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Jenna Pebworth
Beauty and the Guitar Strings
-Andrea Pernell
How long have you been singing?
I have been singing for as long as I can remember. As a young girl, my mother used to “show me off ” to all of her friends by having me sing to them. The first time I ever sang in a microphone by myself was when I was ten years old at my grandmother’s funeral. I sang Amazing Grace.
What is your favorite memory or thing that you do that always reminds you of your joy to sing?
Singing is second nature to me. I truly believe every- one has a God-given gift that should be shared with the world. But sometimes I truly don’t want to share it with the world just my children. I have a 4-year-old son and a 1-year-old daughter along with a wonderful, beautiful husband. This is the audience I aspire to please. My fa- vorite thing in the world is to sing to my children know- ing they enjoy it and sing along with me.
Has there been a time you felt you lost your voice, or will to sing? If, so; how did you recover?
I can think of two times in my life that I “lost my voice.” Once literally and the other figuratively. While in high school I was involved with anything that had to do with music including my church youth worship band and the adult praise team. It was around my Jr. year in high school, and I lost my voice for the entire school year. I was able to perform at the bare minimum level to get me by but nothing spectacular or apart from anyone else. I truly believe that God “put me in my place” I was singing for the glory of myself alone, and He took what made me “special” and made me no different than any- one else who could carry a tune in a choir. Eventually, when I realized this, He gave me the gift back. When I was in college my first year, I became very discour- aged with life in general. I did not enjoy doing anything including singing. For about a year and a half, I didn’t sing and didn’t want to. It wasn’t until I met my husband Matt when I found my voice again and began singing for enjoyment.
Have you been in any big productions, if not do you hope to be?
I recently had the opportunity to sing at different small venues like Choctaw Nation Casinos. As a teen- ager, I was a part of the Oklahoma Baptist All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra, and we toured Chicago for
ten days and singing the National Anthem at a Chica- go White Sox Game. I am a small-town, Atoka girl, that loves to sing.
How and when did you learn to play the guitar?
I did not grow up with my family like many others; I have a past. My parents purchased me an acoustic guitar for Christmas when I was around 10 or 11. I did not have it long before it was pawned and never saw again. After that the first time I picked up an acoustic guitar with the intent to play when I was about 17 years old. A wonderful woman who has since passed gave me her “Reba guitar” (a guitar with a Reba McEntire fan sticker on it.) I have a Bachelor’s Degree in instrumental music. I can play many instruments, but the guitar is the only instrument I learned how to play by ear and was self-taught. It took me a long time to get to play better than just a few chords and a light strum. My husband also plays along with many of our friends. Over the years I have sat and played with them until I learned new things and began leading the high school choir.
What is a favorite quote or a word of advice for people who look up to you?
1 Timothy 4:14 begins with “Do not neglect your gift....” I don’t care what that gift for you is, use it. I have learned that in many ways going from Easy to hard that we are just borrowing this life and time in this life and we should utilize our talents in a way that would not only Glorify God but makes ourselves happy too. SMILE AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE!! And last good ol’ Bob Marley said in the song “Trench Town Rock’ is “One good thing about Music when it hits you feel no pain” I truly believe music is the universal language and can speak to any soul that needs to hear it.
Tell us something unique or interesting about yourself or a piece of your story that you would like to share?
I don’t know how unique I am. The older I get, the more I realize how similar we all truly are. Regardless of how we were raised, who raised us or our type of upbringing. One thing about me is I have always smiled and always will. Due to drug abuse and other bad decisions, I along with my younger sister ended up in the state’s custody and placed in a foster home. I was the first of my imme- diate family (and many others that I am aware of before them) to graduate from a 4-year college with a Bachelor’s Degree. I worked hard every day because of my circum- stances to beat the odds and the social stigma that was placed on me to put one foot forward and beat the gen- erational curse. So because of my past present and future and because of my wonderful husband and children, I smile.
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