NashCamp-The Music Continues

Hi friends – Emma here!

Eight years ago, I sat at my family’s computer doing what most kids do the month before summer break…finding the most amazing summer camp that will give you adventure, campfire songs, and a mess of new friends. Lost in my search, I decided to give a bluegrass music camp a try per recommendation of a mandolin player I had met one year earlier at another music camp.  Though I knew so little about bluegrass music was, and I packed my bags, grabbed my $40 mandolin, and headed to Camp Marymount in the hills of TN to attend this, “NashCamp.” Needless to say, I got much more than just a few campfire songs to take back home.

I try to avoid clichés, but NashCamp has been one of the most monumental experiences in my life. It’s taught me a whole new meaning of the phrase, “music family,” and has given me a place to come each summer to play (and now) teach the genre of music I have come to love so dearly. During my second year at NashCamp I was struggling with my decision of where to go to college and if it hadn’t of been for the influence of NashCamp staff and certain campers, I wouldn’t have a degree from ETSU with a minor in Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country music.

(NashCampers participate in a porch jam)

My passion for music spread from performance to management during a college internship at Sugar Hill Records as I fell in love with the industry.  I came out of that summer inspired, and vowed that I would someday run my own business. 

Since my first year at camp, Cindy has been a person I deeply admired – in the beginning, for running the “fun summer camp,” and most recently, as a businesswoman, entrepreneur, and a female powerhouse in entertainment industry. Years ago, Cindy and I joked about me attempting to follow in her footsteps and running my own version of NashCamp someday.  This past year, I received a call from Cindy and we discussed the beginning of her “retirement” from actively directing the camp…with the question arising if I could see myself running NashCamp.  After another incredibly successful camp this past year, I realized that I couldn’t imagine my life without the bluegrass haven that NashCamp has come to be each summer. 

I accepted the offer.

For those of you that have had the pleasure of meeting Cindy, or have attended her camp, you know what an incredible asset she is to the entertainment industry and the countless lives she has influenced with NashCamp.  In two decades, she has created and nurtured this camp into the success it is today and I want to see NashCamp continue to grow with the same vigor that Cindy started it with 22 years ago.

(Jam time in the Hagey Hut!)

I’m reaching out to you all to ask for your hand in helping NashCamp continue to thrive and give musicians around the world a place to come every summer and share in the beautiful art that is bluegrass music.  Cindy deserves so much for her years of labor and love and I feel so incredibly lucky to have this opportunity of being handed something so precious.  I believe completely in the future and the success of this camp – something I’ve felt since I walked through the gates of camp eight years ago, and the reason I’m writing this today.

Frankly, I believe this camp deserves someone who has delighted in one of Marcia’s meals, nursed callouses in a late-night jam around the fire pit, or stood shaking on the stage of the Station Inn with seven new best friends on the final night of camp.

I have big dreams for this camp, and the music that is played at it – I just need a little help getting there.

I’ve set my fundraising goal at $25,000 which will cover the purchasing of the business from Cindy, and the transfer fees involved in the transaction.

Whether you are able to donate, share, or just throw a word of advice my way, I sincerely and deeply appreciate it.  Here’s to many more years of NashCamp, and to the music that fuels it.

(NashCamp Class of 2018)

Hugs to all!