Music & Family

 Hey y'all! This interview was very fun and special. I got to interview my grandpa on my dad's side, named Terry Humphries. He has been a direct inspiration for my love for music. Growing up, I would hear his boombox playing Southern Gospel CD's and I remember hearing him singing to it and practicing his songs. When I started music, I sang in church, and he was the one who helped suggest songs to me, and crazy enough, I started singing Southern Gospel music in church when I was very, very little. I really enjoyed this interview, and I hope y'all enjoy it as well.

My Papa and I have sung before together when I was younger, and even now that I'm older he'll sing with me sometimes. I love it, and it is so so special when we sing together.

Me: When did you fall in love with music?
Papa: I started loving music when I was a little boy. Actually, when I was real young, I loved Southern Gospel music. My mom and dad would take me to the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, and I loved the quartets there. I really got into the harmonies of Southern Gospel music, and that's what I've loved all my life.

(For background information, my grandpa used to sing in Southern Gospel quartets.)

Me: How long did you sing in the Southern Gospel Quartet?

Papa: Oh, probably about 25-30 years. I sang with several Southern Gospel quartets. One of them I was in for a while was named the Singing Disciples. Every weekend, we'd travel and sing to, mostly, little, small churches. But it's something I really enjoyed.

Me: Do you and MawMaw (my grandma) have a wedding song?

Papa: I don't remember the songs we sang. You know, we've been married for a long time - over 56 years. Back in those days, people just sang the Lord's Prayer at the wedding, but we did have a church wedding.

Me: Do you have a favorite song?

Papa: I had so many favorite songs. I love all the Gaither songs. I really grew up on the Gaithers. I suppose me and Bill Gaither are about the same age. So, as I grew up, a lot of the songs I sang were by the Gaithers. Later on, I conducted the choir in a church for about 30-40 years and then moved onto another church and did the music there for several years. Music has just been a part of my life. 

Here is a song by the Gaithers that I can remember him singing growing up. My Papa sings this song throughout his daily life around me. I can always catch him humming or singing a tune.

Me: Did your parents like hearing you sing or share your love for music?

Papa: My parents weren't too much into music, but they would take me to a lot of gospel singings when I was younger. I remember groups like the Blue Ridge Quartet that was from right there in Spartanburg, South Carolina and that was one of my favorite groups. 

Me: Did you ever sing with your friends or build friendships with the people you sang with? 

Papa: The very first group I sang with was with my cousin, Johnny. We sang together for a long time. He was a great singer. He could have and did go a lot of places with singing after that. Most of the people I sang with were friends and people I knew all my life and were right around this area. 

Me: Did you buy any music or albums?

Papa: Oh, yeah. I had hundreds of Southern Gospel albums. Every time I'd go to a Southern Gospel singing, I'd always buy the albums. They had the 3 for 15, and I'd get just as many as I could get with the money I had. Later on, they switched to the 8-track tapes, and I'd buy them, and then the cassettes. Those types of media have come up a lot in recent years. 

Me: Do you have any memorable music moments that were pivotal to you?

Papa: I don't have many great music memories because in those days, you didn't go to a lot of big places to sing. A lot of them were just little, small churches. I remember going up in the mountains and singing in old mountain churches with a potbelly stove and sometimes, they would just have lanterns lighting the church. But still it was so fun to sing. We were just as happy to sing then as we were to sing at a bigger church because we were singing for the Lord and that's the only reason you're singing anyway. It didn't matter how many people were there. We were just there to have a good time.

Me: Do you support my goals and dreams in music? 

Papa: Oh, yeah. I can remember when you were just a little girl, and we'd have to move a chair behind the pulpit so you could stand in it and sing so people could see you. You started off singing gospel songs and then later on, you were in a praise band. If I would have had any dream for you, it's that you would have a music career, and I just hope you go far in that career.  

By the way, me standing in a chair behind the pulpit really happened. I can remember trying to hide behind it because I was so scared. Thank you for reading, and I will be back soon!

Music & Traditions

 I've been asked to sing at one funeral, which was for the mother of a dear friend of mine. It was about two years ago, and it was by far, the hardest thing I've ever had to do when it comes to being a musician. I was asked to sing a song they requested, which was "Jealous of the Angels." To see the faces and the tears of the family on the other side of the pulpit was very, very difficult. This song was somewhat comforting but at the same time, tremendously sad. The song talks about holding onto the spirit and love of the person that passed and also being jealous that they are away from you and instead in Heaven with the Lord. Here are lines from the first verse: "I'm so numb, I can't feel anymore, prayin' you'd just walk through that door." That's what makes the song so sad to me. I wish the song had replaced those lines with something more comforting. "I'm so numb" is honestly probably true when dealing with loss and grief, but I just wanted to comfort them more instead of singing words that were so blunt and depressing. My experience with singing at this funeral was very emotional. It was very difficult to not cry when I was singing, which makes the piece we listened to in class, "Mother's Lament" very real and I cannot imagine her pain. I just remember hearing how the family would cry more during the choruses and how much I noticed I could hear them crying, and not just see them crying. After that, I did not want to sing at funerals ever again, but I would if asked now, to try to bring the family comfort. Below is the song I sang.

My heart goes out to the family, and I am sorry for anyone who has had to deal with loss or had to sing or play at a funeral.

