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When Life Gave Jenn Bostic Lemons
April 20, 2021
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She was only 10 years old, unassuming, on her way to school, a typical day for young Jenn Bostic whose dad was at the wheel. Nobody could have known that mere car lengths ahead in the upcoming intersection, life would let go like a truckload of lemons whose pallets gave way.
As a dad to two small children, my main goal in life is to do my best to give my kids a future, so I can’t even imagine where this story goes next.
While Jenn and her brother survived this instant life-changing moment of impact, her father did not.
There is a saying that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. When you think of all the recipes that could use lemons as an ingredient, if life hands you lemons and all you made was lemonade, then we need to set you up on a blind date with Betty Crocker.
It was the janitor at Hits Magazine, Todd Hensley, who first tried to capture my attention with indie artist, Jenn Bostic, back in 2013 when I was the afternoon personality at KFSH, 95.9 The Fish in Los Angeles.
But it would be a short film about her wedding day that permanently engrained in my, now altered DNA (Thanks Johnson & Johnson), that there was no intersection in life that would keep this woman from driving forward, no matter the circumstance.
When Alanis Morissette sang about rain on your wedding day, she embodied the belief that this circumstance was one of life’s worst. That’s because Jenn Bostic hadn’t gotten married yet.
And like her wedding day, Jenn learned to take what life threw at her and in those circumstances, somehow reach deep to find joy and passion and the power to overcome.
It was that drive that birthed in her, words to help her heal from the tragedy that she witnessed on that day going to school, losing her father in an instant, and from her heart came the song Jealous of the Angels.
As unassuming as she was on that day at age 10; years later when she wrote and recorded the song, and then, like fixing the wing of an injured bird, released it into the wild, Jenn had zero expectations.
Wild Release
Because she thought she wrote the song for herself, she was taken by surprise when the BBC contacted her to perform it live on TV. The song was found online by a passerby who was stopped in her tracks, who then sent the song to Smooth Radio in London, whose airplay began the viral movement leading to airplay on BBC’s Radio 1.
Jealous of the Angels would reach #1 on many charts in the UK and elsewhere, and Jenn Bostic would be given an incredible career base of touring opportunities overseas for years to come, even being awarded “International Touring Artist of the Year,” for consecutive years from the British Country Music Association. Her success abroad has gained her opportunities in her hometown of Nashville, including invitations to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, an insurmountable goal for so many artists.
Other artists in many countries would begin covering the song for their own projects, raising its overall exposure ratio exponentially to now more than 50 million views on YouTube alone.
But what started as a flowing of words for the purpose of personal healing, has touched the hearts of millions and has begun the process of repair for so many other people. The stories her concert goers have shared with her over the years has inspired the ‘Jealous of the Angels Project,’ highlighting those gone too soon as honored by their loved ones.
I realize that Jenn’s dad, Jim Bostic, even posthumously, provided a way to give his child his best, and seeing the clips of the two of them in the video for Jealous of the Angels, highlights that unbreakable bond even more.
Be inspired by Jenn Bostic’s enthusiasm and when life hands you lemons, make Lemon Lava Cakes.
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