Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jayna Jennings. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jayna , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I hope that my legacy will be that I helped people process life. When I’m writing a song, I take all the allotted 3 minutes to say what I want to say and to fill that space with what I want to process as if no one but myself would ever hear it, but am also aware that as a part of the human race, my experiences are not necessarily unique to me. My circumstance might be unique to me, the exact way it happened might be exclusive to me, but the feelings behind it, the concepts involved are all the same for all of us. We all can relate to what it feels like to be lonely, we all experience sadness and joy, love and heartbreak. So as I’m recording and releasing music, what is at the forefront of my mind is that I hope that someone who hears it is able to say “this is exactly what I’ve been feeling and exactly what I needed to hear.”

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m Jayna Jennings and I got into this industry because I never stop writing music, I would rather sing than eat, and I am captivated by how much a song can hold using only a few chords and verse chorus structure. I am actually a vocal coach and piano/guitar instructor on the side because I love helping others learn this fascinating craft. I trained vocally at Jan Smith Studios and then went on to receive the honor of JMA Folk/Americana Vocalist of the year for last three years. The backbone of my work is the desire to spread hope through music and connect with as many people as I can through what I find to be such a healing outlet.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I always try to show up with a mind to work. In the music industry, your time is valuable but so is everyone else’s time. When I show up for a gig, I try to always make sure I am set up and ready for the event in a timely manner and try to keep the night moving in a professional way. Gigging is fun and it’s extra fun if you and your team and the venue/host feel(s) respected. I try to keep my equipment up to speed and remember to thank the sound crew! As for recording, I try to have my music outlined, a game plan for the day so we can get to making the music! I show up to writes feeling ready with an idea or a direction to take a song and try not to let myself feel insecure about any ideas. The more you put yourself out there, the more friends you will make and the more fun you will have in this business!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

2020 was a time when I really had to shift the way I approached music. I had just gotten off a tour in 2019 and was ready to get back out on the road for another one in spring of 2020. And we all know what happened there. So suddenly all my gigs were cancelled and I realized not only did my source of revenue start to disappear, but my connection with my fans was changing toward more a more virtual relationship. I had just been traveling around hugging everyone and then suddenly, I was reading comments and wondering when we would be together again. I decided to do a virtual tour and schedule as many livestreams on as many different platforms as I could. And it was such an amazing experience! We talked and chatted and I learned that livestreams were a totally different feel than any performance I had done before. It was freeing because you can joke and chat and basically have no schedule and just hangout with your viewers. Shows started coming back and we started seeing each other again, and I have brought a few livestream lessons with me and incorporated some of that etiquette into my in person shows.

Contact Info:

• Website: jaynajennings.net
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/jayna__jennings
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/jaynajennings13
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/jayna__jennings
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCOCepPr_Za830Rplef7jfjw

Image Credits
DEW Photography