There is so much music out there, and so many people with different preferences.
But have you ever wondered why it is that you like some music and not others?
Have you ever pondered the possibility that your unique energetic blueprint might have some influence over that big why?
And how are these artists creating their music and lyrics?
Is there some secret formula that anyone can follow?
Or is there more of a soul-led endeavor at play?
On the Music By Design podcast, we are doing the research and finding out through deep interviews with both lovers and creators of music to find out exactly why it is that we love the music that we do and how the way it’s created can impact who’s going to like your music.
So come dive in with us.
Start cleaning your house.
Go on that long road trip because these are long episodes.
Hello, hello, and welcome back to Music By Design.
I am your host, Anna Kinney, from Anna With Intention, and hey, how are you doing?
I hope you all had a safe and wonderful, bountiful, candy-filled Halloween, or Samhain, for you witches out there.
Welcome to November.
We are moving into the darkness.
It was 7.20 this morning before I started to see any light.
And as much as I’m not the biggest fan of the time switches that we do here, daylight savings, I am kind of excited for it to be lighter earlier, again, for at least a little while.
So that’s happening in two days.
Um, we got, you know, big election coming up four days from now.
Um, I really don’t like talking about politics, but I love reframing politics.
I think I’m going to post a live or a real or something about this on my Instagram in the next few days before the official election day happens.
You can look forward to that at Anna with Intention on Instagram.
I have two really wonderful, incredible, awesome little events coming up on November 13th at 7:30 p.m.
on Zoom.
I am hosting a master class that is kind of background hosted by the WBOC, which is a women’s business networking organization I am a member of.
Love them.
Come check them out.
We meet every first Wednesday of every month.
Really great organization.
Love, love these women so much.
And so we are hosting what’s called a connections meeting where it features moi.
And I will be talking about how human design can be used to write a empowering personal myth.
This is going to be just about almost exactly pretty very similar to the same speech I gave at the Intentional Feminine in September.
So if you were there and didn’t make it to my talk or didn’t come at all and would like to hear more about what is StoryLab and how does human design fit into creating a transformational personal narrative, come to this class, come to this little Connections meeting.
It’s free.
It’s going to be about an hour and it’s going to blow your mind.
It’s really great and it’s a great way to get to know a little bit more about what the StoryLab immersive experience is about.
And that’s the other event that’s happening on November 16th from 1 to 5 p.m.
at the Center for Sound and Ceremony.
This is an in-person immersive workshop event.
It’s about four hours long.
We’re going to dive deep.
We’re going to do some really good work internally, externally, creatively, metaphysically, energetically, spiritually, all the things where we are going to go over the use of archetypal meaning-making systems like human design to help us create a outline and framework for an adventure, a story that will bring you through a journey that takes you from the shadow expressions of your energetics into the higher gift expressions of your energetics.
It’s a way of kind of tricking the brain into believing something actually happened.
There’s tons of neuroscience research going on out there that is proving that the same areas of the brain that control imagination are the same ones that perceive reality.
And if you visualize it vividly enough, your brain thinks it’s really happening.
And so we can use this to our advantage when wanting to shift patterns, beliefs, places in our lives where we’re struggling or stuck, we can actually write a adventure story.
Because also when it’s fun and playful, your brain learns it faster than if you’re just sitting there memorizing facts.
So this is going to be a fun, creative, incredible, transformational, amazing event.
I already have a handful of people that are signed up.
I’m so excited for this group that’s already forming.
There are a good number of seats still available.
It’s a good space in that Center for Sound and Ceremony.
We can comfortably fit 20 to 30 people.
I’m hoping to get at least 10 that come to this experience.
This is my first time hosting it.
I am a certified StoryLab Facilitator, certified through Karen Carey Parker, my teacher.
And it’s gonna be really good.
So it’s called StoryLab, claim your main character energy.
It’s a way to begin to write this new empowering story where you are officially stepping into the main character role in your own life through this fictional character that we will create together.
It’s going to be so much fun.
So if you’re on the fence about it and want to learn more, come to the free Connections meeting on the 13th, and then come to the live in-person event on Saturday.
All the details are in the show notes, all the registration links, all the things.
And I’ll also add the StoryLab workshop.
It’s only $44.
It’s probably gonna be more in future runs.
This is kind of, I don’t want, it’s not a beta run.
I’ve done this with myself and with one-on-one clients, and I’m so excited to just bring it to a group, a group experience.
And so $44 for this is really, really, really bargain price.
If you are curious and, or if you’ve ever done a workshop with me in the past and you just know that they’re great, just come, just come.
And if you’re really not sure and want to talk about it, send me a message.
I’m open to chat more about it.
So those are my big two events, big two things.
I’m so excited.
Coming up, Just FYI, we have another Mercury Retrograde coming up.
It feels like just yesterday we just had one.
But beginning November 7th, we will start the pre-shadow period, which will go until November 26th, just two days before Thanksgiving.
Mercury will go retrograde on November 26th, and it will be retrograde until December 16th.
And then we’ll be in post-shadow into the new year, a few days into the new year.
This feels almost exactly like the same Mercury Retrograde we had last year.
It’s almost in identical gates at the same time.
I think it occurred just maybe a few days later in the year last year.
We had more Gate 11 in there, I think.
But yeah, so pretty much for the next two months, we’re gonna be getting the same themes repeated over and over and over.
Gate nine, which is all about focus on the right details, knowing which details to focus on and not letting all the details overwhelm you.
Gate five, which is all about rhythm, consistency, routines.
This will be like what is coming up to be brought into a routine, what maybe some of your routines are old and stale, and you need to revamp them.
Maybe you don’t have any routines.
What rhythms of life themes are coming up for you around that?
And then gate 26, gate 26 is all about the sale.
It’s all about how you dress something up so that people want it.
And shadow, it’s kind of tricky energy, trickstery energy, slimy salesman energy, but in its high expression, it’s like, hey, I have been through this path.
I have been through this journey of pain, and I know how to turn it into gold.
That is the energy of Gate 26.
It’s truly, it’s about integrity, but it’s about knowing how to sell what it is you’re trying to sell because you once needed that same thing.
That’s why, often why people get into healing modalities, because they themselves were trying to heal something of their own.
I know I, when I got my reggae level one, that was really my first step into, like fully into the world of spirituality and energy healing and really just finally doing, you know, going for it for myself.
And I, my lower back pain was really, really, really unmanageable, really, really difficult to deal with on a daily basis, hour by hour basis.
Now it’s kind of, I’ve gotten to a place where my back was hurting me really bad last week.
I’m still kind of moving through that, but it’s not, it’s not every single day.
It doesn’t hurt me the same way that it used to.
And it’s because I’ve been on this journey for five years and have been doing the healing work, doing the real work.
So that’s what Mercury Retrograde is going to bring up for us.
Just pay attention, y’all.
And then we’re almost to the end of the year.
I’m so excited.
So…
I’m just going to get right into this episode.
I know last week was a late week.
Today, this episode is coming out late, but it’s still coming out on the day I said I would make it come out.
So here it is, November 1st, episode 22 of Music By Design.
This episode is so good.
I love interviewing songwriters.
I really do.
It’s I think it’s where season two is really going to lead me into more interviewing songwriters and musicians.
But really primarily songwriters.
I love interviewing these songwriters, especially ones that I personally know and have listened to their music for years and really love it.
And whether you know them or not, you will probably like their music too.
So I have Jess Brown from the band Root Shock in this episode.
And wow, she shares so much of her background, her insights, why she does what she does.
And this gal is so freaking in alignment with her design and she has such a unique one.
You’ll hear all about it in the episode.
It was also really, really long.
We did go into some of her favorite artists and that was like a whole nother hour.
