Today we’d like to introduce you to Kendall Jamison.
Kendall, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started doing music at a very young age. I was 5 years old when my parents decided I should take piano lessons just like the rest of my siblings. I learned the basics and the names of the notes but at the time, the piano was a chore more than something I enjoyed. Shortly after getting started, my piano teacher moved states and I didn’t get a new one for 2 more years.
My parents hired a new piano teacher shortly after for the rest of my siblings but I had to be at least 7 years old to take lessons from him. I remember being too young to take lessons and listening to my siblings upstairs play the piano with the teacher. The new teacher taught piano in a different way and made the piano seem like something fun to learn. Instead of teaching us all the scales on the piano as most teachers would, he made tunes to go along with the scales.
Once I heard the piano with all the instruments playing along, it sparked my love for music, and all of a sudden I couldn’t wait till I was 7 years old so I could start taking piano lessons. Once I started taking piano lessons, I discovered I had perfect pitch. I could listen to any note on the piano or even an airplane going by or what notes the microwave and washer machine played. I thought that was normal and something everyone could do. I was surprised when my piano teacher told me that’s not something he can do and told me how rare it actually was to have it. That made me realize music was something I could be very good at if I spent enough time on it. I took lessons from that teacher till I was about 15 years old.
When I was 10, I started teaching myself guitar from a small kid’s acoustic guitar and a book to teach you guitar. I started learning the basics and watched Youtube videos to learn songs I liked. I took guitar lessons for a short time, years later as well. That’s when I started falling in love with rock music and wanting to start my own band. In middle school, I tried my best to form bands but could never find players who were committed enough.
Later that year I joined a music class at school and we all had to pair up in groups and write songs together. No one in the group was a musician except for a girl in the group who sang pretty well for her age. We wrote a few songs and called ourselves the Stairdwellers. We performed at our teacher’s basements studio in a house in Provo for an end-of-the-year showcase for the class. After that, my teacher was impressed and asked if we wanted to come to the studio and he’d record a song for us for free.
We recorded 1 song and that was the first time I had ever gotten to experience what it was like to record music and I fell in love with it! Years later, I reconnected with him and I still go to his studio today to help me master record some music there!
When I was in Softmore year of high school I joined a band called Parkway Avenue as the guitarist. They were all about a year older and went to a different schools. We played at local venues around the valley such as the Velour, and Thirdspace Studios, and even got to open for the Offspring and the X Ambassadors in 2019!
Once it was 2020, the pandemic happened and all live shows came to an end. After a few years of attending and playing lots of local shows every week, it was hard to keep practicing with the band all the time without motivation. After a few months, we got a few new members and decided to create a new band with a different sound called Sweet Tangerine!
Once shows started back up again, Sweet Tangerine went from an Idea to reality. This time I noticed people were extremely supportive of our music than when we were at Parkway Avenue. We had found something that lots of kids our age enjoyed and we started bringing lots of people to our shows easily. I’ll never forget the first time I was on stage when a room full of strangers was screaming our lyrics at the top of their lungs. As Sweet Tangerine went on for another year, we started growing faster and faster! In May of 2022, the singer for Sweet Tangerine decided he wanted to serve a mission for his church. We had our last Sweet Tangerine show at the Velour in Provo and sold it out. At that moment, I really felt hopeful for the future. While I knew the band I loved was coming to an end, I was proud of what we accomplished. The first time I ever went to the Velour was for an open mic I played when I was 12 years old. Since then, my dream has been to have my own show there. I would never have guessed I would have sold out that venue 6 years later with my band.
Once I got the news he was leaving, I knew exactly what I needed to do. I’ve always had ideas for songs in my head that I dreamed of a full band playing. One song in particular that I made up in my freshman year of high school had always been stuck in my head. I tried to start a band Freshman year and introduced that song but the band didn’t stick together long. Years later I still really wanted to record that song and decided I would start learning how to mix and master it and just record the song myself. I had also gotten to a point where I felt comfortable enough to play every instrument myself (piano, guitar, drums, bass, vocals, synths) and create a solo project.
That’s when I created Orchard of Strings. At one point, I had gotten an interface and 2 microphones for my birthday to record piano when I was 12. I realized I can just record almost everything at home! I didn’t realize how much you can do and how creative you can get when you have endless time for free to record everything just how you want it. I recorded and released my first song “City Season” in April 2020. Then in May, I graduated from high school and started making Orchard of Strings my main priority.
Now I am playing shows every week again either with me and my guitar or with me and my band. Me and the drummer from Sweet Tangerine continued to be friends and he joined Orchard of Strings as the drummer when playing live! I also got a few other friends from the scene to join the band. One of them was a buddy of mine with a death metal band I joined as the drummer Junior year of high school!
To this day, I still play with that band and with Orchard of Strings! I have nothing but excitement for the future to create with my band and everyone who comes and attends my shows listens to my music and supports me! And I can’t thank the people who already support me enough for being able to let my dreams come true and surround my life with music!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
So far, the road has felt pretty smooth, even when obstacles do come up, they don’t feel as difficult to overcome as an obstacle relating to something else in my life. I think that may be because I enjoy music enough that even when there is a lot on my plate, it’s easy not to feel to overwhelmed with something I love. I know that the road will definitely get rough as I am still only at the beginning of this journey to growing up and facing the world. I know in the future I will spend plenty of time touring the states/world and have more on my plate than I can imagine right now. I’m sure that road will be far from a smooth road, but my love of music is enough to keep me from giving up!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m known for being a songwriter! While I love listening to songs and playing other people’s songs, I’ve always found songwriting is where I feel the proudest of my work. I write all the instruments to Orchard of Strings and play/record them! I love writing lyrics and I always make every one of my songs a song that is really meaningful to me and makes me feel emotional. I’d say songwriting is really where I’m set apart from others. I always strive to make listenable music that moves you rather than music to show off how good you are at playing an instrument.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Love matters most to me, as cheesy as that might sound but I think we can all agree on that for ourselves. Music has the power to hold a strong influence on people and that’s why music is the second most important thing to me. It’s a way I can express myself, show love to others, help others by making music that’s relatable to their personal challenges in life, etc…
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orchardofstrings/
- Other: https://www.flowcode.com/page/orchardofstrings
