Check Out Kimberly Haynes’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Haynes. 

Hi Kimberly, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I have two passion pursuits in my life. Music reigns supreme as it allows me to express and create in ways nothing else really does. But right up there with that is my passion for service. 

How I got started in music goes way back to the early years. It was the ears of others that reflected back to me that I had something special and unique. I sang along with the radio, records, cassettes – anything. Those around me acknowledged they were hearing something special and that encouraged me to keep going. As early as 10 I was singing in school and church and into my teens the way started to open into recording studios and televised performances with a local community group called Young Life Singers. 

I come from a pretty troubled family foundation, so music was really an anchor for me. My true north. 

My music path continued to unfold taking me around the world starting with Japan at age 19. I continued contracts in Japan for the next several years and dipping my toes into the Hollywood music scene on my return trips home. 

My style and songwriting have been heavily influenced by artists like Joni Mitchell, Shawn Colvin, Natalie Merchant, and Beth Nielson Chapman. I like to write stories. And, I have a deep sense of the spiritual in my music, although mostly my music doesn’t reflect a specific faith – rather a more global, heart-based approach. 

With the birth of my children, I immersed myself in motherhood which took up almost every second for a good decade, and also my husband became very very ill with ocular melanoma. These things required my undivided devotion and attention for much of the next 15 years. My beloved Brian passed on January 6, 2020, after more than a decade of travails. 

Even in the midst of this, however, music beckoned and in 2016 I released my first full record, Awaken Me. I learned so so much from this experience! And, of course, I was so pleased when it won Album of the Year with One World Music. I went on to release another album a few years later, In Dreams, which was dubbed an ‘instant masterpiece’ in Common Grounds magazine. 

Since then, I have released some singles that were near and dear to my heart: ‘Narrow Bridge’ was released in 2020 and won the Jury Prize that year for the Global Peace Song Awards. ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ was inspired by my journey caring for my beloved Brian and also by the shocking backlash during COVID to safety suggestions and requirements. 

Today, I am regularly involved in some sort of musical creation, I teach voice lessons from my home in Topanga. 

My passion for service drew me into a position as cantorial soloist for a Los Angeles-based synagogue, Ahavat Torah with Rabbi Miriam Hamrell and Rabbi Michal Morris Kamil Camille. I have been serving at this synagogue for over 20 years and love every moment of, as they say, opening the window of devotion for the community through the melodic singing of the prayers. 

I am also a Spiritual Coach & Counselor with a specialty in grief work. I have channeled my experiences, growth, and learnings into giving back to those who need support along their own spiritual and grief path. The spiritual path includes the dark night of the soul, and that is the heart of my work right now. I have private clients, but also teach in group settings many hours every week for the Life Purpose Institute. This is work I absolutely love and am passionate about. 

The two things seem to work really well with each other as music lends itself so naturally to opening the heart space. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has not been direct for me. Mostly, though, that had to do with getting in my own way. Self-sabotage and self-defeating patterns. My upbringing did not prepare me for the challenges I might face, and I lost my way for about 10 years. I don’t talk about this very much at all. The bottom line is that life is strewn with distractions and if we are not mindful and discerning, we can easily get off track. My takeaway was just how important it is to really always be asking myself is how this action or decision is reflecting on who I am being or becoming. That’s a little trick that keeps me focused on my True North. 

One thing I’ve taken some time with is around the idea of the difficulty of making your art support you financially. The art becomes a business to a much greater degree. It’s not very creative and, for me, an obstacle because it interferes with the creativity. So, I have other ways that I make ends meet so I can enjoy the music and the making of the music. The music business itself can also be limiting for introverts like myself. It’s important to have a lot of support to help with all the commercial aspects of music. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My genre is always changing making it very difficult to nail down my style! I just love all kinds of styles of music and it’s always interesting to see what’s going to flow through me when I sit down to write a song. 

I so love the process of letting a song come through me. It’s like a trickle at first…. and, if I don’t take the time to get still and pay attention, it could simply not get written. But when I sit down and start listening, the trickle fast becomes a roaring river of creativity. 

Making time for my art is essential, otherwise, it won’t happen. Many times, I’ve thought I had no more songs, no more music. It’s so funny the stories the mind creates. Then, I sit down with the guitar and something so unexpected comes through. 

I’m in a little group of songwriters now. We meet once a week to share what we’ve written. I inevitably think there won’t be anything there for me, and then boom. It just drops in. It always surprises and delights me. 

The muse does what she wants, and I just have to open myself to her and allow it all to take place. I’ve learned to let go of judgement and editing – which will send the muse running away with her hair on fire! 

I just make space for whatever is coming through in whatever way. Later I go back and edit. But in that sweet moment of inspiration, I’m just open to whatever is coming through. 

I’m very proud of Narrow Bridge and the award it won. This song was cathartic for me. It was a longing, a prayer, a piece of art I put all my grief and fear, and sadness into when I was dealing with my husband’s terminal condition and passing. It was the first thing I worked on in studio after he passed. It meant so much to get my art flowing during that time of grieving. And it meant so much to have it acknowledged by the Global Peace Song Awards. I remember getting a call from the jury judge, gifted and very highly regarded Native American singer/songerwriter Joanne Lynn Shenandoah. She wept on that call, urging me to keep going, to keep carrying the gift out into the world. She passed in 2021. I felt very lucky to have crossed paths with her. May her memory be a blessing. 

I would say my music is known for its connection to the spiritual, regardless of the genre/style of music. I draw from my diverse background in a variety of spiritual traditions from southern Baptist to Judaism and everything in between. If it connects me to That, it just doesn’t matter what tradition the music comes from. 

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Beginning at the beginning, my family deserves credit for noticing the gift, pointing it out, and fostering it. My mom! Drove hours after long days in a factory to get me to my voice lessons. She was devoted and did everything she could to support my love of music. 

My teachers, of course. I’ve been blessed with so many guides, teachers, and mentors through the years. Musically, my voice teachers through the years were pivotal to my development. Each of them opened the door to my understanding of the vocal instrument: Kevyn Lettau, Andy Boettner, Helen McComis, and Michael Mayer. I learned so much from each of them, including how to teach, which I still do. 

All my friends and family who supported that first Kickstarter project almost 10 years ago, making sure that first album got made. It was so amazing to feel that wave of love and belief in my art. I’m still riding on that wave! 

My music partner, David Vito Gregoli, music producer and musical genius. He’s my right hand in many ways. He deserves so much credit for his contribution. He’s got a fantastic ear and plays every instrument there is. He can cross genres and really meet any artist wherever they are in any style. I feel very lucky to have Vito on my team. 

And my wonderful late husband who supported me all the way. He deserves so much credit for all the ways he stepped up to the plate at home with the kiddos during the many hours I was at the studio and for championing my passion unconditionally. 

There are many more people along the way, certainly. So many have impacted me at various times and deserve credit for inspiring, mentoring and supporting me in one way or another. 

Pricing:

• $150.00 Private Coaching

Contact Info:

• Website: www.KimberlyHaynesMusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimberlyhaynesmmw
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimberlyHaynesMusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimhaynesmusic
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/KimberlyHaynes
• SoundCloud: https://goo.gl/tH1Al3
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/36xwbzWyktFw34wqelcZhl