Talented 15 year-old Jackson Guthy answered a few questions for me about his music and how he manages to go to school and still pursue his career!
Q: What do you love most about music?
A: How you can write it and then watch someone else enjoy it — how it can make people feel happy even when they were feeling down.
Q: What originally got you into music?
A: I started taking piano when I was about 4 years old. At first I didn’t really like it but my mom really encouraged me and told me how good I was and I just kept at it until I did start getting pretty good. I don’t think I would have kept at it had it not been for my mom and her support because it was kind of frustrating in the beginning. I love music so much — that’s why I tell people to never give up on something, you have to give it a shot.
Q: At only 15, what goals do you have in the long run?
A: I want to have a career that sustains, I want to pursue this my whole life and keep creating. Justin Timberlake is a great example of someone who keeps doing more — he started out as a Disney kid and now he’s an actor, entrepreneur and business man as well as a Grammy winning singer and songwriter.
Q: How do you manage school and music?
A: I definitely have to focus on both because without school there would be no music. I need my education to help my music — classes like English where I learn a lot about poetry and literature have helped everything I do. School is like a software update for me — it’s a brain update: makes me faster, better and I have fewer problems.
Q: What has been your favorite experience from music?
A: Meeting all the people who take interest in my music — that’s just really cool.
Q: Who are some of you biggest inspirations?
A: Justin Timberlake, John Mayer.
Q: What is your songwriting process like?
A: It’s different every time — I might think of a cool line and then go write some chords on the piano for a while. Sometimes I just play around on the piano for a bit and get a good melody going. I will let it process for a couple of hours then come up with lyrics.
Q: Are there any charities you support?
A: I’m singing a couple of songs for a cool charity benefit called Celebration of Dreams in November (they help make dreams come true for adults who face life-threatening illnesses).
Q: What is coming up for you with your career?
A: Just finished our record and now we’re going to start going to labels, which should be a pretty cool experience!
Q: What social networks do you have?
A: A bunch!
Official Site
Facebook
YouTube
Twitter
Vevo
Flickr
MySpace
Check out the single LOVING:
