Page 88 - July ONLINE VERSION

Paula: Music can spark laughter, spark hard emo- Paula: I just wrote a song about Patsy Cline with
tions.
Katie: A person can have a beautiful voice, but
might not be able to connect their soul to the music
they perform. The audience walks away from a
performance unmoved, without feeling the great
power music has to offer. I want to be changed
after a performance. That my life has been forever
changed because of the influence I gathered from
the experience. Of course, my life may not take a
dramatic turn but even the most subtle of impact
can improve the trajectory of my life going forward.
ZGP: What is this mystery about music
that we can’t fully explain scientifically?
Emily: I graduated this year with a degree in
Psychology and music therapy is a direction I’m
interested in; possibly getting a Masters. For exam-
ple, people experiencing Alzheimer’s, may not be
able to name the beloved person in front of them
but can remember with clarity a song or a piece of
music when played. This reveals that music remains
connected to a part of our brains. People who have
experienced cognitive trauma can still, at times, tap
into an emotion that music once gave them.
ZGP: Staying with music and emotions,
let’s talk about vulnerability. It can be a
daunting task taking our artistry from
within our secure places – our mind, our
private homes – to open spaces subject to
an audience and the hopefulness they will
accept and absorb the vibes we are put-
ting out.
Emily: I think the first thing any artist should do
is come at it from a place of sincere honesty. Some
of my best tunes have been written from a deeply
personal place. When you think about it, sharing
your truth through your art, reminds you that you
are not alone, that others have experienced a simi-
lar event. When you can put a song out there that is
vulnerable and honest, it resonates so much more
than a typical canned tune about love, loss, and joy.
Specific experiences written to music can really
change someone’s life. The best therapy for me is to
write from my personal experiences. Sitting down
with my guitar and writing down everything in my
head as quickly as possible.
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dad knew what that decision would be, band. At
Ray and Katie and recorded it. But I don’t consider
myself a writer.
Katie: Mom is just being modest. Ever since we
were little kinds, she always had a full binder of
where she had started a chorus or verse. She has
written a lot. I can remember being little and Mom
would make up songs for different things or wake
us up with a guitar that she was learning to play.
ZGP: Paula, tell me about Chuck.
Paula: Chuck was one of the best guys you would
ever want to meet. He was a wonderful musician,
friend, husband, and father. You could walk all over
the planet and never meet another Chuck McGill.
He passed on August 12, 2015 at the age of 60, he
was just good to the core and we were really blessed
to have him. We were married nearly 36 years. We
were married ten years before Katie came along.
Emily: He could pick up any instrument and play
it like he had played it for 100 years. My dad was
humble, I mean really humble and down-to-earth.
Someone came to the store one time asking if he
could play the fiddle, I was around 14-15 at the
time, and he was like nah I can’t play the fiddle, but
I was like Dad, you know how instruments work,
just pick it up and try it. He picked it up and played
the entire song, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”
released by The Charlie Daniels Band.
Katie: The crazy thing is Dad was great at every-
thing. Most people are like he was a great musician,
and he was, but he was a very gifted and talented
artist, he could draw, and he was an athlete. He
played football and raced motocross. When you
think of a well-rounded individual, that was my
dad.
Paula: When he was in junior high, he was placed
on the football team. However, when he started
highschool the coach at the time would not allow
members of the band to play ball. Chuck’s dad was
also a great football player, so the coach went to
Chuck’s house and tried to talk his dad into making
Chuck play foodball rather than the band. Chuck’s
dad told the coach he was letting Chuck make that
decision for himself. Both the coach and Chuck’s
ZGP Magazine
gift so many desire to have. It is your responsibility
his funeral, his friend Mike DeBerry said, “Chuck
could do anything, and he did everything well.”
And that is certainly who Chuck was.
ZGP: He stayed humble?
Paula: HUMBLE? Oh my gosh, yes, he literally had
no ego.
Emily: Dad was the kind of person that if he was
going to do it, he was going to do it well. He wasn’t
the kind to dabble halfheartedly, he put everything
into everything he did.
ZGP: Tom Petty said in a 2015 interview
that he feels he has a conduit to a music
energy. Do you feel you have this same
type of connection?
Emily: I think I have this …I don’t want to say gift
because everyone has their own gift, something that
they love to do, they are supposed to do, meant to
do. I do feel I have a responsibility to music because
I do feel it is something I was put here to do. Plus, I
feel if you have it in you, feel it is your calling, you
should share it with the world.
Paula: I mean it’s like you, you must have been put
here to do this, because this is what you are doing.
I think we were put here on earth to do certain
things and it just so happens that ours is music
and what a blessing it is. Chuck would share his
knowledge and craft with anyone. Whenever we
played and he saw a musician in the audience he
would help grow their talent, bring them on stage,
or whatever. A lot of artists would not do that, but
Chuck did not take his craft for granted.
Katie: I agree with Emily, we all have been bless-
ed with gifts and often it can be easy to take it for
granted because it is something you have always
done. The responsibility aspect resonates because
while music is our gift, it is something that you
should practice and continue to grow. Music is a
part of me, I can’t shake it and it is a part of every
day. My dad would always tell me, you have a gift
but there is someone always working harder than
you are – so you keep up your talent. Others can
certainly surpass you if you allow them. You have a
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to grow your craft, your gift.
Emily: Music belongs to us all; it does not belong to
just one person. My music isn’t necessarily, if at all,
about me, it’s about helping someone, sharing what
I have with others. Sitting down with my guitar and
in that headspace keeps me humble, to continue
to use it as it was intended to help other people get
through something. I like feeling like I’m being
there for people through my music, in my own way
making the world a better place. In that space, I’m
surrounded by my family – dad, mom, and my sis-
ter and it keeps me grounded to focus on the music
and its ability to help, through me, others.
Katie: It’s weird because when someone comes up
to you after you have performed and compliments
your performance, it almost feels like it wasn’t me,
perhaps I’m the conduit from some higher place to
an audience that was moved by the message. Yes,
I put the work into it, yes, of course I tried to put
everything into the delivery but there is something
so much more happening in that moment. I feel
like I’m become the vessel for a higher spirit to flow
through my music, my given talents, to carry out its
divine mission.
Emily: I certainly feel it was our childhood. I mean
when I’m performing it certainly includes the
legacy of my parents, their loving and supportive
influence, and everyone who has empowered my
craft to flourish. So, if anyone should get the “You
did great” it should be my parents.
Katie: Yeah, like everyone that has become part of
the journey that placed you where you are now,
should be the intended target of that “You did
great” sentiment. I feel like all their spirits, time,
and energy that was poured into everything you do
– singing, painting, writing, etc. comes out in that
moment.
Paula: Cousin Tuny told me after Chuck passed,
that there are people who go through life never
knowing that kind of love that we had. I have kept
that with me.
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