Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Silk.
Hi Jess, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My mother likes to tell this story… When I was just barely a toddler, she would listen to records with me and ask me to point out every instrument in the song. So I would. Bass! Guitar! Piano! Then she would ask me to point out the melodies, and I would hum them back to her. I had a toy piano and for every song I liked, I would sit down and figure it out on my own.
When I was three years old, I ran into my parents’ room with tears in my eyes. I had just seen an episode of Mr. Rogers. Jonny Costa was playing the piano. I wanted so badly to play like him, but I couldn’t. Because I was self-taught, I was limited in what I could do, but using my ears, I would play every song I could, until I couldn’t.
Jonny Costa, a vision of what I could be and more. My mom held me tight, wiped my tears and told me that it was time for me to take piano lessons. I. WAS. Overjoyed! My life changed from that moment on.
As I grew in skill, I outgrew my miracle keyboard, so my parents looked up classified ads and found me my first piano. A Cable Console. It always sounded slightly out of tune, but I would manage until one day I couldn’t take it anymore and I asked my mom if a piano tuner could tune my piano. I was eight years old.
The day the tuner came to my house I was fearful and excited. I remember watching from the stairs and thinking, “Will the piano tuner know everything that is wrong with my piano? Will they be able to figure out why things feel and sound so strange?”
After the tuner left I walked slowly up to the piano, I opened the lid, and I examined everything for myself. I can still remember the smell of that old cable. I took apart the baseboard and examined the pedals, and I began to see how it all worked. I played every note while I watched the hammers move, and from what I could tell, it sounded and felt good.
I polished that piano almost every week. I was obsessed with taking care of it. I thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world.
As the years went on that piano and I had something really special. She was a shoulder to cry on, a place to pour out my soul, my faithful companion.
While I spent many years doing college preparatory piano work, my greatest passion was creating my own songs. I never really felt understood as a kid, and that wasn’t necessarily because I didn’t have support or friends, it’s just that my feelings and thoughts needed somewhere to go, and the piano was the only one that seemed to understand me.
My mom would often say that she knew how I was feeling, or what I was thinking every time I played the piano (and trust me, I would play for hours and hours and hours every single day). I started to realize that I had something to say, not just with words, but with my music. And so it began. I wrote songs, started playing shows, joined bands, made records, taught kids how to play, I did everything I possibly could in the realm of music, and by the time I was 14 I was a professional musician.
In my mid 20’s I established my music and art under the name “Von Strantz” which I use to this day as a singer/songwriter, producer and touring musician.
In 2018 after eight straight and long years of living on the road touring the entire US, I decided to move to Atlanta, GA. Playing 250 shows a year had left me tired and burnt out. I didn’t really know who I was anymore, and Atlanta felt like a good place for me to rest and find my voice again.
I ended up landing in Cabbagetown, where my newly made friend (now partner) Sam invited me to come play music with his friends around a fire on an old couch on Carroll Street, right next to Little’s. I met Tad, Victor, Ed, Putnam, Gibson, David, Craig, Amir, Steven, Elizabeth, Tommy, Matt Daddy, Big Softie, and many many more wonderful people.
As the last few years have unfolded, I started to feel safe and that maybe I could sink my roots here. I was finding my voice again.
But there was still something missing. I was aching for a piano. In all my years of nomadic living, having one had been impossible.
One day I got a call from my dear friend Tad, and he said if I wanted, there was a piano waiting to be gifted to me, all I had to do was go and play it and let him know and it would be mine.
So what do you know, my Cabbagetown friends rallied together and helped me move my 1920s Stratford Upright to my home and it’s been with me ever since. I am tearing up just thinking about all of this.
Now here is where the story takes a beautiful turn.
So we all know and can admit the last three years have been incredibly difficult for our community and for the world. I don’t really need to go into detail to share just how hard it’s been for the music community, but I will say this: I personally could no longer work as a professional musician. For a hobby, sure, but not as my means of financial income like I had for the years prior. I had to take a good long hard look at myself and find a way to survive. I worked multiple jobs, cleaning houses, serving tables, teaching, tiling floors, delivering groceries, and bar-backing… but all the while I was looking for a new way to connect work with music.
Meanwhile, that 1920s Stratford Upright was getting terribly out of tune. And slowly, it came to me: I started to think, what If I learned how to tune a piano? So after hours of research, I enrolled into the Piano Technician Academy, got my Piano Technician Certification, and joined the Piano Technicians Guild.
I spent about six months working on friends’ pianos and friends of friends’ pianos until one day, I went to Cooper Piano. I met Blake, the owner, and shared my newfound love and desire to work as a full-time Piano Tech. He showed me around the store, shared the history of his family’s century-old piano business. On the wall of the entryway to the store he showed me a picture of Brubeck and his trio, and in the photo was Johnny Costa. Mr. Cooper told me Costa was his neighbor, and he loved hearing him practice as a young lad. I began to tear up. I knew that I was where I needed to be.
That day Mr. Cooper offered me a small contract to come in and tune a few pianos a week, and before you knew it he and his niece Laura Cooper were offering me a full-time position working with their incredible staff to service pianos for the Atlanta and greater Atlanta area.
The last five months of my life have been sheer bliss for me. I love working on pianos, not just because pianos are the greatest instrument in the world, but because every day I get to help people play the pianos they love. Each day I get to help people find their voices and share their hearts.
As an artist, this is vital to my creativity. I am inspired daily to write and play my own music knowing that as a musician, I can help others keep going. I am honored to work on every piano, no matter whose it is or what make or model it might be. My hands, my heart, my mind are driven with love to share the world beyond words, and music.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wish the road was smooth! Ha! Nah, then I wouldn’t be who I am today. Everyone struggles in some way. I really try to view opposition and tough times as an opportunity to grow. One of the greatest aspects of being an artist is being able to create opportunities, and sometimes you get to create them out of thin air. When you don’t have money to pay the bills or put food on the table or a roof over your head, when you’re feeling like everything seems out of control, you feel that pressure. That’s when the breakthrough happens, and you see those proverbial diamonds shine, the real treasures in this life. You have to look at what you have, friends, family, community, two hands, a mind, heart, imagination–these are all the ingredients you need to overcome those bumpy roads. But most importantly, you have to know that you have all that you need within yourself.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I think. of myself as a servant artist. My desire in all things is to create beauty, space, music, and art with service as its main motive. I love to help people through the music and records I make, the shows I play, the pianos I tune and fix. Service is what gives me life and joy, and in turn, I can share that joy with everyone I meet. It’s not about what can I get from someone. It’s about what I can do for someone and the satisfaction of knowing that whatever task I have done for others, whether great or small, my hope is that life can be a little better for us all.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Success has come to me in many different ways. As I’ve gotten older, my success has come from being diligent, trustworthy, and faithful. If I say I am going to do something, I do it. If there’s something I don’t think I can do, I am honest and I either find more time to make sure I get it done and do it right, or I admit my weakness or inability to accomplish the task required of me and find someone better to take my place. It is perfectly okay to admit that there is someone greater than you. Showing up is essential to success. Sometimes just being there and being willing to listen to someone and offer whatever help you can goes much further than you think, and that goes for everything.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.von-strantz.com
- Instagram: @vonstrantz @jesslynnsilk
- Facebook: facebook.com/vonstrantzmusic
- Twitter: @vonstrantz
- Youtube: youtube.com/vonstrantz
- Other: https://vonstrantz.bandcamp.com/
Image Credits
All photos by Sam Morse
