For Juliann Jantz and the other members of the band Edgewire, music is not just a passion, it’s a mission.
For the past two years, Jantz has played rhythm guitar and acted as lead vocalist for Edgewire, which also includes bass player Wolf Rouse and drummer Gabe Scott.
Jantz said the idea for the Christian band came to her while she was at church camp.
“I just felt God leading me to start a band and we travel around to different youth groups and church camps and we play for different youth rallies and stuff,” she said. Jantz, Rouse and Scott all go to school at Dickson and all attend Faith Southern Baptist Church, where they are on a rotation with other entertainers. Once a month, the Edgewire members lead worship for the church.
It’s all part of a calling and, for Jantz, part of her family history.
“My mom played and in fourth grade she got me a guitar teacher from our church and I’ve just been playing ever since and I love it,” she said. “We mostly do praise-and-worship style and we do Christian rock. It’s mostly songs by other artists. Probably the David Crowder band mostly. We have two or three songs from them.”
Jantz said the group doesn’t get paid for playing, other than money taken up for them in a special offering, which is used for gas money to travel to other places to perform. They also travel with Lee Jones, who is a motivational speaker who works with the youth in their church.
The band’s name has an interesting origin, and Jantz said her mother can get partial credit for the name.
“We were down in the basement and my mom locked us down in there and she said ‘Don’t come up until you have a name,” Jantz said. “We were kind of chilling down in the basement and there was a map of London and I had been to London the summer before and we were just looking at road names and there was a road called Edwire and we kind of got Edgewire from that.”
The spiritual nature of their music provides the band members with a good feeling, knowing they are not only sharing their talents with others, but using those talents for a higher purpose.
“I think it’s the satisfaction of knowing other kids are worshiping God and we have the same passion,” Jantz said. “I just know other kids like the same things that I do and we lead people into worship and I like that. I don’t know if specifically Edgewire will stay together forever, but I’ll keep playing the guitar and keep doing different things, keeping music in my life.”
