We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jenny Reynolds a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jenny, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?
My wife was also a singer-songwriter, and a piano teacher. We had a healthy lifestyle, but that doesn’t prevent terminal illness. After courageously battling a rare neurological disease for almost 10 years, Kerry passed in 2017.
This issue couldn’t be resolved. It was unstoppable, and had to move at its own pace.
I had to change everything in our lives almost entirely to care for her, and didn’t release any new music for 12 years. I was still playing at home had some gigs (nearly all local). I practiced guitar and wrote a lot. It was important to have music in my life as I watched Kerry’s disease progress.
Since her passing, I’ve had to rebuild my career. It wasn’t like starting over, but it was close to that. In June of 2020, during the pandemic, I released a new record: Any Kind of Angel. I worked hard, and had the opportunity to record and play with amazing musicians. The record is my fourth release, and it has been received very well. I’m now at work on the next one.
Jenny, 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?
I started playing guitar almost as soon as my parents let me. First lesson was when I was 5 and was on a 4-string guitar. I played in school in the Boston area, where I’m from, and released my first record, Colored in Poetry, in 1998. It received a Boston Music Award Nomination. Many of the songs on it were placed on soap operas for nearly 3 years. Since then I’ve released 3 more records, and just began work on my 5th. I moved from Boston to Austin, Texas in 2003 and still call Austin home.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
We musicians used to release CDs, physical recordings of our work. Technology intervened. With the rise of downloadable music via Napster and iTunes, we all had to pivot to digital format. Today, streaming has again changed the way we realize music. It is much more accessible to our audience, which is great! Online livestreams became our only way to perform during the Covid lockdown. The lesson from all of this is that we have to embrace technology and we have to keep up with it.
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I’m all for NFTs as long as the original creator is fairly compensated. Any form of digitization is fine by me as long as it is monetized for the benefit of the creator. For music, performance rights organizations like BMI and ASCAP should administrate income for NFTs and distribute money to artists like they do now for traditional licensing. I’m glad to see they’re at work on that process.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jennyreynolds.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jennyreynolds1918
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/austinjennyreynolds
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jennyreynolds
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_niQO9K-CVESB-ghY_zLyD-HyLfO3G51dg
- Other: https://linktr.ee/jennyreynolds
Image Credits
Todd Wolfson John Grubbs Liz Linder