She Magazine APRIL 2016 | Page 82

The Art & Soul of Music feature Story by Ashley Elvington • Vintage Daisy Photography the hinson Girls JIMMY HINSON HAS ALWAYS STRESSED TO HIS DAUGHTERS the value of stick- tors with whom they clicked. “We always felt those lessons were more than just an ing together as a family. “We first tried riding dirt bikes together and while that was educational opportunity. We were looking for someone who caught the passion lots of fun, it just didn’t fit all of us as an ongoing hobby. Then we got into riding horses behind what our dad has always taught us. It isn’t about the single dream of one per- together. At one time, we had a horse for each of the six of us. We would ride trails son, but yet keeping the family together and following the passion behind the talents.” together and started showing horses at local shows,” shares Kristin, the oldest of the girls. 82 While all four can play guitar, three of the sisters set out to find an instrument of their own. Katelyn plays mandolin, Allison plays banjo, and Melissa plays upright bass. As the expenses of taking care of six horses seemed to only increase, Jimmy Kristin remained as the guitarist. Remembers Kristin, “In addition to being the guitar introduced his daughters to the guitar. Kristin recalls, “We first started playing coun- player, I settled into the role of lead spokesperson while performing and planning. try music together because that was what we listened to on the radio. Our youngest After several months of trying out the family band, we realized we needed a bass sister, Katelyn, would begin to sing, and we started to notice that she had a gift for player. The natural and most obvious choice was Melissa. She first gave the drums it. We immediately started dreaming of having our own family band and started a try. However, once we found bluegrass music, it was obvious drums were not an practicing songs together. Once we had several songs ready to perform, we shared option. For Dad’s birthday one year, he asked for an acoustic electric bass, and these talents with some of our family and friends at family reunions and some local that’s what Melissa learned to play.” After adjusting to that for a little over a year, she events in our community.” switched to upright bass. “After lots of encouragement, she found that she was gifted After considering their future, the girls decided that country music wasn’t the best with this instrument. After about three years of playing with it, we found an antique route to take as young teenage girls. “That’s when our dad introduced us to blue- 1943 Kay bass that, despite looking rough, had a deep bass sound that stepped up grass music. At first, we laughed at him, because we had never heard of bluegrass our sound. Melissa’s enjoyment took root with this, and she now loves playing and and didn’t know anyone else who listened to it.” Things changed, however, once feeling the ‘mashing’ sounds of her doghouse bass.” Jimmy is their sound technician Jimmy took the girls to the International Bluegrass Music Association in Nashville, and band coach, and mom Ashley handles booking and marketing. Kristin admits, where they met other young musicans who played bluegrass. Once they returned “Both of them are a huge part of everything we do: song selection, stage perfor- home to South Carolina, the girls decided to try their hand at performing bluegrass. mance, clothing choices, and overall atmosphere. They also drive the van for us and “Looking for bluegrass music teachers wasn’t very hard, but it did take some effort. chaperone as needed! We as a family have grown together in our faith. We’ve The bluegrass community has always been very welcoming to new fans and mu- experienced the highs and the lows together and have been able to encourage one sicians.” They spoke with several people in the industry and quickly found instruc- another throughout the entire journey.” CONTINUED... APRIL 2016 SHEMAGAZINE.COM