Of course, one thing thats not old school is Fleenors gender, which is still a rarity in the country music studio. Some of Fleenors earliest sessions were with Jon Pardi, and she remembers when people first began noticing her work. [2] She also performed in the house band on The Voice.[1]. Sign up to receive our communications, please fill in the following fields and hit submit. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. On the morning of February 27th, Jenee Fleenor received a particularly nice birthday surprise. Terms & Conditions | I'm going to help you,' and all, this whole big sales pitch," he says, but recalls Fleenor insisting, " 'I don't have to ask my mom!' When did fiddler Jenee Fleenor know she'd finally made it? A singer-songwriter, she plays the fiddle, mandolin and acoustic guitar and has performed with various musicians and bands. Date: Friday, June 25 She is particularly proud of her recent participation in a master class for string students at Belmont, a full-circle moment. She sat in with a bluegrass band during a show and Larry Cordle asked her a few days later to perform with him. Musician who played on Jon Pardi's "Heartache Medication" releases new solo single. ", Wakefield also surprised Leigh with a performance of a song he wrote for her titled, "You Hold Sway Over Me," during which he sang, "When the trees can turn their backs on spring / And the whippoorwills have no more songs to sing / The spell you cast will brake and I'll awake from this dream / 'Til the day, you hold sway, over me. Ahead of the wedding, Leigh admits she was "totally intimidated by the task of dress shopping and considered buying a white sundress and calling it a day." "I put details in there that cater to my life," she explains, just as she's always sought out openings she could make her own. "Jenee Fleenor isn't just a fiddle player or singer," explained Jamie Dailey. Fleenor was just three years old when she first started learning to play the fiddle. I kept asking my songwriter friends if theyd write with me. When I did my Kickstarter to make an EP and move to Nashville, they were supporters.". "It was windy on the hill, so both of us were holding on to Adam's piece of paper with his vows for dear life so that it didn't blow away," Leigh says. "When we got engaged in September, [we didn't know] what the coming year would look like," she says. She has written songs for Dolly Parton, Shelton, Del McCoury, and others. Then, it was on to lessons, camps and fiddle contests and a host of other performing experiences with a bluegrass outfit, at steel guitar conventions, even during the halftime show of her high school marching band, for which she served as drum major. Jenee was the CMA Touring Musician of the Year in 2015, a 2019 Music Row Album All Star Winner, and a 2019 . She became a fiddle player for the band at a local opry house when she was ten. Youll have to come to one of our shows to see it.. And you knew what to listen for in players. Jenee is a phenomenal celebrity influencer. A singer-songwriter, she plays the fiddle, mandolin and acoustic guitar and has performed with various musicians and bands. Rob played on Garth Brooks records and Brooks and Dunn, and many others, she explains. Jenee Fleenor is a multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter primarily known for her extraordinary talents playing the fiddle. Especially back in the '90s, if you had a road gig, sometimes it was the kiss of death that that you wouldn't be able to do the session work. Once her parents recognized she had an ear, for music, they started taking her to lessons with local fiddle players, and entering her in fiddle contests. (feat. About a month later, she got a job as a fiddle player with singer/songwriter, Larry Cordle. Thats exactly the way I feel., This is a BETA experience. I think Ive pretty much accomplished everything that I set out to do in Nashville. A singer-songwriter, she plays the fiddle, mandolin and acoustic guitar and has performed with various musicians and bands. Or maybe it was when a succession of country stars Terri Clark, Martina McBride, Blake Shelton invited her on their tours. For now, as always, the fiddle remains her top priority. Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said Fleenors talent for music made an impact on him, even when she was a child. Born on in United States of America, Jenee Fleenor started her career as Musician . You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter. Fleenor grew up listening to 90s country, when personal heroes like fiddle player Rob Hajacos were creating new and different sounds. [2], Fleenor plays fiddle, mandolin and acoustic guitar. It was her love of the fiddle that brought the Springdale, Arkansas-native to Nashville right after high school. It helps to already be famous to become a social media influencer, but she demonstrates that you need to have a raw or personal touch and engage with your followers if you want to do well on Instagram Facebook, Twiter, Youtube, etc. Jenee Fleenor is an award winning multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter known primarily for her fiddle playing. All I want to do is play fiddle on country music records and make other people sound good, she says. ", Fleenor recalls that Pardi and his longtime co-producer, Bart Butler, urged her to take a gutsy attack on recordings. She played alongside her parents, with her mother playing the piano and her father the violin. Its my confidence in my playing. My phone started to blow up for my birthday messages, but then people started to say Congratulations! Fleenor says. So, how much is Jenee Fleenor networth at the age of years old? Time: 7:30 p.m. She is currently breaking glass ceilings in Nashville as the first female ever nominated for CMA Musician of the Year. Fleenors work in the past year has included her touring boss Blake Sheltons grungy Gods Country as well as Jon Pardis fiddle-driven Number One Heartache Medication, along with numerous other recorded