So I’m going to publish that as a bonus episode in the Patreon, if you go to patreon.com/music by design.
Thank you so much as always for being here.
Hey, please, if you could take a second rate review on Spotify.
It’s so easy.
You just click on the three little dots next to the top of the podcast.
A little channel.
There’s three little dots, and then you click on those dots.
It says rate show, and you just click on rate show.
You just click on that fifth star and then hit submit.
And that’s literally all you got to do.
Apple, it’s a little bit more.
It would be awesome if you could actually write a review, even if it’s just a few words, saying how much you love my voice.
But every little bit counts.
And I’ve been calling in this energy by doing this myself.
With the podcast that I listen to.
I’m like, OK, I’m going to go through my whole list and I’m just rating everything five stars, because if I’m listening to it, I like it.
So it deserves five stars.
So I would love that.
It’s like just like one teeny, teeny, teeny, tiny way you can help me and this podcast succeed.
If you want to keep hearing, keep listening, please, please help us out.
All right.
Well, again, thank you and enjoy.
Welcome all to this episode of Music By Design with me, Anna Kinney.
I am here today with another incredibly special guest, a talented performer and local here to the Upstate New York area.
I’m sure many of you listening have heard her voice before, seen her kill it on stage, and probably maybe even know her personally.
Her name is Jess Brown from the band Root Shock, and also some solo stuff you’ve been dabbling with recently too.
And also she has a jewelry line called Reawakened Jewelry.
Is that correct?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I’m sure many other amazing things that I don’t even know about, but welcome Jess to the podcast.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, it’s definitely a pleasure.
Would you let our listeners know a little bit more about, yeah, like what all else you do that maybe we don’t know about that I didn’t mention?
And kind of like, what is Root Shock about for you?
And I’m also curious about like how that name came about, if there’s a story behind that.
I’m all about the stories.
And before you dive into that, like what’s your favorite color these days?
If you like, I’m the kind of person I change.
It changes every couple of years.
That kind of all of a sudden, I’m like really into green or I’m really into purple or I’m really into this shade or that shade, just because it’s bringing some something for me for that time of life usually.
But I know some people just have a tried and true.
And then also if you had any song stuck in your head today, what was like what was what did you do you ever like wake up with a song stuck in your head and if so, like what kind of what kind of song do we have recently?
Well, I’ll start with my favorite color.
It’s very specific.
It’s like burnt orange, like dark orange color.
I would say in like number two is like a turquoisey, like greenish blue color.
And I really like both of those colors together.
Those are like my favorite color combo.
That’s kind of like that like Arizona colors, right?
Like that turquoise and rusty, rusty kind of color.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it’s been that it’s it’s been that for like a really long time.
But when I was little, my favorite color was purple.
So I was not a pink girl.
I was a purple girl, whatever that means.
Um, but I mean, you know, I love blue.
I love green.
I love, yeah, I love, I love all the colors.
Um, and my, so it’s funny, like what songs are stuck in my head.
So for the past, gosh, seven or eight weeks, this has to do with what I do, what else I do with my life.
I do sing in Root Shock.
I do have solo material.
I mean, I’ve been in various tribute in cover bands and like Skunk City, and you know, just kind of do it a bunch of fun covers.
But I also do wedding singing.
So part of this band called Silver Arrow, because you know, we all got paid bills.
So I had like all these songs that I’m learning.
So I feel like the past like eight weeks, I’ve had songs that I had to sing, that I had to perform stuck in my head every morning, because I had to make sure I didn’t screw up somebody’s like first dance or something in their wedding.
But then now Root Shock has a really big show at Middle Ages next Saturday.
And it’s also an EP release show.
So I have songs I can’t say, because it’s supposed to be a surprise.
But I have songs that we’re going to do a few covers that are kind of random and cool.
So I have those songs stuck in my head.
I also have a brand new song that we just started working on.
That’s an original stuck in my head.
So I guess I could say songs that I can’t say yet, but I guess maybe some.
This is going to come out after the show.
So that’s true.
That’s true.
Okay.
I promise I won’t tell anybody.
The artist’s name.
I have a Janis Joplin song stuck in my head.
I have a Audioslave song stuck in my head, and an Amy Winehouse song stuck in my head.
Wow.
Nice.
So kind of random.
Dude, I like Audioslave.
He’s got like, that’s perfect for my range.
His voice is perfect for my range.
I tend to have like a lower register.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that’s really, it’s cool.
Like learning.
This song that I’m singing, and I might butcher the name Coach Eyes, is the first song on, I think it’s the Audioslave, their first album that they released.
It’s the first song on there.
It’s higher.
It’s actually higher in his range, but it definitely gets lower.
And I’m like, okay, this is challenging.
This is cool.
But Audioslave is also half of Rage Against the Machine.
So correlating those two bands in together.
Yeah.
But yeah, I guess what I do, I mean, honestly, you mentioned it.
I literally right now, tonight, I just got done like polishing some wire wrapped jewelry that I just made.
So I had to oxidize it.
So I’m changing the color of the copper and the sterling silver.
So that’s what I was just doing.
So I’m learning songs.
I’m making jewelry and yeah, that’s pretty much it these days.
Those are my jobs and also hobbies, I guess, but mostly jobs, but jobs that I like.
Yeah.
I mean, living the dream.
Right.
I mean, I do also clean office buildings.
I’m sure you’re familiar with the cleaning life.
So we all got to pay our bills.
So it’s like one of the three or four jobs that I have.
Yeah.
I mean, I always tell people, I’m like, cleaning houses, there’s days where I’m just like, I’m so over this.
Yeah.
But there’s something about knowing how much it’s appreciated and needed by the people that I do do it for.
And receiving their gratitude all the time really makes it feel worth it a lot of the time.
And it’s also, it’s the means to an end, or not even an end, but it’s fueling my passions.
Exactly.
And it’s very flexible too, which is why I’ve kept it for so long.
It’s kind of like, I do work for a company, but it’s also practically my family members at this point.
Yeah, I’m the great host.
But it’s so flexible and it’s really easy, and it’s also that there’s something satisfying about seeing something messy, seeing something dirty, and then like magic, you clean it up and it looks so much better afterwards, and you can leave it feeling satisfied.
Like I did something and you can visually see what I did, and I feel better about it.
I’m also kind of a clump freak.
So it all works out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally, totally.
I’m with you.
So, yeah, well, I want to just give a little, I guess, context or background.
I mean, I don’t know if you remember, I remember the first time we met.
We met in, it was either late 2012 or early 2013 at Old City Hall.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Long, long time ago, Old City Hall in Oswego.
It was the first year that I was playing music with Chris James, and we were playing like the dinner hour set at Old City Hall.
They always kind of scheduled two bands to play, one for the dinner time and then one for like the later evening time.
And you guys kind of showed up and started setting up as we were like tearing down and doing the old switcheroo and you introduced yourselves.
And I just remembered y’all.
And I think we stayed for a little bit and watched a little bit, listened a little bit to y’all.
And I was instantly enamored.
I’m like, holy moly, this gal is a freaking powerhouse.
Got real big on the local scene and started touring more.
And it’s all kind of history.
And we’ve crossed paths many, many times in between, you know, at festivals and shows and pumpkin waffles and all the things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it’s cool.
Very similar.
I feel like similar with like Jess Novak, too, where like she also kind of like started to get more involved in the scene around the same time and just have, I don’t know, I feel so honored and privileged to have been able to like even share a stage at a festival with just such incredible musicians such as yourselves over the years.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, it’s been cool.
And I’ll say like, personally, when the first album came out, I mean, you know, this is when CDs were still fire, you know?
And CD player in my car.
People still listen to CDs.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I would put something in my CD player in my car and listen to it over and over and over and over and over again.
