When I first heard Jenny & Tyler, I was feeling overwhelmed by the bland music surrounding me. Jenny & Tyler’s smooth vocals, fresh lyrics, and folk/pop style instantly excited me. There was an unexplainable synergy between the duo and I picked up on that immediately. Jenny (of Jenny & Tyler) shares about the duo’s latest album, Faint Not, in this Take 5. (Learn about how to download the single “Faint Not” for free at the end of the interview.)
You two have such great synergy as a musical duo (and I would imagine as a married couple.) I could really see it in the music videos for “Faint Not” and “This is Just So Beautiful.” How does your relationship add to the dynamic of your music/songwriting?
I think part of what’s fun about writing and making music together is that we’re comfortable being completely honest with each other. We also know each other really well and sometimes that helps when one of us is having difficulty communicating a specific emotion or feeling. When one of us is stumped lyrically or musically the other can usually pick up and finish the song.
When we perform together (or shoot videos together!) it’s easy to just completely be ourselves. The audience or the listener picks up on that. When you’re being genuine, people can tell. And when you’re not, they can tell too.
My favorite song on Faint Not is (all of them) “Carry Me” (And who’s the guy singing in the background? Is he supposed to signify the voice of God?)
I’m so glad you like “Carry Me”. It was written from a desperate place. One morning I was feeling really overwhelmed by my sin. In that same moment I was reminded of how big God’s grace is. The best part is that the Lord doesn’t grow weary in forgiving us. The “voice of God” is Mac Powell from Third Day. We had the opportunity to open for him a few years back and when we were writing the bridge Tyler said, “You know who would be perfect for this part?” and we just knew he should sing it. His voice is so strong and really powerful. I think it worked out pretty well.
Another incredibly powerful song is “Song For You.” (Seriously, wow!) What prompted you to write this song?
“Song for You” is about the stubborn love of God and how it pursues us before we know Him or before we want it too. We actually wrote five choruses to the song before we settled on the current one. Honestly, the song wasn’t inspired about a specific moment; we just wanted to communicate how amazing the love of God is, both in how he feels and his actions. He’s done everything he has to do to bring us to Him, namely in Jesus. The ball is in our court so to speak.
What has been the best part of your musical journey? The worst part?
The best part is doing this together. Neither of us would want to tour the country and make music alone. When one of us is feeling weak or discouraged the other is able to pick up the slack.
The worst part of our musical journey is being on the road and missing our community. We love meeting new people and traveling, but we do miss our Nashville family when we’re away.
And now onto a lighter question, what was the last book you read? (And did you like it?)
Tyler read and thoroughly enjoyed Desiring God by John Piper. I read Little Bee by Chris Cleave. To be honest, it was a bit disappointing.
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Because Jenny & Tyler and Mixtus Media are awesome, they are offering a FREE SONG DOWNLOAD from Faint Not for Backseat Writer’s readers (that’s you!) To download the album’s title track, “Faint Not,” click the “Faint Not” logo below. You will be taken to another site for download. No worries. It is not run by James or his associates.
Undoubtedly, after hearing this fantastic track, you’re going to want to buy the whole album, which you can do at their website, JennyandTylerMusic.com. Additionally, if you are so enamored with Jenny & Tyler, that you want to become a J&T super fan, then follow them on Twitter and friend them on Facebook.