Check Out Gina Gailey’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gina Gailey.

Hi Gina, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Where did I get started? Oh my goodness, as far back as I can remember, I was putting a show or performance together. Whether it be for my dolls in my bedroom or guests of my parents at the house. I’ve “made up” or “written” songs, again, as far back as I can remember. Home videos of me when I was 3 and 4, making up songs at the moment and singing them. I was one of those rare birds that were a three-sport year-round athlete and a theatre kid at the same time.

My love of competing and performing collided with much of my growing-up years. Give up a piano lesson for a ballgame or give up a lead role because it was track season. That love never wavered though. I majored in broadcast journalism with a minor in performance theatre. I was going ESPN sideline reporter to anchor, NYC here I come!! THEN, I took a trip to Nashville, Tennessee my senior year and the rest is history. That was it, I can’t describe the rapid heartbeat I get crossing over that Cumberland River or the “take my breath away” awe from stepping on some old stage that’s been there for decades.

The people, the history, the town, the music… Music has been my “go-to” always! Have a bad day-find a song and cope. Have a great day-find the right song and celebrate!! Catch my meaning? I want to be there and make my mark in that town and all over with MY songs and give that back to people. What music has given to me? I always knew I would “perform” in some form or fashion, but that week in Nashville changed my entire life!!!!

Now when someone asks what I see myself doing in fifty years, I simply say, “I want to be a female Willie Nelson, singing and performing and entertaining people, sharing my songs with the world and pushing 90!!!! So many other stories are thrown in between those sentences of how and why.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Like anything in life worth doing or pursuing, obstacles will come along the way. A wise old Legendary Nashville musician once told me, I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, but I’m telling you it will be worth it.

For every heartbreak, setback, detour to the original plan, there have been so many more glorious moments and opportunities. I could go on about the hardships but choose instead, to pick myself up and keep walking toward my goal. If I were to pick an “issue”, that’s been ongoing though, it would be doing a “man’s thing” in a “man’s world”.

Women have to work SO much harder and have to struggle to be heard and seen to prove they can “do it too!”

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have a band. I am currently working on getting signed with a record label out of Nashville. I write and perform all of my own music. In the last album, I was privileged enough to have worked with the number one songwriters in the town. I am a working mother of three and hold down multiple jobs while pursuing my music career.

You can have it all, you can do it all! I wrote and directed and starred in my first music video. That was pretty cool! Because of my background, I have been able to meet a lot of amazing people along the way. I am able to deal with the press, be a spokesperson and perform/ entertain. A lot of singers have to be taught other sides of this career.

I’m kind of a rare breed, I am doing the outlaw thing as a female in a man’s territory, I have had to go about it differently than most. That would be what sets me apart from the rest. No one is doing what I’m doing. What am I most proud of? Yes, there have been awards. Yes, there have been prestigious people in the business who give positive compliments.

But, I’m one of those that don’t celebrate until the job is finished. I keep my head down and work, I guess I’m most proud that I keep going!

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up running barefoot on about 20 acres in the Northeast Georgia mountains. Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember too, whether it was riding on the tractor with Dad cutting grass sitting on his lap or putting on concerts for anyone that walked in our door.

I always had a show-ready. My parents were Yankees, but my brother and sister and I were all born and raised in the south. Growing up, we were all-year-round athletes, and sports was a huge part of our life. I always balanced sports with something musical on the side. You could see me running up the bleachers from basketball practice or the softball field, dirty and sweaty heading in to put on a costume for our theatre’s latest musical.

I’ve always been a multi-tasker. Desire and discipline went hand in hand and were instilled in me at a very young age. So was the love for the Statler Brothers, Connie Francis, Patsy Cline, and Alabama. I could go on and on. After graduation, I pursued a degree in Mass Communications and a Minor in Musical Theatre. I was working in Atlanta in the television field as a reporter, then later as an anchor of a TV show.

I also dabbled in radio, did some commercial work, spokesperson jobs, emcee for events, etc. I had a blast hanging out with the Braves and the Falcons and all of NASCAR! BUT I went to Nashville one weekend, did a little singing, and haven’t stopped since. It brought me back to that little girl singing on her bed to whoever would listen.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: Www.ginagailey.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/gina_gailey
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ginagaileymusic
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GinaGailey
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/ginagailey
• Other: http://www.reverbnation.com/ginagailey

Image Credits
Farrah Nicole Photography and DJ Galbiati Blalock