And that album is so good.
And if you’re listening and you don’t know what I’m talking about, go on your whatever music player you listen through, like Spotify or Apple or whatever, and find Root Shock’s album, Root Shock, self-titled and listen to it.
And track number five, Let Go, is hands down my favorite song.
I think I’ve yelled it at you and requested it in shows before because to me it is the most powerful, meaningful song of all the ones.
Like they’re all so incredible and just profound and deep and have amazing messages.
But that one, I love the imagery in it.
And like not even just the imagery, I’m a very visual person, but like I feel what it is you’re describing, like physically, like the grass on your feet and the way everything looks and everything around you.
And I personally would just love to hear a little bit more about where that song came from and what that song means to you.
Yeah, so that is actually the second song I ever wrote.
Like lyric wise, that’s the second song I ever wrote.
And I wrote some of it when I still…
It’s for me, it’s a very old song.
I mean, you know, sometimes people write songs and then they don’t actually become songs you perform for years and years later.
But that song, it started at least with me at actually my childhood home, which is in like Clayton, New York area, so upstate.
Literally like you’re mentioning, like I’m visualizing where I was when I wrote the song, which was my front porch, which was my special place.
There was like a huge field across the street.
And I just, I was in that time in my life where I knew I had a lot to say, and I knew I had a lot to write.
I didn’t know how to do it.
I didn’t know how to really express myself.
That’s something I’ve kind of always struggled with.
And literally like letting go of like my insecurities, letting go of even my idea of what it’s supposed to look like, letting go of not being able to express myself, fear of failure, like all that kind of stuff that I kind of felt at that time in my early 20s, like 1920.
And yeah, just kind of like that’s, I mean, that’s why it’s called Let Go.
I did it in like, we didn’t record it until 2016, but it definitely like, to me it was like, all right, you can do it.
Like you do have something to say.
And other people can relate to either your story or relate to your journey, can relate to the words, can, you know, that’s like part of, honestly, that’s part of my writing process and part of my like, self-discovery and self-expression.
Cause I know I’m not the only one like, going through life.
Like I’m not the only one that sometimes feels stuck.
I’m not the only one that doesn’t know how to get to where I feel like I’m supposed to be, or I don’t know how to fully like, express my vision of like a career, or love life, or any, like, you know, there’s that feeling of just being stuck and not knowing how to like get out of it.
And that’s, yeah, that’s kind of like where let go came from for me.
Yeah, nice.
I love that.
I mean, what incredible wisdom at such a young age, too.
Yeah, cool.
It’s funny.
I was like, when I wrote, I didn’t, a lot of people, a lot of songwriters, like, you know, they wrote their first song when they were 10 or something.
You know, they wrote their first song when they were 12.
I didn’t write my first song until I was like 19.
I was a singer since I was, since I could remember, since I’d like learned how to sing a melody.
I just always was singing, but I didn’t, I had that feeling of just being stuck.
Like I didn’t know how to express myself.
I didn’t know how to write it down.
And I didn’t know how to get it out.
And I feel like the song Let Go was, I mean, it was the second song I ever wrote.
So it definitely was the beginning of me.
Just whatever, whatever it becomes, it’s okay.
You did it.
Like at least you did something.
At least you released something.
You put it down on paper.
You made it into a melody.
It’s a start.
And I mean, I did write like the chord.
I wrote the structure of the song, but then of course I brought it to the band.
And like Phil’s guitar line in it is so beautiful.
And he kind of like does almost like a Spanish guitar acoustic kind of sound in it.
So that all just kind of came into the studio, which that’s the beauty of the studio.
A lot of times you can just experiment with like different sounds and stuff.
But yeah, that was definitely, it was good.
It was good to release it.
And that was like the beginning of, of the songwriting process for me.
So yeah.
Yeah, that’s awesome.
So much of what you were just saying about like really struggling to figure out how to express yourself and find your voice.
In that the metaphysical voice, that’s obviously the literal voice is there, but the metaphysical voice.
Right.
I’m going to just pull it.
I can’t help it.
I got to pull in your human design right now.
And I know you might not know exactly what I’m talking about, but I think a lot of my listeners kind of might understand.
But in human design, you have what we call a completely open throat center, where there’s no definition there.
And in human design terms, definition means consistency, like having solid, consistent, reliable access to the energy in that center.
When you have it undefined, usually undefined means you still have a few activations there, but the center is still open.
But when you have it completely open and you have no activations in the throat at all, there can be this, yeah, just what you expressed, like not even knowing what needs to come out.
But it’s meant to be a channel for collective voice.
It really is meant to be.
Like you have your own message, but really, there’s your way that you express it.
But what it is you are saying is very much like the open throat is taking in all the throat energies of everyone you’ve ever come anywhere near in contact with or even tapped into remotely through listening to music and things like that.
You’re kind of this big amalgamation, this synthesizing of all the different voices there are out there.
And you’re creating one message through yours that’s kind of speaking for all.
And that’s also a theme that comes up too, is feeling the need, like you have to speak up for all the other people that don’t have a voice or have been suppressed, or all these different oppressed, suppressed, all these things.
It’s more like you have to speak for that bigger world voice through this center.
So I love just the way you kind of spoke to all of that.
But then once you kind of open it up, if I were to ask you, what do you want to say?
You’d be like, I don’t know.
But then once you get that kind of words start flowing, like we didn’t know what we were going to talk about, really.
Neither did I.
But once you kind of get that voice flowing, it comes out and then you might surprise yourself even with what comes out because you really had no plan.
You had no idea what you even wanted to say, but then it just kind of flows through.
Yeah, that checks.
That definitely checks with even my childhood of feeling like I had to stick up for people and speak for people in my life, that I felt like either were being bullied or that didn’t, I don’t know, that couldn’t, or just even sticking up for people from other people being bullied or somebody who’s shy.
I’m not usually the first person.
I’m not, how do I say?
It’s not like, I’m not like an aggressive person, but it’s like if something is needed to say and no one else is willing to say it, I will say it.
That’s happened in my work life, that’s happened in my band life.
There’s like other things where if like people are kind of beating around a bush or something and everybody’s been talking about, it’s like, all right, this might be difficult to say, but I’m going to say whatever one is thinking, because we’ve all talked about it or something like that.
Yeah, definitely found myself in that situation many times.
You also have this thing called a five in your profile.
Your profile is a three five and the five archetype is here to kind of say what no one else wants to say and at the risk of potentially getting repercussions for it.
Yeah, it’s tricky.
I have that energy, too.
I feel like it’s learning.
It’s learning when it’s necessary, and it’s learning when to bite your tongue.
And you’re like, that wasn’t the time, that wasn’t the place.
Okay.
And then other times where someone’s like, thank you for saying, even if it’s like to your own self, like me saying what I need to hear, like being honest with myself or like, all right, or you’re talking to a friend or something, who’s struggling and just kind of like, well, what about this over here that we’re like, the elephant in the room that we’re not addressing, but like in a kind way.
And then like, you know, somebody will be like, wow, I didn’t know I needed to hear that or something.
And I’m like, I didn’t know you needed to hear it either.
Like, here we are.
Yeah.
Yeah, that’s, it’s something that I think so many of us feel like the thing that we want to say is oftentimes like not important enough.
Yeah, you know, like I have a lot of stories, like I’m working a lot with story and archetype and all of that in the work that I do with all of this stuff.
And, you know, there’s the story that comes up that’s like, well, none of my stories are worth telling because nothing really that huge or traumatic or big has ever really happened to me.
But really, like I spoke recently at the Cultivating the Intentional Feminine event, which I don’t know if you’ve heard of that event, but you would like it.
Tari, Marie.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yep.
