MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Most of us have attended some sort of camp in our lifetime, but a different kind of camp in Los Angeles is inviting the best musical kids in the country.
It’s called Grammy Camp, and only five high school students from Tennessee were selected this summer — and three of them are from Memphis. The three teenagers, ages 16, 17 and 18, are on a mission.
Evie Grace Fowler and Harrison Finks became friends a while back. They share a connection, with the same dreams and goals of becoming artists.
“I love to perform,” Finks said. “I love to make people happy. And I really think there’s not much else I can do in this world to make people happy except for playing.”
Finks has something many his age don’t have: bragging rights in his career.
This is his third year he’s been selected for Grammy Camp, a camp where kids from all across the country study possible careers in songwriting, music journalism and audio engineering.
This is Jackson Dyson’s first time attending the camp. His love for music stems from his family.
“Playing just kind of gives me a feeling that I don’t get anywhere else,” Dyson said.
In camp he had the chance to play and listen to some of the most respected people in the industry. It’s a chance he says he will never take for granted, especially because he’s gained mentors.
“Just surround yourself with people that know kind of more than you, that are better than you. Because you can learn from them, like I learn from this guy all of the time,” Dyson said.
All week, the group works sun up to sun down, sometimes even learning and practicing until 2 a.m.
Even though each of them would like to do something different in the music industry, they find confidence and inspiration in one another, and in those they’ve met along the way.
“Meeting everybody from all over the country is just amazing,” Fowler said, “and having people surround you who know what they want to do and it’s really just the same as you want to do is just so inspiring.”
In the years to come, after college of course, Finks would like to be a funk music artist, Fowler would like to be a singer or songwriter and Dyson would like to get into music business.
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