projects. Shes played on records for Shelton, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Jon Pardi, Trace Adkins, Joe Nichols, and many others. Back then, Fleenor was a 3-year-old classical violin student studying the rigorous Suzuki method. The full schedule for the celebration is below. ", By the early 2010s, there was less demand for fiddle in general, as contemporary country leaned harder on its hip-hop, pop and rock influences. Time: 6 p.m. "And honestly, that is the moment that I was like, 'Wow, I can kind of play what I want to on this thing.' Her journey started in the late 1980s in small-town Arkansas. Shes the first woman to be nominated in the awards 31-year history. Perhaps it was when she found herself playing on the Grand Ole Opry at just age 18. She tried to dress like him when she was a girl. Jenee Fleenor longtime fiddle player for Blake Shelton and "The Voice" house band can add an unprecedented line to her resume: first-ever woman to win a CMA Award for Musician of the . Leah Puttkammer/Getty Images And my wheels started turning as I realized this town is built on great songs.. Please scroll down to see information about Jenee Fleenor Social media accounts. For her "something old," she wore her heirloom engagement ring, which she brought to local Nashville jewelry shop Consider the Wldflwrs for customizations and to create a matching wedding band. I am a passionate gardener, so florals were of utmost importance! Honestly, being a session musician was just always what I wanted. I studied country music. "We ended up staying in the cabin for almost a year!" Grace Coleman You know, I never really thought about being the first woman. Pardi's single "Heartache Medication" was the first radio hit in a good, long while to kick off with fiddle. Fiddler Jenee Fleenor, guitarist Beau Tackett, and Blake Shelton perform "God's Country" at the 53rd [+] annual CMA Awards at Bridgestone Arena, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill). And once people heard my fiddle playing, they were like, we want that thing you do on Jon Pardis records. And maybe shell end up with another major award come April, but for now, she says its an honor just to be recognized. As Fleenor's name has grown in peer recognition, so too has her own recognition of self. Pardi says. At the moment, she doesnt dare think about that. Sarah Michaud is the senior news editor of PEOPLE's music vertical. When Leigh moved to Nashville with Wakefield and their songwriter friend, Ryan Sorestad, in 2013, she says the Turner family offered to let them stay in the cabin on their property while they got their "feet wet" in Music City. Jon Pardis newest single Heartache Medication kicks off with Jenees signature fiddle; something country radio hasnt heard since Alan Jackson. After all, she's been playing since she was three years old! In the two decades since, Fleenor has fulfilled that dream, and accomplished even much more. "Jenee is an artist in the truest since of the word. Leigh tells PEOPLE that "True North" was the perfect place for her and Wakefield to wed because of its special meaning in both of their lives. By her teens, she was a standout in fiddling contests, and after high school, she headed to Nashville to study commercial violin at Belmont University. As she attended Belmont University, she split time between her studies and jamming with bluegrass bands around Nashville. This is totally the icing on the cake.. "The Woman Leading The Fiddle Revival In Country Music", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jenee_Fleenor&oldid=1140033317, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 02:46. She found influence in the playing of many Nashville musicians including Brent Mason, Paul Franklin, Rob Hajacos, Mark OConnor, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Warner and Vince Gill to name a few. All rights reserved. She started learning to play the violin when she was three-years-old. Jon Pardi's Hyperactive Honky-Tonk Brings The Past Into The Present, 12 Times Women In Country Gave Sexism The Boot In 2019. Here we are updating just estimated networth of Jenee Fleenor salary, income and assets. "We sent her pictures of a floral embroidered jacket that Jimi Hendrix wore in the '60s as inspiration, and she created a scaled back version with a matching hat band for him to wear on his Stetson," Leigh says. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Family, Wiki. She also plays in Sheltons touring band, and shes gone out on the road with Steven Tyler, playing both his country and Aerosmith music. I start playing this little melody on my bouzouki and [the phrase] good ol girls came to my mind. Mining a vein of classic country that wouldnt feel out of step with George Strait or Patty Loveless, Good Ol Girls is propelled by Fleenors sizzling, melodic fiddle work and a lively Cajun bounce. When did fiddler Jenee Fleenor know she'd finally made it? It was my goal in life, so I went after it.. "I said 'Well, you tell your mama that I'll take real good care of you. Jenee Fleenor grew up in northwest Arkansas, where her obsession with the fiddle led to her performing with musicians generations older than her. For a bit more information, visit downtownspringdale.org. The Jenee Fleenor Hometown Celebration is a collaboration between several organizations in the community, including the Arkansas State Old Time Fiddlers Association (Northwest Chapter), Creative Arkansas Community Hub & Exchange (CACHE), Downtown Springdale Alliance, Natural State Rock and Republic, Rodeo of the Ozarks, Springdale Chamber of Commerce, Springdale Mayors Office and The Apollo on Emma. Its been fun doing that, and getting to play and record with the contestants. She also is a singer-songwriter. Perhaps it was when she found herself playing on the Grand Ole Opry at just age 18. Fleenor is on tour through the end of March with Blake Shelton as part of the Friends and Heroes Tour, where she gets to join John Anderson on Seminole Wind and its iconic fiddle opening.