I was wondering if that was that same thing that I’ve seen and I’ve definitely been interested.
Yeah.
So I just did a talk and I wanted to open with a story because my talk was all about stories.
And I’m like, what story do I tell?
And the story I wanted to tell, like as I was considering it and kind of jotting down like the sequence of the story and what I would say about it.
A story came in about that story that told me that this story is pointless.
Nobody’s like, why would you tell this story?
It’s stupid.
It doesn’t make any sense.
It’s not important.
It wasn’t even that big of a deal.
All that sort of stuff came in.
And I shared that in my talk.
Like this is what happened.
And then at the end of the talk, there was like five or six women that were there, came up to me and were like, thank you for sharing that story about your identity and all this sort of stuff because I just got married and I’m trying to find a new identity myself or this happened to me in the past.
And I struggled with that a lot.
And it didn’t seem like it was that big of a deal compared to the things that other people go through.
But that’s why comparison is a trap, right?
So totally a little side tangent there.
But yeah, I agree.
Yeah.
So I want to like chronologically rewind a little bit.
Did you grow up in a musical family?
Like what was your like formal?
Did you have any formal musical training in different instruments?
And voice and all of that?
Were your parents music people?
Like what was your background there?
Yeah, it’s kind of interesting.
So I grew up in a very conservative Christian household.
And I was actually homeschooled until seventh grade.
And I was not allowed to listen to non-Christian music.
So there wasn’t a lot of musical influence, I guess, unless I sought it out, which I did.
But even in the family, I bring that up because I didn’t grow up listening to records.
A lot of people are like, oh, I grew up listening in the 70s and Motown and jazz and all this stuff.
I really didn’t grow up listening to any of it, although I love it all now.
My grandmother played, my mom’s mom played the piano.
So we did have a grand piano in our house, but she did more like hymns, stuff like that.
My mom, I think she said she played like oboe or something, and I don’t even really know what instrument that is, but she played oboe in school.
But she always sang, she just had a really pleasant singing voice, and we listened a lot to Christian music, so worship music and hymns, and there’s a lot of harmonies and stuff in that.
And my mom could sing harmony really well.
I mean, she had music knowledge, but not training.
My dad, probably if he ever listens to this, will probably laugh because he knows he doesn’t have a pleasant singing voice, but he doesn’t really have rhythm, but he can project.
He’s actually, he was like a minister, so he would always be talking, he would be speaking, but he can project.
So I always joke that I got like my mom’s tone and like pitch, and I got like my dad’s like power and projection of voice, and somewhere in the middle, that’s me.
But we did, so my sister, she sings, she plays piano, she did get piano lessons.
Both of my brothers, I have two older brothers, I’m the baby in the family.
They both sing, they both play guitar, and like bass.
I think they’ve almost all dabbled in songwriting.
At some point, we were almost like the Brown family band.
Like in the little like church communities we were in, my dad would always be like, Oh, my kids go play instrument, you know what I mean?
So we did kind of have that going on.
So there was music, but I would say like, I don’t know, like the genre and the style of music at the time was not something that like I took a lot from, but definitely like the spirituality of music is something that I learned from my upbringing.
And like, you know, words are meaningful and the message of something is important.
And using your body as a vessel and speaking in a collective and like all that kind of stuff, I would definitely say I have taken with me into adulthood.
But yeah, I sang at home.
I did have voice lessons briefly.
I think I was maybe like 11 or 12.
I only remember a few.
I don’t think we could really afford all the musical lessons and stuff like that, but I do remember singing Celine Dion and Whitney Houston.
So those were like two.
Of course, I picked like the two like biggest, most powerful.
I’m like 11 singing Whitney Houston.
But I tried, you know, go big or go home.
You know what I’m saying?
But yeah, I mean, I remembered like being really excited.
Like kind of learning how to breath control and posture and stuff like that.
Again, it was very brief.
But I know that it at least inspired me to be like, I can do this.
Somebody thinks I have a good voice.
Like somebody, this teacher is giving me some tips.
So it definitely like excited me.
And then I did end up going to a private school.
So like a private Christian school.
And I was on the worship team.
So I was a worship leader.
So this was like, how old was I?
Like 16, 15, 16, 17, I think.
So essentially that was my first introduction of how to lead a band.
How to sing in front of other people.
I mean, they were my peers.
But like how to create a song list.
I learned keyboard from my sister.
Like she taught me like chords, triads, things like that.
So I kind of learned how to play keys.
But I never got any formal training in that.
So yeah, I would say it’s mostly the school of hard knocks.
It’s mostly like I was blessed with good pitch and the love of music.
And I’ve had a few teachers along the way, but it’s mostly been like kind of like you’re good enough.
So throwing just throw her up there and figure it out.
And I feel like honestly, that actually did help me because it kind of got me out of my head and like into the music, into the moment of like, what am I going to do now?
Instead of like relying on what key are we in?
What’s the theory behind this?
And I don’t know, it kind of just helped me improvise.
Yeah.
That’s so cool.
I love that you call it the School of Hard Knocks.
Because again, bring it back to the design.
In the profile, you have the three or three five.
The three is what we typically call the martyr.
And that’s like in like the low vibration is like feeling like everything’s happening to you all the time.
But the high vibration is like being the adventurer, seeing life as like this adventure and like being able to understand that there is no real such thing as a mistake.
Like there are no mistakes.
That everything is literally just, oh, well, that didn’t work.
What should I do differently?
Or what do I need to try next?
Or maybe do I just throw that out the window and go a different direction?
And it’s all learning and not necessarily like failure.
Yeah, I can totally relate to that.
And I was listening to a podcast today.
It didn’t say exactly that, but it was talking about, like, it’s funny, in songwriting, you just mentioned like, there’s no mistakes.
I remember telling a friend once, we were talking about relationships.
And I was like, I don’t know if I’ve ever like made a mistake because I don’t see it that way.
Like I just don’t.
And I, there’s definitely now times I can look back and was like, that was a bad decision.
Like maybe I should have made that decision, but like, was that a mistake?
I don’t regret it.
Like it taught me something even like in like the deepest, darkest moments and times that it felt like, how am I gonna get out of this?
Or like, why did this happen to me?
Kind of that martyr situation.
Cause I’ve definitely been there.
Like life sometimes will like when it rains, it pours.
And it’s just like, wow, really?
Like, can I catch a break?
But at the same time, I do have a thought process of, I don’t want to say this, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
But like using difficult times and when, when, when you’re ready and when it’s necessary, what can I learn from this?
How can I grow?
I have a growth mindset.
Like how can I grow from it?
And in songwriting, even in like the times where, where I really feel very sad or like very heartbroken or really angry, I have a hard time writing songs that like don’t have any hope in them.
Like I always kind of, not in like a toxic positivity kind of way, but just in like, I am here and this sucks, but I know tomorrow is going to be better or I know if I just, you know, drink water and stretch and meditate and get outside, like eventually the sun will shine again.
Like, I know I can get through this and I know if I focus on growth, I know that it can be a positive experience, even death, even heartbreak, even, you know, the worst of stuff.
There is with, you know, and if like therapy is necessary, you know, all the tools like healing can happen.
And I always have a hard time just like writing songs that are just like, I don’t know, negative, I guess.
Like, pour me, pour me, pour me kind of.
Yeah, yeah.
And even like heartbreak kind of songs, it’s like, I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ve definitely heard songs where I was like, I needed to hear that and I need to just, you know, cry or I need to punch something or like whatever.
But I find myself having a hard time writing a song without some kind of hope in it, even if it’s just a speck of just like, because I don’t want somebody, I don’t know.
I feel like a lot of times we can wallow, we can do the self pity thing and we can wallow, and that doesn’t help.
There’s moments for that, there’s times for that, there’s nights for that.
