His voice telling me to go pick up a guitar again . Funny thing is a month before this , I got a new guitar which I asked for purely because I was bored . Coincidental ? I think not . God definitely had a plan for that .
I then dropped out of two music colleges , multiple jobs and had big family disagreements because I felt like I wasn ’ t fitting into the systems I was a part of , and I felt like I wasn ’ t being taken seriously . So I went to gigs , jam sessions and just got connected .
It wasn ’ t until a week or so before a flight to Nashville where my dear friend and session musician Spence Peppard gave me a video call . I remember Spence telling me that he wanted to try and help me and that God was pressing into his heart to call me for this opportunity which popped up quite unexpectedly . He told me that he was producing an artist who just came off being the top 5 or top 10 finalist of the 2018 American Idol season and his name was Cade Foehner . He told me that they were looking for someone to fill in on bass or guitar and if I would be interested to play on the tour . So , without hesitation I accepted the offer .
The REAL journey began heading back to Nashville . I had no idea what I was going to do , where I was going to stay or what the journey was going to be like . But God opened so many doors of opportunity and surrounded me with amazing people . I got to know Daniel Macal ( Sidewalk Prophets ) and within the next few weeks was getting flown or driven out to different parts of the country to record guitars on albums , play in peoples original shows , going to some of the most amazing studios in Nashville to play guitar , film sessions to do social media work for artists and gear companies , and getting to meet my musical heroes and create friendships with them .
I can never shake that feeling off and I ’ m very grateful to have experienced that time . It ’ s something I ’ ll never take for granted and it ’ s made me who I am today .
[ WM ] What are you currently doing ?
[ Jemm ] I ’ m a session guitarist , bassist , producer , writer and Music Director at my home church – Come To Jesus Church . The MD role totally caught me off guard because it ’ s never been a dream or a desire of mine to work at church , and I didn ’ t ask for a role there either . My pastors just brought it up to me because they felt that ’ s where the direction that God is taking the church … music and worship is a big part of that .
Being honest , at first I wasn ' t sure how to feel about it . The feeling of knowing you ’ ve travelled the world and have done some incredible things along with the sacrifice you ’ ve put into your craft made it painful to be offered something at the church you grew up at doing tasks you ’ ve been doing voluntarily for years . It just kind of gave me a feeling of “ Is this it , God ? Really ?”
However , it wasn ’ t until we had our second lockdown ( from the end of June to November 2021 ) where we took our online service production to such a high level that things really kicked in . I was mixing , producing , making tracks every week for the online pre-recorded services and providing our worship team inspiration and new ideas . We were blessing our church with worship during lockdown and I was so grateful that this role has helped play a significant part in church and impacting people to lead them into music because of this role .
During that time as well , I even made my debut EP “ Peace in The Chaos ”. It was just me , listening to the voice of God to make music to bless people during such a chaotic time in life . I was thrilled to have actually released original music for the first time in my life which was sort of a dream come true . It got more than 2,000 streams in the first 48 hours . I was shocked and grateful !