Musical Autobiography

I am from a very small town called Bamberg, which is in the lower part of the state. We are called the “Low Country” and are only about an hour from the coast. My family is fortunate enough to own a small beach house on Edisto Island. I love it there! Being that Bamberg is a small town and that we have a place at Edisto, we frequently make trips into Charleston for basically everything from going to Wal-Mart to going to a movie. Making my way from Bamberg to Charleston and then to Edisto, I believe that I have the Low Country deep in my roots. We did grow up listening to Country music, but our main music is Beach Music. We went to Edisto Island every weekend growing up. With this, we also went into Charleston every single weekend to get the essentials. Growing up at the beach was awesome. It was a blessing and the things that I learned and felt for Edisto have never left me. Being that I grew up as much at Edisto as I did in Bamberg, I truly learned to Shag (the South Carolina dance, not Austin Powers!) on the beach. I could easily describe my life by simply telling someone to listen to “I Love Beach Music” by The Embers. Beach Music is a slower music that makes my heart ache for the coast and also makes me feel safe and warm. It is truly the music that relaxes me and can ease my mind whatever the circumstances may be. I believe Beach Music has also helped me with my connections with people. It helps bring us together. No matter where I am in the world, as long as I know that there is someone from South Carolina who understands Beach Music and the Shag, we will always have some sort of connection. It is something that I treasure and love. One Spring Break, my friends and I (being the poor college students we were) convinced my parents to let us use the beach house instead of going on a trip. We went to this little bar on the island named Whaley’s. It was pretty dead, but there was a small group of people from Michigan, so we started talking with them. They had never heard of Beach Music or the Shag until that night. I will never forget when “Miss Grace” by The Tymes came on and we all started shagging and singing. The folks from Michigan loved watching us and told us that they were amazed at how you could truly see the passion and how the song brought everyone together in an indescribable way.