it's a diverse, vocal oriented CD ranging from rock to piano balads to bluegrass.

11 MP3 Songs
POP: Folky Pop, FOLK: Folk Pop



Details:
In twenty years, when Meredith Jones is the big name in the world of musical theater, friends will be able to tell their children that they went to high school with a Broadway star. With almost four years of high school under her belt, Meredith Jones, a senior at Wakefield High School, has not only had four years worth of education, she has had four years worth of outstanding achievements in both theater and music. An active participant of the Wakefield Theater Company, Jones has enjoyed roles in many school plays including Grease and Alice in Wonderland. However, she has also taken part in more professional roles such as in the recent A Christmas Carol this past winter at the Memorial Auditorium in downtown Raleigh. But, it was her warm-ups before the Wakefield Idol two years ago that landed Jones an opportunity to eventually make an entire album with former Social Studies teacher, Lodge McCammon. âI heard her getting ready to sing in the hallway before the show and thought she was really good,â said McCammon. McCammon then decided to work with Jones, and with the permission of her parents they recorded their first song together, Andy, in his classroom two years ago.
Both McCammon and Jones saw that Andy was a huge hit among students; so, they decided to keep going and within a year and a half the duo had an entire 11-track album, Fraction of a Human, to share with everyone. âHe wrote some songs and I wrote a few. It was an amazing experience,â said Jones, âit was hard and a lot of work, but I grew a lot from it.â With school work to complete and play rehearsals and performances to attend a good portion of the time, McCammon knew Jones was busy. So, to have time to work for three, four, five, or even more hours on a song was rare. However, the two worked together diligently, along with having huge support from Jonesâ parents, they made the album work. âMy parents have been very supportive, really great. I owe a lot to them,â said Jones. As soon as she starts raking in the big bucks she joked, she will be paying her parents three-fourths of the profits in order to repay them for everything they have put in to this whole process. As mentioned, Jones did not only sing all of the songs, she helped write a few as well. â[The song,] Push means a lot to me because I wrote it. Itâs not my favorite! But, it just means more because I wrote it,â said Jones. All of the songs have a storyline to them, mostly stories that McCammon made up to fit the melodies. Jones said that one of the songs is based on a story of a sister because she had told McCammon
that her sister was coming home for spring break one year. The most challenging task for McCammon, the song-writer, came when Jones would say that she
wanted to do something different with a song. âShe gave me some direction. She allowed me to branch out and write stuff that was âdifferent,ââ said McCammon. When asked what it was like to work with McCammon for such a long time, Jones claimed he was âbordering insane, you know.â In reality she said that heâs a perfectionist. However, that wasnât always a bad thing because that made her work really hard to do her best. âHeâs very laid back, but he knows when to be serious,â said Jones of McCammon. However, it wasnât always work, work, work. There was some fun and relaxation thrown in the whole process as well. âThe greatest point is when you just get to the perfect stopping place and you feel like only 10 minutes have passed, but it has really been 4 hours, and you have your headphones on and you just listen to what you have produced,â said McCammon.
âBecause sheâs such an energetic person, it made it more fun,â said McCammon, âShe was always enthusiastic, always ready to record, ready to go, and very open to experimentation; the best kind of artist to work with.â To have someone so willing to work and cooperate and someone so energetic, made the experience a lot more fun for everyone McCammon said. So, where will this experience take both Jones and McCammon? McCammon is currently working on a Ph. D. in education, so he plans to eventually pick up teaching again. But he still vows to keep music a major part of his life.
With an acception and a scholarship to Penn State University, Jones plans to attend there as of now. But, she is still waiting to hear back from a few schools in Boston. Regardless of where her final decision takes her, she plans to major in musical theater. âTheater is too much a part of me to let it go,â said Jones. She is incorporating two into one. But, if something big came out of this album, she would definitely pursue it. However, with college so close and an overall busy schedule, both Jones and McCammon plan to take the process of getting the album âout thereâ relatively slow. She did say that once she got to college she would share it with as many people as she could. As of right now, to purchase Jonesâ album, Fraction of a Human, you can visit
www.wappemm.com/meredith.
- Wakefield Howler (March 24th, 2006)