20 years old and I am more in love with music than I ever have been before. I have been taking more time to try and learn about new artists and learn about the local scene here in the Twin Cities. Unfortunately, my favorite local artist, Ari Herstand, moved to California! I was bummed. I am even trying to branch out more to genres and artists that I haven’t given a chance. For example, I am becoming a fan of Amos Lee and I have recently fallen in love with John Mayer and his guitar playing, which I never used to consider his music “my style.” I’ve also enjoyed finding artists who are popular on YouTube. My favorites are Tyler Ward and Caroline County (Julia Sheer and Matthew McGinn). AND I’ve been researching to find county artists in Nashville who are just beginning to break out onto the scene like Mallary Hope, Jordyn Shelhart, and Jesse Lee. I hope to do some writing about all of these artists! And finally, in the country music scene, I have a new favorite—a 19 year old by the name of Hunter Hayes. He’s about my age, plays over 30 instruments, has a beautiful head of hair, an extremely sexy and appealing voice, and he’s an absolute gentleman (yes, I have met him!).
And because you made it to the end of this, I will share with you who my top 10 all-time favorite musical artists are. In order:
1. Love and Theft
2. Josh Groban
3. Shania Twain
4. Backstreet Boys
5. Ingram Hill
6. Justin Moore
7. Green River Ordinance
8. Rascal Flatts
9. Josh Gracin
10. Lady Antebellum
11. Hunter Hayes (he’s a newbie, so I feel bad if I put him in the top ten when many of these artists have been in my life for quite awhile, but I am quite sure Hunter will be moving to the top of the list pretty soon!)
*Interesting fact: The lead singer of Ingram Hill is also named Justin Moore. Ha!!
