“Jenny”: What My Grandma’s Life Taught Me About Songwriting
BACKGROUND: Who is Jenny?
“A dreamer with big, big plans / forgot ‘em all so you could lend a hand”
Sometimes, songs come to you when you least expect it.
Picture it: May 2, 2023. Around 6 AM. I’m in the middle of getting ready for work, and I’m thinking about my grandmother - Granny, as everyone affectionately calls her.
Granny is one of those people who always has a treat for you, always checks in to see how you’re really doing, and is always praying for someone. She lived a lot of life before I came into the world, and made choices that she’s not proud of.
I never knew the Jenny everyone else knew. The Jenny I know hasn’t had a drop of alcohol since before I was alive, and never since. She has never been hateful in my presence, and it’s hard to even get her to say mean things about her ex-husband. “We’re better today,” she says.
One thing I’ve learned in my 26 short years of living is that everyone has a past, and everyone has moments they’re not proud of. Some of us hide those parts of ourselves, but some of us understand the only way to heal is for those parts to see the light of day.
Granny has been humble enough to share parts of herself that she’d rather no one see, if only for others to understand how far a person can come. Being a Christian, she believes like I do that no one is ever too far gone, including yourself.
So when I began thinking of words for Granny’s life that morning in May, I wept. I wept for the person she could have been. I wept for the trials she went through, even if she chose the wrong path or got in her own way. Don’t we all sometimes?
“JENNY”: THE WRITING PROCESS
“Jenny, I hear you / Your cries for help echo through time / and if I could, I’d hit rewind for you, desperate Jenny”
There have been few times when I felt so moved by what I was writing that I cried so much, and even fewer when it felt like I couldn’t stop writing. The words just kept coming. Every time I’d put my phone down to keep getting ready for work, I had to pick it back up to write down something new.
I made it to work that morning with most of the song finished, but knew I had something really important in my Notes app. I made sure that each verse and chorus fit together and represented a different part of her story. I LOVE when writers make changing choruses and felt strongly that this song’s choruses should evolve with Jenny’s story.
The craziest part about writing “Jenny” was that everything I wrote down is true.
Her maiden name is Schutte, hence the phrase “long line of stand-up Schuttes.” She turned down a nursing school scholarship to take care of her own ailing grandmother. She met my grandpa who has brown eyes and is named Jim. She fell into alcoholism, “turned her attention to the bottle,” and went through a really tough season before turning to the Lord “‘til by the grace of God she found religion, a support group, and a sponsor.” She now sponsors others in their sobriety journey through local Alcoholics Anonymous chapters in her area.
When I felt I had the lyrics and song form finished, I showed a few people. My best friend, Sophia, my songwriting mentor, Denise, but there was one person I needed to share it with before anyone else could hear or see it.
THE BLESSING
“In spite of all your past mistakes / you make the best of each day”
I pressed play with shaking hands. I sat with Granny as we listened to a rough demo version I had pieced together, just to get a feel for the chord progression and flow of the song…and to show Granny.
As the song ended, she said through tears, “That’s my life. I never thought I’d hear my life in a song.”
“Granny,” I began, “I would love to record this, really record it, and give it to the world. Your story is so important. But I won’t do it without your permission.”
“Of course, sweetie. Oh, that would be wonderful!”
She even agreed to keep everything I originally wrote in the song. After all, it’s not a complete picture if you cut out the parts you’d prefer people not see.
From there, my producer Dermot and I worked really hard to make sure the instrumentation supplemented the lyrics and did not take away from them. The song has a pretty simple chord progression, the percussion doesn’t change much throughout the song, and the background vocals act more like instruments than actual vocal lines.
“JENNY” in Conclusion
“Took a long time, but here we are / I won’t forget the lessons your life taught”
Fast forward 3 years, and I released “Jenny” as my first-ever single on May 1, 2026. Granny has a CD version of the song, the only physical copy, if you can believe it. She plays it for her friends in AA, and anyone who will listen, really.
It’s one of my most-streamed songs to date, and I am honored to tell Jenny’s story. It serves as a testimony to how much your life can change, if you just let the light in.
