Jayda Ashley Songwriter 13 Years Old!

Hi my name is JAYDA ASHLEY. Im a 13-year-old singer-songwriter, model, and part-time prankster from Austin, Texas. I just started to play guitar and piano. I also take voice lessons and have already written and recorded five original songs that will be digitally released on my upcoming EP titled UNDERNEATH THE TEXAS STARS produced by talented producer, engineer, and musician Chris Vanderslice (e.g. Balistica, Project Texas, The Every Day Blues Band, Ditched, and Much Love) and my 15 year old brother Abraham McDowell. My greatest musical inspiration is Emmy-award winning producer, composer, lyricist, and friend Allan Jay Friedman. Allan used to play piano and sing for my mother and me when I was six years old. We recently visited him during the summer when we drove out to Los Angeles and I had the opportunity to tell him just how much he has inspired me as an artist.

Mom says that I started writing at the tender age of two and I remember singing to her a song that I made up called Bow Down, Bow Down, Bow Down, and Praise the Lord. She tells me that the gift of music runs in our family. Beginning with my great-grandpa Rea who used to play his harmonica and guitar for me. He loved to sing country music. I dont remember the songs that he used to sing, but he called them old-time country songs. Then there was that special moment one summer at a family reunion, he bowed down on his knees and serenaded my great-grandma Rea in front of our relatives. Then there is my moms mother Grandma Rea, she was a choir teacher at the Methodist church where her father Rev. Bruce Cox was a minister. After her stroke, the doctors suggested music as a way of relearning all of the things that she had forgotten, so my Grandpa Van said he would sing with her if it would help. We all got a good chuckle out of that!

The idea for me to become an artist started about a year ago. My mothers friend came to our house and surprised us with an invitation to an audition at A.M.T.C., a talent search for actors, models, and talent for Christ. When I received the call that I had been selected I was literally jumping with joy. Mother insisted that I sing an original song that she wrote years ago with a good friend called DRESS ME UP. She believed that it would be an interesting way to introduce me to both the fashion and the music industries.

After singing the song written by my mother and her friend Karen, I was inspired to write my own songs. One of my most favorite things in the world to do is sit on my back porch, write songs and sing beneath the bright Texas stars. I get a lot of inspiration from my friends and my hometown of Austin, Texas. I believe in keeping Austin weird and my friends and I often dare each other to be mischievous in a good spirited way. In fact, my first single FRIENDS was written about whole-hearted humor and the best of times with my closest friends.