Latest / The Scene Projects / Kimberly Meyer on Music, Military Life, and Breaking Barriers

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Kimberly Meyer on Music, Military Life, and Breaking Barriers · The Scene Projects

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  Today, we're joined by a powerhouse in country music and beyond, Kimberly Meyer.
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  She's a hall of fame recording artist, army band commander, and a soulful storyteller who's
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  tuning life into music that moves hearts.
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  From Nashville stages to patriotic performances, Kimberly is here to share her
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  inspiring journey.
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  Let's dive in.
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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Well, welcome into another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I am your host, Bubba Starts.
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  And with me today is singer songwriter, all natural bodybuilder, and active national
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  guardswoman, Kimberly Meyer.
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  Kimberly, welcome to the show.
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  Hi, Bubba.
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  Thank you for having me.
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  That was a great intro introduction, by the way.
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  Thank you.
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  I'm just figuring out this StreamYard thing, and my goodness.
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  It's really up the production value of the show.
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  It's great.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, Kimberly, a a very long resume there, and, I don't think we covered the half of it.
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  I know how busy you are.
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  We've been friends online for a few years now, I would say.
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  I've been following your career.
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  You're also a member of our Midwest country music organization as well now, and, we got to
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  meet finally in person at the awards show back in April.
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  So so grateful to have you joining me today on my show.
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  And, wanna give you an opportunity to share a little bit about your back story first, and
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  then we're gonna get into all the exciting stuff you're up to now.
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  Sure.
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  Yeah.
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  And like you said, it's it's been a long time coming.
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  I'm glad we finally got to meet this past year.
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  So I guess the back backstory, I've been doing music as long as I can remember, and that
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  includes, you know, piano lessons when I was in elementary school and all the way through, high
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  school and did the clarinet, you know, the band thing.
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  Went to college for music performance.
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  I'm classically trained.
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  Took lessons from, opera singers, did clarinet in a symphony orchestra in Sioux City, and
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  realized, toward the end of my college years, what am I gonna do with this degree in the
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  Midwest?
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  So I had a moment of freak out and joined the army, but still in the music realm.
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  I joined the one forty seventh army band in Mitchell, South Dakota as a clarinetist and
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  then ended up being a the front woman of the country band, which makes sense now.
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  So played guitar and singing and did that for twelve years until I transitioned three years
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  ago into the command role as an officer, a warrant officer.
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  And so now I'm the commander of that unit.
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  And aside from that, I I supplement with private lessons and performances and really
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  started diving into, writing and recording in the last few years as well.
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  So it's been a ride, but it's been a good one.
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  It's fun.
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  First of all, I wanna thank you for your service to our country and your continued
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  service to your community.
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  And, obviously, veterans are a huge deal for us.
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  We support operation combating veteran suicide, South Dakota charity, and our good friend
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  Charlotte Rupp, the founder, is missus South Dakota International.
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  I don't know if our platforms are quite as big as yours, though, Kimberly.
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  You've been at this music thing for a long time, and serving your country playing music, I
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  think, is something that a lot of musicians don't think of, that that you can serve, you
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  know, I I'd wanna say serve ourselves.
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  Right?
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  The the music industry is so, you know, kind of that self serving.
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  Right?
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  Like, we're we're doing it because it makes us feel good, you're but able to serve your
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  country doing that.
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  And I think that's a very interesting angle that you come at, you know, music.
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  Obviously, you've done it your your whole life.
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  Right?
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  I imagine you're a lot like me.
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  You've been singing since you could talk, and you've been able to now continue to do that in
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  so many ways.
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  Talk about like, was there ever any was there any trepidation?
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  You know, you talked about that moment of freak out, right, graduating college.
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  All you've done is kind of performing in in, you know, school and bringing that.
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  And what was kind of the push?
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  Or do you come from a military family or just a a transition, I would say, that a lot of people
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  don't make from music into the military and still pursuing that career path.
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  Mhmm.
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  Yeah.
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  And, actually, it it took a lot of convincing for me even.
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  There were a couple of people at the university, a student and also a professor,
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  that had both separately, talked to me about the opportunity, and I said, oh, no way.
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  Nope.
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  Not cut out for that.
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  But, you know, just seeing what the unit does, you know, we're a very welcoming community.
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  They're like, hey.
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  Come check us out.
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  Sit in with the band.
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  And it it was.
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  It just felt like home.
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  And my grandparents, my my grandfathers had both served, and I have a cousin that was
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  serving.
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  And so it it was something personal, you know, that I wanted to be able to do just to give
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  back and serve the the community and the country.
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  And at first, it was kind of a personal thing.
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  Like, I'm I'm going through some challenges, and, let's let's personally make this something
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  that is, that I can grow from it.
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  Right?
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  I was kind of a late bloomer.
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  Most most kids joined the military at 17, and I was, you know, 23.
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  And so I'm thinking of career.
