We recently connected with Broken Vessel Music and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Broken Vessel Music thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I honestly wish I had been more bold in my creative career sooner. There are few things that I enjoy more than expression through music but some of the aspects of being in the public eye and navigating the Christian music industry created an apprehension within me. Since then I’ve grown more comfortable with the idea of being recognized (or even commended) for my talents as well as established some relationships that helped to remove some of the unknowns that exist in the Christian music industry. It is my hope and prayer that my life and music career now will encourage others to truly walk in their calling; God placed that in your heart to do! Don’t let that waste away!

Broken Vessel Music, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My given name is Meryn E. Hammond III but my stage name is Broken Vessel Music. I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. I come from a musical family. Since I could stand up in front of people, get the words right, and not cry, I’ve been singing with my family at various church events. I began writing in high school where and fell in love with it as a means of expression. I officially began my journey as a solo artist in 2014 although I have participated in music events and church services across the country, I still make the time to continue singing with my family at various services in the St. Louis area.

Today I participate in music events locally and nationally and I serve on the worship and media teams at Twin Rivers Church in St. Louis Missouri. I’ve had the incredible fortune to share the stage with a few of the biggest names in Gospel music, submit music for television and movie considerations and serve musically in my local church. I aim to continue growing, singing and writing so that that I can leave a musical legacy worth remembering.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My ultimate driving mission in music has three parts. The first is to create songs that synchronize themselves with the “heartbeat” of your internal happenings, and then turn THAT attention to Jesus Christ. It is very easy to see that there are many talented singers, writers, composers and producers that have the ability to create music that can move the mind and emotions in the most powerful of ways. But a heart that is pointed towards Christ creates an experience with God that is much more powerful than just a heart that has feelings about Him; its the difference between thinking about God and actually interacting with Him. I desire to serve a role in helping others interact with the God in the Bible.

The second part is simply sharing my walk and journey with Christ through music in order to help others in theirs. A phrase that has become common in the Christian community is the statement

“You don’t know my story.”

And this is true; everyone’s walk with Christ is unique. But when the time and opportunity comes to actually tell it, many opt to communicate things that have been expressed many times before and use many of the same phrases that have been repeated for years. I can’t allow myself to fall into such a pattern. So I aim to share things specifically from my life in hopes that the music feels different and they get something meaningful that they can apply in their walk to get closer to Christ.

The third part is working to address the segregation that exists within the Family of God. In 2015 the Holy Spirit told me “the moment you and anyone else accepted Christ, you became family…and none of you have any choice in that matter.” We are united in the blood of Jesus but spend so much of our spiritual journeys segregated. I am in the early stages of establishing “Music of the Kingdom.” Its a series of Christian music and arts events focused on celebrating and affirming musical diversity found in the Family of God. I’m anticipating our next event in Junction City Kansas in January 2024 called “Rhythm and Praise;” a music event focused on featuring Christian rappers and urban gospel artists based in Kansas and Missouri.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Its easy to find the artists and genres that you may like and aggressively avoid and/or criticize music outside of that. But I want to encourage people to be open, even just a little more than usual to explore and listen to a variety of styles and artists. There’s so much diversity and nuance if you just take the time and listen; you almost certainly will discover something you didn’t know you actually liked, be it an new artist or a different genre of music.

Not only that, there are a lot of creatives that work hard to produce work they are proud of, that will go through the painful experience of having little to no one engage with their work. The act of listening to/viewing their work and offering a compliment does far more to encourage creatives more than most realize. Make the decision to be the one that will give that boost!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.linqapp.com/brokenvesselmusic
• Email: brokenvmusic@gmail.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/brokenvesselmusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrokenVesselMusic
• Youtube: youtube.com/brokenvesselmusic
• Other: https://brokenvesselmusic.bandcamp.com/