Jenny Bruce is an award-winning singer-songwriter. Her music has been heard on several major TV shows, including "The Today Show," "Ghost Whisperer" and "Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce" on Bravo.
Jenny has also toured internationally, and has won several notable songwriting awards, including the highly coveted Billboard Song Contest Great American Songwriting Contest as well as the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
In addition to music, Jenny Bruce is obsessed with the paranormal and has just kicked off a monthly podcast titled Songs & Ghosts, where she speaks about her beliefs on the paranormal world as well as her own personal experiences with ghosts! The podcast will also include special guests that will speak on supernatural activity.
I recently got to interview this talented artist -
Sharon: Paranormal experiences often open minds and fuel the creative process from a young age. How old were you when you had an encounter and how did it make your view of the world broaden? And, did the tone of your music change after an encounter?
Jenny: I find that having a powerful imagination fuels my creative process more than anything. Allowing your imagination the space to roam also opens you up to seeing the world from different perspectives. Certainly my paranormal encounters have both fueled my imagination and creativity!
Most children come into this world believing that there is much more to life than what is immediately visible. We are conditioned to seek out “rational,” “logical” explanations for things as we grow into adulthood. As the layers of magic and imagination are stripped away, most adults lose their ability to envision a world that defies explanation, with the exception of religious faith.
Once, however, you experience something truly paranormal, I don’t know how it can’t expand your perspective and view of the world. That said, my experiences with the “unexplained” have only confirmed what I always held to be true. I am not a religious person, but rather, I am agnostic. I acknowledge that I do not have the answers.
Sharon: Would you say that a gothic or romantic attitude toward the unexplained has made your art be influenced by moody atmosphere, the unexpected, and the darkness? Do you feel that you are expressing the moods of the paranormal realm with your art?
Jenny: That isn’t something I have ever considered! My music definitely veers towards the moody and the contrast between hope and despair, light and dark. As a sensitive person (not a psychic) I am very tapped into my emotions and those of the people around me. There have been instances where I have picked up on feelings or moods in an “empty” room.
My song “Home” might be an example of tapping into the paranormal. My friend’s mother died in a tragic car accident. I sat down to write a song for her and “Home” streamed out of me almost all at once as if the song came from somewhere else. That had never happened before or since. The words came in a steady flow as did the music. The emotion behind the song was overpowering. It was like I was experiencing the death of my mother, who at the time was very much a live and an integral part of my life.
I couldn’t sing the song without crying! I actually had my voice teacher coach me to be able to perform “Home” live. When my mother did die a decade later at 60 of pancreatic cancer, I sang “Home” at her bedside as she left this world. In that moment before I sang to her, the hospice worker couldn’t figure out why my mother still had a pulse. She was clearly passing on, but some part of her was clinging to life as if waiting for something. I pet her head, sang that song and she left.
Not sure that was paranormal, but it was a deeply spiritual and extraordinary experience.
Sharon: Most people who experience the paranormal, experience it many times in their lives and sometimes in many categories, like UFO sightings, Bigfoot encounters, psychic moments, or witnessing ghosts. Have you found yourself encountering multiple times throughout your life? Is there any encounter you have not had that you wish to have?
In my life I have experienced many paranormal events, including witnessing a full-bodied apparition. There have also been so many moments of bizarre synchronicity that are very hard to explain. No UFOs or Bigfoot… yet. I have never been physically touched by an entity. I have been with others who were tugged at or tapped. I would very much like to know what that feels like!
Sharon: You are doing a podcast now called "Songs and Ghosts," and this combination sounds intriguing. Tell us about this unique project.
Jenny: My podcast is about exploring my two passions, music and the paranormal. Songs and ghosts.
Music is a language that extends and reaches far beyond our rational existence. It taps into our emotions. I have always been passionate about communicating through music, both what is in my heart and in my soul.My interest in the paranormal is a natural extension of my love of music and communication! In the same way I want to outwardly project feelings and emotions through songs, I also connect to others through their emotions.
I recently read an article published by the University of Connecticut about music and the brain. The following really caught my attention:
(SOURCE LINK) “Some scientists have theorized that music evokes emotion by tapping into deep rooted psychological constructs that have developed in our psyche as humans evolved over time.
But advances in neural imaging are revealing a much more complicated process behind music perception, cognition, and emotion. Neuroscientists like Large believe that music, rather than mimicking some other form of social or primal communication, speaks to the brain in a language all of its own.”
I think about how Albert Einstein always traveled with his violin. When speaking about Mozart he expressed that “…the great Wolfgang Amadeus did not “create” his beautifully clear music at all, but simply discovered it already made.” Music transcends boundaries and taps into the mysterious part of us that cannot be or has not yet been named.
The very vibrations of sound are invisible to the eye and yet we can't deny the existence of music! I believe we have other senses, less developed than our sense of sound, that can discern other vibrations or sensations. Sometimes "ghosts" can be seen, heard and felt. Other times, I have felt the presence of something, someone I cannot see, but can only feel.
The world is full of beauty and mystery. Songs and ghosts.
Conclusion
Jenny is doing podcast now called "Songs and Ghosts," and this combination sounds intriguing. If you want to check it out - please go to her LINK HERE.
