10 Questions with ... Jen Allen

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

For the past two decades, Jen Allen has served as a fixture in the Christian music industry as a vital part of several successful radio promotion teams, including, most recently, Curb-Word Entertainment, where she was hired in January as National Director of Promotion.

So, that's what she's doing during the day. At night? She's regularly on-stage somewhere in Nashville rocking a mic and electric guitar as the frontwoman of either the Rockabilly quartet Jen Allen & The Tennessee Zip or 80s cover band Cobra Kai.

1. What's the career path that you've taken to get to your current position at Curb-Word?

I started my career a few months out of college at Insight Management (a tour marketing and promotion company), moved to EMI/CMG-Sparrow Records (now known as Capitol Christian Music Group), was the Christian and Americana rep at R&R, then moved to INO Records (now known as Fair Trade Services) as Manager National Promotion, moved over to Centricity Music as Director of National Promotion for 10 years and am now at Curb-Word Entertainment as National Director of Promotion.

2. As you reflect on the various roles you've taken through the course of your career, how would you best describe the emotional/spiritual/mental evolution of the Jen Allen who entered the music industry out of college, to the present one?

Even though I loved radio growing up and it was a big part of my life it's interesting that every job that I've had in the industry had had something to do with radio in some shape or form. I didn't set out thinking that I would have a career in radio promotion - it's just where God lead my path. Through my 20 years in the business I've grown a little more in each position that I've held. This is definitely and industry that will teach you patience and each day is different than the one before. With that in mind, you learn to go with the punches, be flexible, learn how to be non-reactionary and to take each day with its victories and challenges in stride.

3. When you think back on the highlights of your career, which stand out most?

I've been fortunate to have a career in a really cool industry where I've been a part of some really amazing things. I would say that I consider it a highlight to be the first in-house radio promoter for both INO Records and Centricity Music. I also consider it a highlight to now work at a label whose roster of artists played such a big part in my early musical life.

4. Conversely, when you think back to the toughest lesson learned as a part of the music industry, where does your memory go?

I don't know that I really have an instance where the situation felt as if it were a tough lesson. I will say that I do try to learn something from every experience, though. That could mean finding out why a promotion worked or didn't work, why a communication was a great one or not so great one, what could have been done better; what was done that made it so great. I think every day is full of lessons and we learn only from them what we're willing to open our minds to.

5. Why Christian music?

Just like having a career that's been built around radio promotion, Christian music is where God led my path. My first job in the industry was in the country industry, but the door opened to work at EMI CMG and God's lead me to be in the industry ever since. Plus, it was just a natural thing as well. I grew up listening to Christian music so when the job at EMI CMG/Sparrow came around and the chance to work with some of my favorite artists I jumped at the opportunity.

6. You're a musician yourself. What is the background story on your own artistic upbringing?

I am! I grew up in a musical family (both sides of the family are musical going back in our ancestry). I also say that I grew up in the theater. My earliest memories are being in our community theater (which is the oldest continually running community theater in the state of Tennessee) either watching my mother star in, or direct, musicals.

My father acted and sang as well but didn't really have time to do theater (he was a doctor), but he found time to build fantastic sets in our garage for the productions. I spent so much time in that theater growing up and before I moved to Nashville that I can still bring up the memory of the smell that theater has and I later performed in many musicals there as well. Both Mom and Dad not only were singers but multi-instrumentalists in their own right and they passed that love of music down to us kids. Music was always a part of our family life and singing was a natural thing for me.

I began musical lessons (piano) at age 5, however, from as early as my earliest memory I always wanted to play guitar. I bought my first guitar at age eight and began teaching myself a few chords here and there. I then talked my parents into letting me take official guitar lessons, which lead into a life-long obsession with guitar. Piano went by the wayside but guitar became my love.

I eventually earned a degree at Belmont University in Guitar with a minor in Composition & Arranging.

7. Did you ever seek a career as a full-time musician? If so, at what point did you make the decision to pursue other, non-performing facets of the music industry?

For a while, I really did want to be a full-time musician. However, after I began working in the industry, I saw how little anonymity and personal time artists actually have. I'm an open person, but I also greatly value my privacy. Also, it's a hard life-not the glamour that people may think-and I just wasn't sure that life was the one for me.

8. Who inspires you musically? As a performer, what are your genre preferences?

That's a hard question-and an easy one. If you were to look at my music selections, you'd find everything from Classical (Stravinsky), to Broadway (Sondheim!), Jazz (Ella, Monk, Miles), Country (Hank), Rock (AC/DC), Blues (Vaughan) Heavy Metal (Judas Priest/Sabbath), Rockabilly (Stray Cats!). Almost every genre-and I have favorites and influencers in every genre. Plus, every genre has a sub-genre and then all those sub-genres have influencers. If you haven't guessed....I'm a total music nerd. As for guitarists, big influencers are Stevie Ray Vaughn and Brian Setzer. As a performer, my genre preference is Rockabilly.

9. How much of your life is dedicated to your own artistic pursuits at this point in time, and what do those look like for you?

At this point in my life, quite a bit of my free time is spent pursuing my extracurricular music endeavors. I have a rockabilly band that I lead called Jen Allen & The Tennessee Zip, which consists of me on vocals and guitar, an upright bassist, keys and drums. We play everything from traditional Rockabilly to Neo-Billy (remember sub-genres?) and we'll be doing a little bit of recording soon. I also play in an 80's cover band called Cobra Kai and we play all hits from Hair Metal, New Wave, Punk, Pop, Rock, etc. I do all the music charts and am the musical director for both bands. When I'm not rehearsing with the bands, I'm usually practicing at home or making new charts.

10. What's going through your mind when you're on stage performing?

It's different for each performing experience. If I'm playing a new song that I've just learned, I'm probably concentrating on what comes next; what lyrics are next, what chords are next, who's soloing next, etc. Sometimes I'm thinking about not furrowing my brow (which I have a tendency to do when playing) or I might be thinking about breath control. Sometimes, however, I'll get into what's called "The Zone" and literally nothing is in my head. The best way to describe it is that you feel yourself in your body, but not be in your body at the same time and the playing and singing go on autopilot. Everything just flows. That's the most special place to sync into as a performer.