Kristy’s BS in Mass Communications from Middle Tenn. State led to her work in FM radio. Her first radio job after college was as news director at a small town radio station near Chattanooga. Kristy soon moved to Nashville and worked at WKDF, where she performed voice overs and market research. She worked at WRLT (“Radio Lightning” FM-100), participating in that station’s Team Green conservation effort, and served as office manager of its Murfreesboro office. At 102 FM, she worked in sales. At Opryland USA, the former theme park in Nashville where Opry Mills now operates, she was a lifeguard and then worked at a reception desk. “I met a lot of singers, songwriters and other celebrities there,” she explains, “not really thinking I’d ever pursue music seriously in Nashville. I even checked in Evel Knievel!”
In the next few years, while she learned graphic arts and website programming and launched a career developing websites, Kristy stretched out creatively. Inspired by her parents’ avid passion for collecting art and antiques locally and during their travels, Kristy only took one art class in college, but has sold her own paintings professionally since then. “It all started from sketching, and then I moved toward painting. I started with abstracts, but moved to realism, especially animal portraits. I try to express an animal’s inner spirit, as I perceive it.” Her favorite artist is Pablo Picasso.
Along with building her independent business in graphic arts, Kristy says, “I landed a job as a website manager and graphic designer for a company 90 miles east of Nashville. This meant driving an hour and a half to work. So a lot of time and energy went into work, plus I had a nice busy social life with friends.” She often thought of song ideas and lyrics while driving and listened to foreign language cd’s to study other languages.
Some will recall that late country singer Earl Thomas Conley was a painter before writing and recording country music in the 1980s during his 30s. Kristy first played guitar in her 30s. Her valuable life experience through painting, work, travel and friends manifests itself in her song lyrics. In 2005, Kristy sang and played at Nashville’s Five Spot club in an impromptu appearance with others. Her first writers’ night was at a coffeehouse in her hometown just before Covid. “I also co-wrote a song that was performed at the Bluebird Cafe by my co-writer,” she says. Regularly during the two years of Covid isolation, she has taken guitar lessons remotely. Kristy’s recordings are available through online platforms, including iTunes.
Her favorite musicians and songwriters are John Lennon, plus Blues and RnB artists Muddy Waters, BB King, and Aretha Franklin, plus classic rockers Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty, and The Beatles.
“I feel that as I gain more experience on the guitar and learn chord progressions, my melodies will improve and inspire more and better songs,” she says confidently. Her recent Songwriter’s Nights have been at Copper Branch on Church St. in Nashville, and at The Local Distro's Monday Night Jazz in Salemtown.
Watch the writer’s night club and coffeehouse listings for Kristy Skinner, whose creative future stretches out in an always-forward, positive direction, as bright as her warm, gleaming smile.
