PHOTO COURTESY CHRISTI STIMAGE
Nichole Stimage, 14, has recently acquired a record playerand is interested in delving deeper into music as a hobby.
Passing down a passion
Nick Park, of the band Fireside Relics, has made good use of the first three-and-a-half years of his daughter Sierra’s time on earth. The lifelong music lover started playing acoustic guitar for her the day she came home from the hospital, and since then, he has methodically introduced her to his selection of classic vinyl, much of which came from his own dad’s collection, the 90s grunge of his youth, current indie standouts, and the most important of all Park’s personal favorite genre of blues rock.
Precocious and receptive, Sierra has taken her dad’s tutelage and run with it, standing on top of the coffee table with a microphone, already writing her own songs. “She’s pretty good with phrasing,” Park says. Sierra hand selects her go-to music on her parents’ phones. She loves anything by Marcus King and the latest album from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Her favorite, however, is her dad’s band, which is releasing a new album this spring.
Sierra has witnessed the whole recording process, and Park jokes that between the ordinary repetitions of building the album from the ground up and his daughter asking to hear it constantly, “I’m going to be burned out on my own album before its even released!”
Day-to-day family fun
Christine Ross, grandma to Camdyn, Jayden, T’Cari and Traven, says sharing music means something different for every age of her grandsons. Ross grew up on classic country, but she hasn’t been able to get 11-year-old twins Camdyn and Jayden into it. They do, however, love modern country, especially the rap-inflected country pop currently on the rise. Seeing Kane Brown in concert at the Illinois State Fair was a highlight for them all, “so fun,” Ross says.
The twins write their own rap songs and dances, sometimes sharing them on TikTok. Ross says that from driving to football practice to walking to school with headphones to dancing around the house to Sir Mix-a-Lot, music is their family’s constant companion. “We don’t go anywhere or do anything without the radio,” Ross says. “There is always music playing.”
When younger cousins T’Cari and Traven come into the mix, everyone loves to watch Traven, the baby of the family at only 1, hear his favorite Burger King commercial and immediately stop whatever he’s doing and start dancing. “He’s just now getting into music,” Ross says.
Finding family favorites
Christi Stimage has both a grade-school and a high-school student. Eight-year-old Nylah is into High School Musical and lots of Disney music, while 14-year-old Nichole has recently acquired a record player and is interested in delving deeper into music as a hobby.
Nichole and her mom share a love for Beyonce, and Nichole likes some of her dad’s music too, like Public Enemy. Stimage grew up on traditional gospel music, but today she gravitates more toward R&B gospel or jazz gospel for its happy vibe. “It gets you going and puts you in a different space,” Stimage says. She hopes to continue sharing her passion for gospel music with her daughters because, as she says, “it feeds the soul,” but she’s also interested in whatever they’re suggesting at the moment.
“I want to be involved,” Stimage says. “They teach me, and I try to teach them, too.” They don’t always see eye to eye – for instance, Stimage is flummoxed by Nichole’s recent trial of the metal genre – but they usually appreciate each other’s taste. When all else fails, Stimage says, the entire family loves Hamilton.
Elizabeth Watson is a freelance writer and Springfield-area mom whose family can’t wait to hear the Illinois Symphony Orchestra perform John Williams this spring.