Like, but in the long run, like I guess I don’t want, I wouldn’t want my legacy as a songwriter to like, I don’t know, kind of bring people down.
Even I want to be, I want to be truthful.
And I feel like I’m learning that more now, the older I get, I want to be, how do I say?
I want to tell the whole truth.
Like, I want to, I do want to dive into those dark moments.
I do want to speak into them.
But at the same time, I don’t, I don’t want to just leave it there.
I do want like someone to have some kind of hope.
So yeah, if that makes sense.
Yeah, absolutely.
And, and like, again, bringing it back to like the art of the story, where we get locked into like pain and suffering, is when we’re only telling like the beginning of the story.
The beginning of the story usually does start with some sort of pain, or some sort of loss, or some sort of something.
But like, where does the story go from there?
Like, are you just locked into that?
Or are you going to go on, use it as an initiation to move you through like that arc of the classic, the hero’s journey or the heroine’s journey?
Like they’re similar but different, but both go on this arc of starting with some sort of loss.
And then you go through trials and tests, and you wind up going down into the underworld and dredging up some deeper part of yourself, some gift, some lesson, right?
Some learning, the healing.
And then you bring it back up from the underworld, from the deep depths, and then you bring it back to the tribe or back to the family or back to the community, wherever you had left to go on this journey, and you come back with some sort of gold, some sort of gift.
And my human design teacher, Karen Curry Parker, she just got her PhD in basically creating this thing that I now teach that is all about taking people on this arc of the story.
Because she measured when someone tells the disempowering story, she was able to measure, like she did all this research with basically clinical research, measuring people’s IgA immune response.
When they tell the disempowering story and then that’s just it, that’s it, that’s the end, their ability, their immune system’s responsiveness decreases, and it takes them a long time for it to come back.
But if she takes them through the process of basically creating a fictional narrative that’s loosely based on them, that starts in this pain and then goes on a journey and brings them into the highest expression of themselves using the human design kind of as like a guide, like what is the highest potential expression that your soul came here to embody.
If they actually then go through that process and tell that story, their immune response goes up.
I don’t think that toxic positivity is actually real.
I don’t think that that’s an actual, that’s an oxymoron.
There is a time and a place for the loss.
We need the loss, we need the pain to serve as the initiation into the rest of the story.
But it is when we do get stuck in that cycle, that’s when it’s just not helpful anymore.
It’s meant to be something that helps us.
We’re only supposed to be in that state like 5 to 10% of the time.
And then the rest is supposed to be, the other 90% is supposed to be on that journey and coming out with the gift.
So, yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
I hear you.
Yeah.
And I generally like, I generally don’t like music that keeps me down either.
Like, I like music that tells a story.
I like music that is powerful and meaningful.
And that’s why I really love your writing so much, because every single song has a different piece of a story.
It’s like it’s all part of this bigger story, each song.
And then there’s all these like smaller pieces.
I’m also curious about in the…
What’s the path?
Many Paths?
Oh yeah.
The Many Paths EP, the one that’s about like rocking the boat and making a wave.
Yeah.
Where did the inspiration from that one come from?
So what people don’t know is…
So that song, Ripple, Phil wrote.
So Phil Greco is, for those that don’t know, he is the guitar player and other singer and other songwriter in Root Shock, my band.
So he actually wrote that one.
So I can only take credit for the singing.
And I mean, because that happens in…
There’s a few songs that are like that.
There’s not too many.
Most of the songs that I sing lead on, I wrote, but there are a few songs that he wrote and then he brought to me.
And he’s like, I think your voice would sound really good on this.
Like, this is my idea.
And I mean, you know, I added my own embellishments.
I added my own kind of parts to it.
So I can’t speak on the writing of that song, but I can definitely relate to the song of just like, I mean, it’s what we do creates a ripple.
I mean, that’s, it’s about like the ripple effect.
And that’s absolutely true.
It’s like, especially now, I feel like, I mean, that was what 2018, I think, that we released the song.
And just, I mean, things have happened in the world since the beginning of time, but a lot has happened in the last few years, including COVID, including political stuff, including, you know, genocide and wars and things.
When you listen to the news or it’s rough out there.
And I definitely feel like even like the smallest things that we do to our neighbor or say, you look beautiful to, you know, someone or to a girlfriend, you know, that you haven’t seen, I don’t know, just like little things I feel like really can like affect somebody.
And then there is that ripple effect where you just made somebody’s day or it’s like, I don’t know, somebody might feel really insecure about their haircut or something like me, for example.
I shaved my head.
I like did a whole 180 and like people, you know, your hair looks super cute or like I’ll go in the bathroom and someone I don’t know like another usually another woman or something will be like, yeah, it’s really cute.
And it’s it’s little and it’s almost like vain.
But it means a lot.
And that’ll like, just change somebody’s whole perception on themselves.
It just kind of gives you a little boost in your step.
And instead of you being like, I don’t know, pissed off in traffic or something, you’re like, roll down the window and kind of relax.
And so now you’re not having road rage because this person commented on your hair.
I mean, it’s like just everyday kind of stuff.
And I guess like when I’m singing it, that’s kind of like how I’m visualizing it.
It’s just little things, not big picture things.
Just like, yeah.
Yeah, like butterfly effect.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which I love.
Somebody recently told me they saw Root Shock and they were like, they got this new singer, but she sounds just like Jess.
I’m like, yeah, okay.
It’s me.
It’s still her.
No, I gained some COVID pounds and totally changed my hair, but it’s still me.
It’s like I aged a few years.
I mean, yeah, it’s funny because I mean, right now people can’t see, but right now I’m rocking like a short bleach blonde pixie cut.
And I had dreadlocks for 10 years, long dreads, brown dreads.
And last year, 2023, on my birthday, on my 35th birthday, I shaved my head completely because it was just time.
It was time to, not to sound corny, but it was time to let go and release that weight because I know that shit was heavy.
It was heavy as fuck.
I mean, I don’t know if I can swear on it.
Yeah, yeah, it’s fine.
My neck still hurts, honestly.
But yeah, it’s just I was changing.
I was feeling.
And there is something like, I don’t know, when you have, for example, tattoos or when you have dreadlocks, when you have some some kind of something that’s not, I guess, the norm, even though both of those things are pretty normal for some people.
I don’t know, you get, I don’t want to say stereotype, but there is something, like you feel like this is who I am because this is who people think I am.
You know, I’m, whatever, but I’m many things.
I’m not just like the girl with dreads that sings in the reggae band or whatever.
So I feel like I was outgrowing just that like perception of myself.
And I also, it was getting heavy.
And also it was many things.
So I was like, you know what?
I’m just gonna shave it all off.
So yeah, and then now sometimes I wear wigs.
Sometimes I have a purple wig.
Sometimes I have a blonde wig.
Sometimes it’s long, sometimes it’s short.
So now I feel like I can experiment with kind of who I am on the inside and kind of being whoever I want to be.
And I don’t know, in that given day.
And it’s very freeing.
It’s actually really cool.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, at the end of the day, you’re always going to come back to like, it doesn’t matter what my hair looks like.
Right?
It doesn’t matter what clothes you’re wearing.
It doesn’t matter what songs you’re singing.
Like it’s still you.
Yeah.
So the style of music that you do generally tend to write in, and I know some of the solo stuff that I heard was a little bit more electronic hip hop kind of a vibe was what I was getting.
But in general, like Root Shock and a lot of the stuff that you also love, like Buena Vista Social Club was one of the bands you put in your form that you would take with you on that island.
And you tend to seem to really love and gravitate towards the more like, that like reggae and island kind of vibe.
Yeah.
Can you explore that a little bit with us here?
Like why that genre, why that kind of, why did that appeal to you?
