MySpace a place for friends

I’ve been singing since I can’t even remember. I remember learning harmony around age 6 maybe 7 in the bathroom while my mom was doing my hair. She taught me the difference between melody and harmony. I could never really read music all that well. I took piano lessons in the 5 grade but my sister and I used to skip all the time to ride our bikes. I typically sang harmony to my sister at church growing up and at various churches throughout Texas. While in college at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX, I had the chance to go on a mission trip to Taiwan and sing in a worship band. We stuck together afterwards, playing at University chapel and various youth events throughout West Texas. Eventually, we gained another lead singer--an amazing singer/songwriter, who inspired us to give our band a real identity. That’s how Brother Jack was born. (The name certainly wasn’t my favorite, but the rest of the guys loved it.) We started writing together, and before long, we had recorded our first album. We played coffee houses and festivals, youth events and Disciple Nows . . . pretty much anywhere anyone would let us. And I’ve got to admit--It was fun. A lot of fun. We were making music, selling CDs, and getting our name out there. Brother Jack t-shirts sold like crazy (probably even better than our actual CDs)! My sister lives in Abilene now and says she still sees them around town every now and then. Gotta love that! We were even featured on the radio several times on The Battle of the Bands, hosted by Abilene’s Christian station, KGNZ. But no matter how much fun it was, once we all reached our last few semesters of college, it just got too hard to keep the band up along with everything else. A few of us started more demanding jobs. Some of us got married. I guess you could say that life took its toll on us. We were all going our own ways, different ways. And after a couple years together, Brother Jack called it quits. My younger sister, who’s not only a lovely singer, but also an extremely talented songwriter, headed to HSU just two years after I did. We enlisted the help of our friend Andrew (who’s now my husband) and started putting her lyrics to music. Together, we recorded an EP of 5 original songs. And we sang as much and as often as we could . . . anywhere we could. But life happened again. Andrew and I got married. My sister got married and had a baby. We moved away to be closer to Andrew’s daughter. Now my sister and I are both writing. I’ve recorded 5 of my own songs and am working on a few more with Andrew for my upcoming full-length album. He’s the audio/visual director at our church, where I sing in the worship band. Did I mention that in addition to his recording skills, Andrew plays guitar and drums? Actually, we’ve been playing together since that mission trip to Taiwan all those years ago. And we still love it. Singing is still my passion. No matter what’s happened in my life, music has always been in my heart, and I think it always will be. Andrew and I both still love playing anywhere we can whenever our schedule allows it. And, hopefully, once the album is finished, it will be easier to travel more and do what we’ve always wanted to do. Until then . . .