This past summer, I was asked to sing at a wedding! It was my brother's life-long best friend and his wife getting married and I was SO excited. I was asked to sing two songs, and they were to be played during the lighting of the Unity candle and when they were prayed over by the church. One of the songs was "I Can't Even Walk" and this version of the song was by Cody Johnson, and the other song was "The Blessing" by Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes. My guitar player played with me for these two songs. The church they got married in was beautiful, and the ceremony itself was incredible.  I got to practice the songs and hear the sound at the dress rehearsal the night before, so I was very prepared. I sat in the choir section of the church with my guitar player during the entire ceremony, and we could see people coming in before it started, and there were a lot of people at the wedding. I had loved both of the songs prior to the wedding, and they were both so powerful. I really enjoyed "The Blessing" because it was truly like a prayer over the couple and their family. The bride loved the songs too and she was happy with how it all worked out which was awesome. I even got some pictures from the photographer of us playing, so I will insert them here. I love love.

I did shorten "The Blessing" because this version is very long. For "I Can't Even Walk" I raised it up to be in my key. Here they are :) I hope y'all enjoy.

If you want chills, here you go. I have chills every time I hear the bridge.

Here is the recorded version of "I Can't Even Walk". It is SO good.

As a bonus, here is a live version featuring more artists and it is incredible. Check out the fiddle ;)

Music & Me!

 Hey y'all! My name is Jasmine Humphries, Jazzy for short. I'm a singer-songwriter, and I play guitar. I started singing in church when I was just three years old, and I sang my whole life, even joining the church choir and middle school choir, too. I was introduced to the guitar by my high school advanced music class and was gifted one that same Christmas from my parents. I then, incorporated playing guitar in the worship team I was in at church, and sang and played in that for a few years. In the meantime, I had been asked here and there to play gigs of my own. I asked the lead guitar player from that worship team if he would accompany me, and the rest is history. I began playing my own gigs with that guitar player, and now, I'm still playing gigs four years later. However, I incorporated my style, country music, into my set and have made it my passion. I'm currently writing songs and chasing the dream of being a performing artist - or honestly, a songwriter - wherever the wind takes me, I would be happy. This past April, I got my first FULL BAND for festivals and bigger shows - they're amazing - and play gigs with them too, AND my same guitar player is in it.

I was born in Union, South Carolina, and have been here my entire life. I chose Converse University because of the music program and started as a biology major with a minor in music, but I quickly changed my mind and took on a Contemporary Music with Media Applications Major, and I have not looked back since. Outside of music, I listen to music (wait that's still music... I just listen a lot and love it a lot), cook (there we go), bake, shop, and I'm a nerd about songwriting, so I love going to songwriter festivals, and I love playing them from time to time (went off topic again). 

I tried a bunch of guitars out before I found the one I love the most, and I don't think I will ever love another guitar like that one. It is a Gibson J-45, I've named Gibby, and I got it when I turned 17. I played a show one time, and cut my thumb as I was picking, kept playing the song with a bleeding finger, and now the sound hole of my guitar is splattered with a bit of blood. The show must go on, right???

1. Current Go-To:

A song that I have been loving lately is "Fall This Way" by Braxton Keith. It's just a good song. I am a lyrics person at heart, and this song is pretty great. It's a love song about not realizing you could ever fall so hard for someone. I am also a hopeless romantic, and the lyrics are so sweet. There are lines like, "You look at me and I feel my feet float away, and no gravity, it might as well be outer space right here in this room". Braxton's vocals are killer in this song, and it just makes me want to slow dance and scream the lyrics in the car every time I listen to it. I know one of the songwriters on it too, Dan Alley. I played in a songwriter's festival at Lake Martin, Alabama, and he played there too. I didn't hear him play this, but I was a fan of every song he played when I heard him. 

2. Meaningful Song***
***If you listen to any song in this list, listen to this one. I'm very passionate about it.

I have a song that has STUCK with me, and it's so good, I wish I would have written it myself. Ashley McBryde's, "Girl Goin' Nowhere" is top tier. I heard this song right when I first started playing gigs and I knew it was special from the moment I heard it. It talks about paying your dues as a musician and chasing the dream starting small but ending up reaching your dream and finally making it your career. This song still gives me chills as a singer-songwriter chasing my dream. I've played to two people before, and that was just my mom and dad, and they were only there because I asked them to help me carry my sound equipment in. And I've played to my entire hometown before with a bunch of people there, and I don't even know the number. That was when I opened for Bryce Leatherwood, and it was incredible. The thing is, I've played this song at almost every gig I've ever played because it means so much to me. I did play it at the hometown show too, and I hope to play it to bigger crowds someday. Or I hope to write a song about starting from nothing and finally reaching my dream just like Ashley did, because it is an absolute diamond of a song in my opinion. It has lines like, "and I need to thank my Daddy, for that first set of strings, and all those folks who swore I'd never be anything. It took a whole lot of 'yes I will's' and 'I don't cares', a whole lot of basement dives and county fairs." Literal chills. I've also seen Ashley McBryde in person before and this song is literally incredible live. The video I've attached has her singing it AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY. How absolutely amazing is that? If you don't know that is a dream venue for country music and basically every person who has ever "made it" has stepped into that circle and played there.

This was my hometown show where I played this song.

3. Music I don't connect with or understand:

I do not necessarily connect with songs that don't tell a story. I don't understand writing words that just sound good and don't have meaning (that is good at times, but not my preference). For this category, I chose a song that I can remember hearing in high school for the first time, and it made me laugh and cringe because I just don't understand it. It is The Beatles, "I Am The Walrus". I love The Beatles, but this song was odd. (If you know, you know.) I also can remember my classmates bursting out into song - and it was this song.

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog as much as I enjoyed making it! This was so much fun, and I can't wait to write more blogs! Bye y'all!