Especially after like, I also grew up in a similar background.
Like I was not allowed to listen to secular music at all for a long time.
It was Amy Grant and Sandy Patty and yeah, Jarza Clay and like some of the like-
Jarza Clay, Audio Adrenaline.
I just thought of them the other day.
Right.
Like they were actually, they were actually good.
Oh, DC Talk.
DC Talk.
And I also really loved a band called the Supertones and the News Boys.
Oh my God.
They were like Ska, right?
Yep.
They were Ska.
I really loved them.
And then the News Boys, they were more like Rock.
And they actually played at the War Memorial one time.
And they had a really cool thing where the drum set was on like a disc that like rose up and spun and then like turned sideways and like did like one thing.
I think I remember that.
Yeah.
Yeah, we probably went to some of the same.
Did you ever go to Kingdom Bound at Darien Lake?
You know what?
I’m familiar with it.
I never went, but I went to.
Oh my God.
What was it called?
It was in Hershey Park.
There was like another big like Christian music festival.
It was like Hershey Park, Pennsylvania.
I can’t remember.
Anyways, it was like Reliant K was like another band of that time.
You didn’t know that one.
Anyways.
So anyways.
I totally get what you’re putting down.
That was my life.
Yes.
But besides, why Reggae?
Why Reggae?
So it’s actually, I will say the first, like I definitely heard Bob Marley growing up again, wasn’t allowed to listen to secular, quote unquote secular music.
Even though much of reggae music has literal Bible verses in it.
But anyway, Bob Marley is very biblical for Christians out there that are concerned.
But I definitely heard Bob Marley because it was on the radio, whatever.
I heard Sublime.
But I wasn’t super into it, I think as a kid, but I did like, I did want to learn about other cultures.
I did.
I was curious about, you know, music and people that were not from the United States, and people that were different than me.
Like, I was curious.
So like, when I would go into the library and take like, a CD out, because that’s what we did before Spotify and Apple Music, I’d go into like, the world music section and like, just pick one of the random CDs and like, put it in.
And I remember this song.
It was by Ernest Raglin, who was actually more of like, a Jamaican, like, jazz reggae guitar player, and it was all instrumental.
But I remember this song below the bass line, and it’s a pretty, it’s just a very chill song.
But I remember loving it and be like, wow, this is really cool.
But it wasn’t until years and years later, when I moved to Syracuse in 2008, I started working at Funkin Waffles, but the original Funkin Waffles, which was downstairs in the basement.
And I mean, that obviously for people that don’t know, it’s a music venue, it’s also a coffee shop, also, you know, now it has a bar and waffles and all that good stuff.
But we used to like play records.
That was like the thing.
Now, I believe, you know, they play Spotify and Apple Music.
But like when I first started there, we like weren’t allowed to.
It was just always records.
So we would like, if we were like busy working or something, like in the middle of a waffle rush, we would have to at some point stop to turn the record because obviously the music would stop playing.
So like somebody, somebody turn the record!
Flip the record!
I was like, your life, you had to like juggle like, you know, five different espresso drinks and like make a waffle while also flipping the record.
I am not a jive turkey right now.
Oh my God, for real.
Oh gosh.
But I like, I worked, I worked at Funken Waffles for, I don’t know, it was like three years, maybe four?
It was like a pretty solid time.
I was a manager at some point at the old Funken Waffles, not the new one that people know now.
So yeah, I was definitely there for a good long while.
But it really did like, even like the people I worked with, I mean, everybody had different styles of music, and we would all kind of bring that to Funken Waffles, and like putting it on the record.
Obviously we have, shout out to Record Jim, who was a guy who would sell records there at the shop.
So he had all the knowledge about, you wanted to know this album from 1972, and this band, whatever, and where they were, like he had the album.
Or if he didn’t, he would find the record, and like we would play it.
So like, I feel like I really, although at the time, I was 20, at the time when I moved to Syracuse, I was already exploring music, you know, I already was a music lover.
I already went on my own journey of finding my, my sound, but really working at Funken Waffles, there’s a lot of different variety that I just didn’t really know about.
And I swear I’m coming back to the point.
I started, obviously, I went to Onondaga Community College for voice.
So my, one of my bosses at the time, Adam Gold, people might know, he was like, oh, you sing?
So I started singing.
I would like sit in with Sifistifunk, another band that people probably know from Syracuse area.
So I would go up and sing with them sometimes.
So I kind of started doing that here and there at different shows.
And then I met through Funk and Waffles, giving him coffee every morning.
Bill Apple, who was me and Bill, were the founding members of Root Shock.
And so I met Bill at the time.
He was in a band with Cha Cha, who is from Mosaic Foundation in Ithaca.
It’s funny, it’s like a very small circle, but also kind of big circle of people.
And how I got into music and specifically, reggae music, but just I was out there singing, and then Adam Gold was kind of like, oh Bill, Jess is looking to sing more, like you guys, she should go and sing with you, whatever.
So I met them, and then Cha Cha was moving to Ithaca, so he wasn’t gonna be a part of that band anymore that they were in.
So we essentially formed a different band because I was going to be the lead singer, and it’s hard to go from like Cha Cha to me being the lead singer.
It’s a very different voice, also different dialect from time to time.
So it was like, we need to just take a break, cut, and then build another band.
So that’s where Root Shock came from.
So it was already that kind of reggae sound.
And I was like, well, I mean, at the time, I definitely listened to reggae, but I didn’t, it wasn’t like, I wouldn’t say that would have been like my favorite genre of music, because I’ve always kind of gravitated more towards like R&B, soul, jazz, kind of even like folk kind of style.
But really listening to reggae music is, it’s extremely soulful.
Like, I mean, it’s like American R&B.
So in like ska and jazz, I mean, there’s like everything in reggae.
And obviously reggae strictly came from Jamaica.
It is very much a Jamaican genre of music.
But the vibe is so great that obviously many other genres have kind of forged with reggae and kind of like made it their own thing.
So music, I mean, people are inspired by so many things.
So it’s hard to even say, like, when people are like, what style of band are you?
These days, I mean, now we have so much influence.
And I mean, most people love many different kinds of music.
So it’s hard to kind of just like pinpoint, I am this genre.
This is it.
So I felt like reggae, you know, I felt like I fit, at least singing it, like, musically, because of the soulful part and the fact, I mean, the lyrics in much of, at least old school reggae, was very much spiritual, was very much political.
I mean, it’s powerful stuff.
So I felt like I really was like, wow, this is not only really awesome to dance to and listen to, there’s something bigger going on.
I mean, it was a movement of, literally a movement of Jamaican people.
Like that’s like part of, that is reggae music.
And yeah, so I at least connected to having a story, being able to tell your story.
And obviously the drum and bass of reggae music is like no other.
So it was just very catchy.
So yeah, that’s kind of my start.
Okay, so that like that draws a lot of connections and like, ah, okay, I get it.
I get it now.
Like just kind of hearing you explain it like that where yeah, like when I really, really, if I was to take just your voice away, like if we were to separate your voice and the music, like your voice is, you are soul 100 percent of the way.
Soul, R&B, like Whitney Houston, like you were saying, like these super powerful singers that were your influences early on as a singer.
And then if you just listen to just the music, it is that baseline.
Like that baseline is that main component that makes it, whether it’s that the baseline determines, is it reggae or is it blues or is it rock?
And then you just layer all the other parts on top of it, and it becomes its thing, and then you can emerge the two.
Now, I feel the same way when I was playing with Chris, and even the music I play with my husband, Sean.
We just call it folk, but it’s like it’s a smash smashing of folk, country, Americana, bluegrass, rock and roll, B-side 90s covers.
You know, like, right.
