There’s almost nothing in Elm Springs, Arkansas—except the tiny Assemblies of God church where I spent every Sunday morning of my childhood. My Grammy has been the music director of that church for over sixty years, which pretty much makes the place a family heirloom. Each week, I would sing along to the hymns (which everyone had memorized) loud enough for Grammy to hear me all the way from the second to last pew—the one that had a little piece of cushion missing, the one that would sigh when my once-family would sit on it. It was in that pale blue pew where I sang drone pitches and cried out with the harmonies that rang in my ear, that pressed against the hairs of my forearm and made them stand proudly. 

I learned to sing and play piano in that little country church, and when I was in high school, my Grammy signed me up for a competition called Fine Arts. I somehow landed myself at the national level of the competition and won the Award of Merit (or, the national championship) with my piano entry. That was when I realized that I would never forgive myself if I didn’t spend my life chasing my dreams of creating music. I started teaching myself the oboe, english horn, trumpet, mellophone, french horn, flute, saxophone, etc… since I didn’t have any friends who I could play with, I layered tracks of myself performing on the different instruments—it was like I had made my very own band.

Just when I thought I had learned a lot about music, I started my undergraduate dual degree at Harvard and Berklee… and I realized that I knew so, so, so very little. Private instructors like Ben Cook, Zahili Gonzalez Zamora, and Hey-Rim Jeon opened my eyes and ears to worlds of music I had never been exposed to while growing up in Arkansas—and I’d like to think that I was able to teach my instructors a thing or two about the underappreciated, chill-inducing, inspirational music of the American Ozarks. I started incorporating my gospel roots into vocal and instrumental arrangements, and when I became the music director of the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones, my ear for arranging truly began to soar freely. The harmony knowledge I developed at Berklee helped me shape my voice as a creator because I became able to take those familiar hymns and turn them into something entirely new—and my own. 

My first breakthrough arrangement was an acappella version of Yebba’s “Boomerang,” for which I was nominated as a finalist for Best Collegiate Mixed Voices Arranger by the Contemporary Acappella Recording Awards. From there, I began applying soul and gospel techniques to rock, pop, indie, country—the opportunities were endless. Affiliates of Harvard’s premiere arts and letters organization, the Signet Society, took note of my collegiate musical success and elected me to membership in Fall 2024, when I joined the ranks of notable alumni like T.S. Eliot and Rashida Jones. Joining the Signet connected me to a worldwide network of artists and musicians, and I began exploring that network with my fellow Harvard acappella singers. Together, we have toured in Europe, South America, and beyond; I never could have imagined that I would be sharing my Pentecostal musical upbringing with people around the globe. 

Now, entering my final semester in the Harvard-Berklee program, I am getting ready to present my senior Honors Thesis to the Harvard English department. This thesis project explores the music of the American Ozarks—from church songs to the ancient rituals of the Chickasaw indigenous tribe (of which I am an enrolled member)—through the lens of creative writing and storytelling, poetry and essay, and original compositions. While I have been working on this project for over a year, the more time I spend writing and creating, the more time I realize I need to gather a true and honest understanding of these beautiful traditions. There are fascinating, untold stories from the Ozark region that should be in mainstream media and creative outlets globally. It has been my great honor to be able to document some of those stories through writing and song. I dream of the opportunity to share art—through arranging, performance, writing—that profoundly and authentically represents the beauty of the cultures that have shaped me.