Award-winning singer/songwriter to perform at Grove Theatre
She’s played and sung around the country, to Jenn Christy, Oak Ridge’s Historic Grove Theater is a familiar place.
Christy, a singer/songwriter, award-winning pianist, and alumus of John Mellencamp’s band, will be playing there at her upcoming show “Jenn and Eric: Simply Acoustic, Simply Amazing” Wednesday, Nov. 8 from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. The Historic Grove Theater is at 123 Randolph Road.
She’ll be playing alongside guitarist and fellow singer/songwriter Eric Brown.
Christy grew up in Oak Ridge from fourth grade and graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1997. Before moving to Oak Ridge, she lived in Clinton.
Her concerts with Brown include songs from the 1950s through the ’80s, including rock, pop, blues and folk.
She’s played with Mellencamp, and opened for Bob Seger, Kelly Clarkson and Pentatonix. But she got her start as a classically trained pianist taking lessons in Oak Ridge.
“It was definitely my forte over singing until I got older,” she said. “I always thought I’d be playing at Carnegie Hall when I was a kid. That was my dream gig. I’ve never gotten to Carnegie Hall, but I’ve gotten to do a lot of other cool stuff.”
She said she got started singing in the First United Methodist Church’s choir.
“I’m hoping that I get to see some familiar faces,” she said regarding her return to Oak Ridge. She said she knew the Historic Grove Theater back when it was a movie theater before it became its current church and concert venue self.
Some may recognize her name as a swimmer, a sport she started during her Oak Ridge years but continued at Indiana University. She is a ten time All American and five time Big Ten Champion, among other distinctions. She is in both the Oak Ridge Sports Hall of Fame and Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame.
She called her upcoming concert “just a show for any music lover.”
“It’s the one place where everything else goes away,” she said regarding music and its ability to get people to forget their troubles over things like religion and politics. “Our goal is that people leave feeling great because we always do.
“We kind of have a ridiculous amount of fun,” she said, adding the show was high energy. “We calm down for a few songs, but we get our calories burned.”
Tickets are discounted in advance, $10 online, $15 day of show. They can be found at http://www.1PulseLive.com.
