radio industry

It took the thought of dying to get JP Godfrey’s music out of his head, written, and recorded for the world to hear. At an early age, he had a microphone and was singing along to his favorite records. He started a band in high school and played at a local teen club he and his family opened. He attended college in Monroe, LA where he played in a band as lead singer and rhythm guitarist at the local bars and college parties. After graduating in 1988 he went to work with his father in the real estate, construction and development business and a couple years later married the love of his life, Connie. Then along came kids and responsibilities and music was put on the back burner. He wrote a few songs and played at a few local places but with all life had going on, he put his guitar away and focused on his family and career. Throughout the years he always had music playing and songs in his head. He carried around a small recorder and once cell phones were in hand would record song ideas and melodies into it. This went on for years, but he never found the time to do anything with it.

Then, in the summer of 2021, he contracted Covid 19. He has always been very healthy and never thought he would have any trouble getting over something like Covid. Well after six days in bed and starting to get very weak he went to the hospital and was admitted immediately due to a low oxygen level. After one night there they told him he had Covid pneumonia, and he was transferred to the ICU and started numerous medications and was put on oxygen. On the third night at about 1am the pulmonologist came in to talk to him about his condition and told him that if there wasn’t an improvement in the next 24 hours, they would need to take the next step of putting him on an assisted breathing machine or ventilator. He had been asking the nurses a lot of questions about the other Covid patients, since the hospital was full of them, and what they were seeing was happening with them. They told him that most of the patients that had to go on a ventilator did not make it. After hearing what the doctor told him, he was deeply concerned and started thinking about his life, what was important to him, what things he was thankful for and what things he regretted. He had many things to be thankful for but one of his regrets was never taking the time to write and record music. He made the decision that once he was out of the hospital, he would start doing the things he always wanted to but never did and start writing music.

After he was discharged from the hospital, he was sent home and put on an oxygen machine for a month. Since he was going to be stuck at home he decided to take that time to write music. He ordered a new guitar online and started writing every day. He wanted to get his voice good enough to hopefully record some demos, so he decided to take voice lessons. He did some research and reached out to some of the vocal coaches. Fortunately, the top vocal coach in Nashville, Kim Sandusky, returned his call and after a few minute conversation agreed to work with him. Over the next six months or so he continued writing and taking voice lessons. Initially thinking he would just try to record a few demos to see if he could get an artist or publisher to pick up one of his songs, he made the decision to go ahead and do full productions recordings of his songs just to be able to have the experience of recording an album. Kim introduced him to Producer Buddy Hyatt and Buddy put together a team of top session players to play on his songs. In June of 2022 he stepped foot for the first time in one of the top recording studios in Nashville, Blackbird Studios, and recorded his first 3 songs. Since then, he has been to several other studios and has recently completed his first album “One Lifetime”. He is currently working on a Christian music album which will be out fall of 2023. He plans to continue writing and recording his music and hopes his songs and lyrics will touch people’s lives in a positive way.