Indie artist and TA Alum, Jerry Akin, is honoring Teen Advisors in a very special way.  Jerry recently released his first album, titled “Holy Lounge”, and has decided to give a portion of the proceeds to Teen Advisors!  Nick Cash, Executive Director of TAs, recently interviewed Jerry about his new album and how his experiences in Teen Advisors have influenced his life since high school:

NC:  Briefly describe your history with Teen Advisors -- when and where were you a TA?

 

JA:  I was a TA my senior year at Hardaway High School, which was 1999. A lot of my friends were in it my junior year, but I didn't know that much about it. It took a girl to finally get me into it.

 

NC:  What is one of your greatest memories from TAs?

 

JA:  The fall retreat when I first joined. I remember feeling like I had never really opened up my soul like that before. It was like I was walking around thinking about all this material stuff my whole life and then suddenly I realized that life was so spiritual. It was revolutionary.

 

NC:  How do you think being a TA in high school has affected you now, into your adult life?

 

JA:  Well, I developed a lot of lasting friendships during that time. A lot of those people are still very dear to me.

 

NC:  Tell us about your album, "Holy Lounge" -- describe the overall tone / feel / mood of the album...

 

JA:  Well, spiritually there's a common thread throughout. The basic themes are charity, love, and hope. Sonically, It's a roller coaster. It goes from Beatles-esque pop-rock to hip-hop, and then it dabbles in jazz. It even features a couple acapella tracks, one without lyrics and one without melody.

 

NC:  When did you begin writing the songs that are now on "Holy Lounge"?

 

JA:  The first song was written in 2001. That was "Hurricane". I wrote it for a friend who was going through a hard time. It was my way of letting him know what I felt like God was trying to tell him. The idea to put together the album came in 2005 when I was at the beach. I came back home and wrote the rest of it.

 

NC:  Do you have any particular favorites on the album?

 

JA:  “Love Wins”, “Heaven on a Jet”, and “Amidst the Mist”.

 

NC:  Do any of the songs have any interesting origins / inspirations?

 

JA:  Yeah, all of them have a story, I guess. One that stands out is Love Wins. The band I was in was breaking up after 6 years. One of the guys was taking it especially hard, and I wrote that song as a way of letting him know that the friendship will always be there regardless of whether or not we stayed together as a band. We lived in Athens at the time, and I was recording on my roommate's recorder. I was about to move back to Columbus, so I knew if I was going to finish the album I had to do it right away. I wrote that song in an hour, and then called up Mike and asked him to come over and sing with me on it. It took us a few hours to record it, and when we were through, we started packing. That was it. That was our last day in Athens, and that was the last thing I wrote and recorded for the album. And it turned out being one of my favorites.

 

NC:  When we first spoke, you told me that TAs was your "holy lounge" in high school -- will you explain that for our readers?

 

JA:  Absolutely. A bar or a lounge is proof that people want to have a place where they can laugh, cry, sing, shout, mope, make friends, or just do whatever. TAs was like that for me, except I would become intoxicated with the Spirit rather than with alcohol. It was great. It was a social outlet, a support group, and a place to communicate with God, all rolled into one.

 

NC:  How do want this album to benefit Teen Advisors?

 

JA:  Any way it can. I didn't really have a lot of direction when I first started working on it. I just felt like I wanted to use my talents for something positive. I started looking into different charities I could contribute the sales to, and then it hit me: Why not give back to an organization that gave so much to me? So, now I feel like the proceeds are going to a very worthy cause.  As a former TA, I want to help the organization that helped me so much in my teenage years.

 

NC:  What are you next plans regarding your music?

 

JA:  I've learned not to make any. I planned on becoming a huge rock star and my band split up before we got to that point. I planned on moving to Nashville and becoming a producer, but that didn't happen either. I said I was giving up and I was going to quit, then I met my wife and I started writing all over again. I guess I'll just keep writing as long as the inspiration is there, and I'll keep recording until people quit listening.

 

NC:  Do you have any parting words that you would like to share with our readers?

 

JA:  Goodbye. Farewell. Peace out. Those are all pretty good parting words. I also like to say "take it easy". Some people just wave.