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Miley Cyrus and Pharrell Williams music, and even
J O N A T H A N
G R E E R
Old Soul, New Shoes
By Tammy Yosich
ZGP: Where did music start for you?
JG: I’d like to think that it began in middle school
drumline, but I think back to even further than that.
What really started it for me was a video game demo
that came in the mail as a part of a subscription, and
the demo that month was Guitar Hero. I think that
was my first introduction to music. The developers
chose songs like classic rock tunes, so that became
my first love of music, right from the get-go. My
mom played violin and guitar, and sang a little. My
dad sang as well.
ZGP: Who are your musical influences?
JG: Music is one of those things that you can pick
up a new influence wherever you go. Stevie Wonder
is one of my favorites. He has great music; no mat-
ter what you like, you can find something of his to
enjoy. Others of note are the Allman Brothers, old
and modern jazz musicians, and of course Stevie
Ray Vaughn. There's a whole hodgepodge of people
and influences that have come together to flavor my
music.
I have a group called the Jackson’s Hubtet from right
here in Hub City. The five of us perform old country
and jazz, like Patsy Cline, Louie Armstrong, and Ella
Fitzgerald type music, all the way to more modern
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That encourages me. When I think about times in
a few original tunes as well.
I also serve as the music minister at Highland Park
Church. We do everything from older hymns to
more modern contemporary worship. I get called
into the studio every now and then with a friend of
mine who runs a studio in Memphis. Between all of
that and my pet projects, it keeps my musical plate
full.
ZGP: You don't get harmony if everyone
sings the same note. What does that mean to
you?
JG: I got to participate in the Casey Jones Barber-
shop Chorus. I directed the group for about 6 years
or so and sang with them even before I had come
on as director. In barbershop, you have four voice
parts that come together: the lead, the baritone,
the tenor, and the bass. All of those voice parts are
singing completely different parts. If you were to
sing barbershop by yourself, you'd get some terrible,
awful sounding music. It's only when you bring all
four of those voice parts together that you get this
overwhelmingly beautiful thing that comes from the
harmony.
ZGP Magazine
my life in which people who are different than me
get on my nerves, and when I feel like I just can't
stand it, I'm reminded of the imagery of a barber-
shop chorus. Tenors and baritones usually have
these really funky parts that just don't seem to make
sense on their own, but when you take a step back
and look at the whole, you get something so beauti-
ful. It reminds me to be thankful for all of the parts
that you have in a song, or in a business, or in a
family.
ZGP: Can music make us better humans?
JG: I had a really good conversation with a friend re-
cently about the importance of storytelling through
song. There’re some songs that resonate with you in
a way that seem to offer great explanations for what
bigger questions that make you want jump in even
you're feeling, but yet at the same time propose even
deeper. “What does this mean? How do I really feel
about it?"
In the same way a mentor can offer advice to a stu-
dent or a pupil, music can offer advice to its par-
ticipants. This includes both the moral lessons that
come along with the subject matter of music, and
also one’s participation in the music itself. Learning
to work together with others and not always trying
to be the biggest, loudest sound out there is very
important!
Music is fundamentally cooperative, where you have
a group of people coming together to create some-
thing beautiful. Ironically, music implies difference,
yet brings together diverse folks to listen to the same
tune or create a song or rhythm. The structure of
music itself has chords, which typically are con-
structed from three very different notes, but when
they come together, they create this harmonious
sound. Thus, through the connection of music, hu-
manity could model vibrant difference, yet practice
being harmonious as a whole.
In American culture today, the dominant narrative
is that everyone wants to be the biggest individual
they can be. How can I attain the largest number of
followers on social media, be the one everyone looks
to, have the trendiest style, and how can I strive to
do so much on my own that I don’t need anyone
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Old Soul, New Shoes
else? I don’t think that is what we were designed to
do. Some of our kids have no idea as to what real
community is anymore because they are so focused
on the self. Community isn’t collecting likes and fol-
lowers on social media, but rather, coming together
in joy, tragedy, and times of change with others who
you are close with. In music, we find this energetic
community. There is hope that, through music, we
can discover our different “notes” and come together
to create a more inclusive world.
ZGP: Is there a genuine connection between
music and our soul?
ed to my love and appreciation of music. Let me
JG: My undergrad degree in philosophy is connect-
answer this question in two parts. The philosopher
in me wants to answer that question this way: even
if there is no such thing as a soul (disclaimer for the
materialists), every interaction you have changes
your brain chemistry in some way. One would have
to admit that, in no other discipline–creative or
otherwise–except for music, does the participation
of the activity light up every region of your brain:
creatively, mechanically, logically, emotionally, and
on and on. All these factors come together in music:
creating the music, understanding the mechanics of
the relationship between the keys and notes, and the
logic in the message one is trying to convey through
the music, the passion put into playing. Thus, when
you have all these neurons firing at the same time,
at the end of a jam session or concert, you have this
sense of awe. That is personally transformative, even
for those who claim the idea of a soul is silly.
Put from a more personal perspective, I believe that
there is a huge connection between music and the
soul, which does exist. One of my favorite jazz tunes
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