It’s not just one thing because, yeah, we are so all interconnected now that it’s like, it’s almost impossible.
And like purists, there’s a place for them, but to turn your nose up at something because it’s not what you would call pure, is like a whole other thing.
I’m curious if you’ve ever traveled to the Caribbean.
Have you ever spent time there?
I did.
I went to Jamaica in, you know, like Montego Bay, and it’s a little bit more on the outskirts.
And one of my best friends, Amber, and one of her good friends, Marissa, Amber had been going there for quite a few years.
And that’s like, that was like her piece.
You know, that was like, you need to come here and just.
And at the time, like 2019, it was a lot happening in that year.
And also that was probably one of the busiest, like for my band, for Root Shock 2019, like we played a lot.
Like we toured the most we had ever.
Like we were, that was like kind of like, all right, this is our moment, you know what I mean?
Like this is where we’re going.
And then, I mean, I had a lot of other things going on in my life and loss, and I don’t know, just a lot of stuff.
So it was like a really good, like, oh my gosh, I can like breathe.
And that’s kind of what it felt like.
And I did actually sing in Jamaica also.
I sang like a karaoke night.
So that was fun.
Because of course, the people I was with, they’re like, you have to sing.
And I’m like, I don’t have to sing.
But I did.
I sang.
And then I actually ended up singing with a local band at the time.
So I actually sang a Bob Marley song in Jamaica with some local people.
And that made some new friends.
So it was cool.
Awesome.
Awesome.
This is your Astro Cartography chart.
So if we kind of like get close here where you see the two blue lines and the green line by Miami and they go right through Cuba and they kind of straddle this whole Caribbean area.
The green line, which I think that’s actually going right through the Bahamas.
I think Jamaica is kind of to the left a little bit.
The green line is your Venus line.
And if you know anything about Venus, she’s the goddess of love.
Venus is the planet that represents the physical plane and pleasure and love and just all those yummy Venetian themes.
And so I was like, of course, she’s got her Venus line running right through the Caribbean.
And this is like, not only was Root Shock, like, you know, you started singing reggae because, well, the musicians that I kind of got hooked up with are reggae people.
But not only is that why it brought you in, but it’s like, you’re still doing it.
And like, clearly are very passionate about it.
And like, it has kept drawing you in.
And what did you say about that time there?
Like, you were able to, like, actually take a, like…
A breath.
Yeah.
A breath.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was a time.
I won’t go more into detail, but the Venus thing makes sense.
Anyways.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then, like, the two blue lines, those are, what do we got?
Pluto and the moon.
So your Pluto and moon line.
So Pluto is all about transformation, and the moon is, like, what really drives you in life, like, emotionally, and those two are, like, going right through Miami and Cuba, and, like, just real close to that Venus line.
So I found that that’s really potent energy that, you know, with astro-cartography, physically going to these places can be very potent.
And as you can see, if you follow those lines north, they…
It’s like Philly, New York.
Philly, New York, like, probably a little bit of Albany, maybe.
And then, like, up into New England, and then into Canada.
And that Venus line, though…
Is Montreal in there anywhere?
Yeah, Montreal is, like, up into the left, just a little bit of the, I think it’s the Moon line.
Yeah, so there’s, like, an emotional connection there.
But in my experience, I love moving closer and closer to my Moon line.
It usually feels pretty good.
But being right so close to that Pluto, it can also be like Pluto’s, Pluto’s that underworld journey.
Pluto is like, it brings transformation, but we all know transformation doesn’t always come.
It’s not sunshine and rainbows.
Yeah.
You have to, you have to kind of go on that, that archetype journey.
I love the, there’s a goddess in, I think, Egyptian mythology called Inanna.
And she is, like, the classic underworld journey.
She’s, she has to go down into hell, basically.
And gives her life for another’s.
And she’s basically strung up for three days, three nights, just much like someone else we know of.
And, you know, had to, like, it was pretty gruesome, pretty graphic.
I won’t, I won’t give all the details, but stuff was done to her as she hung there.
And then, and then she came back out and re, like, reclaimed her throne, basically.
Like, she was, like, a princess and there was, like, drama.
And it was, like, a whole thing.
But, um, I mean, that’s what I always think of when I think of, um, like, plutonium energy or like Persephone, you know, or, or like Jesus.
Like, they, they all went on this underworld journey of major sacrifice in order to, and Pluto, Pluto is a very, like, collective energy planet, whereas the moon is so incredibly personal.
Yeah.
Venus is personal, too.
But, but Pluto brings this, like, bigger, like, the transformation you’re going through is, like, you’re not the only one.
And it brings us back to what you were talking about at the beginning.
Like, you’re not the only one, but you have to go through your version of it.
Right.
In order so that maybe some people don’t necessarily have to go through it quite as harsh or rough, and they can kind of witness you in that and gain some beauty and wisdom, so that when they do go on their own journey, they have an anchor, they have some reflection piece, and we all, like, have a piece of that to go on ourselves.
Yeah, so.
Well, that’s cool, because I’ve been to Miami a few times, and I love Miami, and also Philly.
I love Philly, and that was on there too.
So I was like, oh, no, it checks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The estrography map is really fun, and it can be really fun to look at all the places, like, that you have traveled to in the past and just reflect on, like, what was my experience there, and how does this kind of feel reflective?
And then you can also use it to, like, plan, like, oh, I want to go on a trip somewhere.
I have these three places in mind I really want to go to.
Maybe is, should I not go to one of these?
Or which one might be of experience or what kind of gift might you want to, you know, kind of mine from that place outside of just the obvious, like, you know, touristy things and sightseeing things.
Right.
So one last question for you.
Yeah.
And this is pulled in, I’m pulling this in from your design.
So your configuration is what I would call, like, a very unique, very, very rare configuration.
And everyone is special and everyone is unique.
Don’t get me wrong.
Everyone has very, very unique, different combinations of things.
Right.
But for anyone listening, that is like, tell us what her design is.
You haven’t told us yet.
So Jess’s design is that of a three, ego-projected projector.
And don’t be thrown off by the word ego or projector.
Because in colloquial, the colloquial zeitgeist, they’re not the nicest words in the world.
In quantum human design, we would call it, you’re a resource orchestrator.
Okay.
It’s like the nicer way to say ego-projected projector.
Listen, ego is necessary for a lot of things.
No, absolutely.
I was just having this discussion with my husband earlier.
Like the ego is necessary so that we can tell the difference between us and everything else in the world.
Like that’s what it’s there for at its most basic function is that we can tell the difference.
But you only have the will center, which is where the ego part lives, and the identity center defined.
And they’re defined through the channel 2551, which is all about shocking and awakening to the love of spirit.
It’s this.
I’m sorry, you said shocking and awakening.
It’s literally Root Shock and reawaken jewelry.
I thought that was just a clever, I was like, but I’m just…
This is the thing.
This is how I know people are aligned.
It’s when I look at the names of their businesses or like with musicians, I hear it in their lyrics.
You can hear someone’s soul mission statement in their message.
The big mission statement of your soul is to shock and awaken people to the love of spirit.
And you’re this vessel of love through all of these things.
And it’s just like, it’s so cool, because I’m just like, as soon as I pulled up your chart and I’m like, oh, of course, of course, this all makes sense.
But with the ego projected, it’s all about what do you want?
What do you, Jess Brown, truly desire and want?
Is that a question?
We can end the episode right there.
Is that what you want?
I’m still figuring that out, period.
It has changed as I’ve gone through life.
So I will probably forever be figuring that out.
It’s meant to be kind of like the guide when you’re trying to make a decision about something.
Yeah.
It’s called your authority.
So it’s literally about like when you’re trying to make a decision about something, you’re not supposed to ask anybody else.
