Wendy Jans

In 2002, I moved 700 miles to pursue a dream.

I would like to be able to say that it was a special dream, one nobody else shared – something so secret, so revelatory, so inspiring that I was bound for infamy. But unfortunately, it was the standard-variety pursuit-of-a-music-career dream that 40,000 other starry-eyed hopefuls share every year. (No kidding! It’s reported that 40 THOUSAND people move to Nashville every year to pursue a career in music, although the vast majority of them don’t stay).
….And no, I didn’t know about the other 39,999 when I moved here, either.

Prior to the move, I was in an original rock band “Gravity Crush”, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. We had recently released a full-length album, won a regional Ernie Ball battle of the bands and were rewarded with a slot in the Minneapolis leg of the Warped Tour which, we would find out – is a fantastic opportunity for any punk band – but BRUTAL if you are not punk (we were not).

As the accolades accrued, I started feeling that Big Fish in a Small Pond Syndrome that I’m pretty sure all 40,000 of us dreamers talk ourselves into. It was after a showcase at a music conference where an indie label dude who also managed Andy Dick (yes, I was easily impressed) urged me to go off on my own and added that “…by the way, you sound kind of country – you should move to Nashville”.

Well, it just so happened that, in addition to having gotten my start as the lead singer of country/rock band, Nashville had always been in the back of my mind. My favorite songwriter – Amy Grant, had cemented the magic of Nashville in my mind long ago with her song “Tender Tennessee Christmas” and her romantic album cover complete with rolling Tennessee hills. I had even begun collaborating with a friend of mine in Nashville, coming down to write and record. So, those fateful words “you sound kinda country” were all the push I needed.

So, although my band members were truly exceptional musicians and some of my favorite, most hilarious friends, my decision to quit the band and move to Nashville had been simmering for a long time, especially having a husband with a taste for adventure and a restless spirit ready for change.

So, we broke the news to the band, loaded up the cats and the houseplants, rented the U-Haul, hitched it to the ’90 Geo Prizm, and off we went. Nashville or Bust! To date, we’ve been here for 8 years and, because I’m either proud or stubborn, I’m still here.

That said, I would soon realize that the 700 miles was the easy part.