It’s not even necessarily a gut feeling.
It’s literally you just need to ask the question, what do I desire the most?
And it’s about really knowing what your values are.
Yeah.
Because you can just run every decision through, like, what are your core values?
Does this thing, this opportunity, this job, this person, this thing, do these align with my core, most truest values, my desires, my, like, the things that I really want in life?
Yeah.
And if it doesn’t, like…
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
Do something else.
Yep.
Yeah.
How does that feel?
Does, like, does it feel…
I mean, this is something that a lot of times when I chat with folks who have this authority, um, and, you know, especially women, conditioned under late-stage capitalism and toxic patriarchy, were not allowed to really, truly want that it’s bad, even.
Yeah.
You know, especially in growing up under, like, you know, conservative Christian upbringing, it’s like, no, no, no, you’re not, you don’t get a say, right?
Like, no, no, you do what your husband wants, or you do what God wants, and God wants…
Well, what does God want?
Well, what we tell you he wants, you know, like…
Right, right, right.
So it can be something that’s not always necessarily clear or easy to navigate with.
And I’m curious, like, what your journey has been around, like, getting right with being OK with wanting things, if you’re even on that journey, which I imagine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, it’s really interesting.
Like, I guess I kind of think about my journey and like getting what I, what I want, like, what do I want?
I’ve definitely, I’ve definitely struggled with that because of all of the things you just listed.
Being a woman, being, being raised in a conservative Christian.
I’m not just even say household, but culture and being more of an empathetic person.
So kind of sometimes putting other people above me, or feeling like, you know, my needs will, will get there eventually or whatever.
So it’s definitely something that I feel like I’ve, I’ve butted heads with, or I’ve struggled with, or, or.
But at the same time, I’ve always been pretty, I want to say like self-aware and also in tune with my intuition.
And even though maybe I don’t always choose what I want, I feel like I’ve been aware of it, if that makes sense.
Yeah.
But it’s definitely like some, something, I feel like it’s something that I’ve, I’ve struggled with in my life.
But yeah.
But I will say though, I will say in my career, in my job, in my, what I do with my life, only briefly have I ever worked a job that I really didn’t like, or really felt like even jobs that maybe were difficult.
I knew that the reason why I’m doing this is this so that I can get here, so that I can do that, so that I do that.
Like, I don’t work, I don’t have a nine to five, I’ve never had a nine to five.
Sure, I’ve been in coffee shop world, I’ve been in management, I’ve been, you know, retail and whatever, but like right now, I mean, I have my own jewelry business, and then I also have my own band, but then I do wedding singing, but I’m still a singer, like I’m still doing the two things that like, I didn’t even know that I was good at jewelry, I didn’t even know that I could even do this until I tried, and then I was like, wow, I really like doing this.
Oh, this is cool.
Oh, I have something here.
Oh, people really like my stuff too.
This is really like, okay, I feel like this is the right path.
And this is, I always kind of tell people, like, the jewelry making part is almost more of like my meditative kind of like introverted side where I can just like put on music or put on a podcast and I can chill and like zone out and make beautiful little creations.
And then like singing is kind of my other like more extroverted, I guess you could say, my more like Aries side where I’m just like, I’m speaking my truth.
I’m singing my truth.
I’m being a vessel.
I mean, I’ve felt all of those things.
The conversations that I’ve had with people either at a show or at my shows or about my songs or just how they felt being at a show or whatever.
I mean, I’ve had wild and beautiful like conversations with people that like is very, what’s the word I’m looking for?
It’s very like you’re doing, you’re going in the right path.
Like it’s confirmation that like you are doing what you feel like you’re supposed to be doing.
You’re creating an environment where people don’t feel alone.
You’re sharing your story.
You’re helping people get through difficult times.
You’re helping people just forget about whatever and dance, even if something simple like that.
So I do love something.
I know it’s kind of a tangent.
But I do love what I do.
But there’s definitely been moments where even being on stage, and I’m going through my own life, I’m going through my own struggles, and I’m up there in front of hundreds, if not thousands of people, depending on where I am, and being like, is this what you want?
Is this what I want?
Even though it seems like that’s what I should want.
But my own self is, as I still have to take care of myself, I still have to make sure that music is amazing.
I do feel like it is part of my destiny.
If you will, it’s something I’ve always wanted, and I always love singing, and that’s part of who I am.
But I still need to fill my cup, and I still need to ask myself every so often, is this what you want?
And with jewelry, with making jewelry and that other creative side of myself, I feel like now I have a good balance of like, yes, these are my jobs, these are my careers, but they are what I want to do.
Like if I look around, like, what else?
Sure, I also really love animals.
Like maybe I’ll do something with animals someday.
But like right now I’m like, no, this is what I, it’s hard, it’s hard working for yourself.
It’s hard having your own businesses.
It’s hard, but it’s very rewarding.
And it is what I want to do.
And I do feel like it’s part of my life’s journey.
It’s part of me.
So yeah, I guess I can just keep asking myself every so often, is this what you want?
Is this what you want?
And also in relationships.
And yeah, all those good stuff.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We have to like, de-condition like the idea of selfishness.
At least you, you in particular, definitely have to like really slough off all that stuff and just be like, no, at the core of it, like that is your true north, your compass.
Maybe even fodder for a song.
Yeah.
That’s good.
I like it.
I do it.
Cool.
Jess.
Ideas.
Yes.
Yes.
I love, I love talking to songwriters about all of this because I feel like sometimes like a little like idea fairy.
Just like, yeah, I want it.
I will love, I would love to hear in like a year or two.
All of a sudden, oh, there’s that song.
There’s that song that’s in there somewhere.
And it’s like, maybe, you know, like you write so many songs for everybody else, and they are for you.
But like really, yeah, like a message to yourself, 100%.
Right.
Right.
I will say, I know we’re ending it up, but I will say, our, my band Root Shock, we are releasing an EP.
So there’s going to be new music out there, but we released a song last year called Ain’t Gonna Break.
And I wrote like, I wrote that song.
And I feel like that is probably the closest to like, this is who I am.
Like this is, this is, I mean, you know, I’ve written many songs, but like this is a song, especially just as a woman being frustrated and talking about it.
And also giving myself hope that I’m not gonna break no matter what comes my way or whatever.
I put a lot of myself into that song.
I guess that’s what I’ll say.
And it was probably pretty honest.
I can still be more honest and I can still go deeper into like what I need to go deeper into, but yeah, that was a start.
So we’ll see what else comes up after this.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sleep on it and see what dreams come through.
Awesome.
Thank you so much for spending so much time with me this evening and just be in this vessel of love that I feel like you’ve just imbued my podcast with.
Yeah.
So you mentioned you have a couple of shows coming up.
This episode is going to come out after them, but you guys always have shows popping up here and there.
If anyone wants to see y’all live, you can find Root Shock on socials and stuff.
If anybody wanted to connect with you and your jewelry, where would you prefer to hang out with people on the interwebs?
Yeah.
Reawaken Jewelry, I’m on Instagram, and I also am on Etsy.
I do markets and all that good stuff, so I’ll be around.
So if you don’t see me on stage, you might see me at a random craft fair or art market.
Yeah, yeah, totally.
But yeah, Etsy and Instagram.
Okay, cool.
Yeah, I will.
I always link to all of that stuff in the show notes.
So, yeah.
Thank you again for being here.
Hey, you made it to the end of the episode.
What did you think?
Are you fascinated by the song?
Do you have loads of questions now?
Are you gonna go look up some charts of all of your favorite musicians?
Well, come on over to my Patreon page at the link in the show notes and let me know all about it.
I would also really love it if you could leave a rating and review and share the podcast with a friend who you think might enjoy it.
Until next time, keep on rocking, my friends.