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  I'm thinking of the health benefits, student loan repayment, and things like that.
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  But, I'm glad that you brought up the the fact that it it is giving back.
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  Even though it's it's music and we do the musicians, we we do music for self fulfilling
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  reasons.
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  But doing this job in the military, I can see it's so much more important to me now seeing
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  the impact that music has on our veteran community and those who serve this country and,
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  you know, they might be having PTSD or or something, that they're struggling with and and
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  even just coming down, to singing the national anthem and seeing people with tears in their
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  eyes.
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  And music has such a strong impact on people, and that is worth it to me.
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  So
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  That's my favorite song, Kimberly.
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  Great.
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  It's a
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  lot of people.
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  Yeah.
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  Well and I always feel so blessed when I'm asked to do it local sporting events, and I've
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  applied to do it at some bigger sporting events.
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  And it it's never to serve me.
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  Right?
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  It's it's because that is the small thing that I can do to serve our country and to give back
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  to our our veterans and to give back to this country that has made so much possible for
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  myself.
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  Right?
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  No no time in my life more so than than where we're at right now.
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  Can you talk about what kind of the performances that you do as as a member of the
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  army band and of of your unit there?
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  What kind of stuff were you doing?
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  Are you playing on base?
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  Are you, you know, are you serving your community and those higher, you know, the
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  higher echelons of it?
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  Or what does that kinda look like?
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  I don't think many of our viewers are going to really know what an army band member does
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  besides maybe marching in a parade once in a while.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  And and you described it fairly well.
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  I mean, it's it's a variety of things, and the army band has evolved.
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  You know?
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  It it used to be you are the the marching band and the concert band.
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  And and, honestly, our unit doesn't do that as much as we are, like, more popular ensembles,
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  like a country band, a rock band.
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  We have people in our unit that can rap and do r and b.
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  And so we balance that with our ceremonial missions as well.
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  So a lot of us, like myself, for example, came in as a clarinet player, and we we can we can
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  do all that ceremonial, business for our upper echelons like you described.
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  And so that's, you know, promotion ceremonies or deployment ceremonies, coming home
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  ceremonies.
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  And, actually, one of the last times we performed as a as an ensemble like that was
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  when president Trump in his first term came to Mount Rushmore.
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  Mhmm.
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  But like I said, most of the time, we're we're doing these popular groups, which really speaks
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  more to our current audience and recruiting.
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  We do a lot of recruiting and, schools tours, performing for for schools and, also the
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  communities.
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  So we might be playing at a stage at Sturgis like we did this past summer or, downtown Rapid
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  City, something like that.
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  Very community relationships as well.
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  Yeah.
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  That's great.
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  It's so awesome.
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  And I think it's good for our young artists and those people coming up to know that this is a
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  path too.
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  Right?
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  You can pursue a path in music through the military as well, and I think that's really
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  because there are so so many great benefits to being a member of our great military besides
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  just serving our country.
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  Right?
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  You talked a little bit about, you know, the the student loan repayment or, you know, GI
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  bill type stuff.
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  Right?
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  So you can get a paid for education, through the military, still get to play music and to
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  serve in that role, not just having it kinda be an adjacent, thing towards your in your
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  service.
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  So really awesome.
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  I really appreciate you sharing that with us today.
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  Not a lot of people take that path.
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  So thank you.
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  Yeah.
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  Absolutely.
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  Yeah.
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  And if anybody's interested or knows anybody that is interested in joining, come talk to me.
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  I'm the one that you audition for.
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  You have to go through an audition process before you can even enlist to be in the in the
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  army band.
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  So
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  How cool.
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  Well, you have always taken the path less traveled, I would say.
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  And another side of that is your bodybuilding career.
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  All natural bodybuilding, so you're not really you know, you're not going in there.
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  I don't wanna say that you're not trying to win, but you're not winning at all costs.
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  Right?
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  If you win, it'll be because of what you stand on.
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  Can you tell us a little bit about the, the motivations for doing it at all and then the
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  motivation to keep on going with it?
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  Yes.
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  100%.
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  I did I mention I like challenges?
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  So I I like to do things that most people choose not to do.
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  I like having abs.
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  If it was easy, everybody would have it.
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  So yeah.
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  And I I do the the natural federations because I like to have an even fair playing ground.
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  You know?
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  I'm not gonna be taking steroids to, you know, be huge or anything.
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  And, obviously, I'm I'm not a huge person.
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  But within the federations, you know, you have your different categories as well, and I'm a
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  bikini competitor.
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  And so, yeah, it's it's a great challenge not only physically, but mentally as well.
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  And because of that competitor, right, a a lot of pictures of you wearing, you know, next to
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  nothing because that's what these competitions are about.
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  Can you talk about maybe how your time in the military and your time on stage kind of
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  prepared you a little bit and gave you that thick skin to be able to kinda step out on
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  those stages and perform in a totally different way than performing, you know, musically?
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  Yes.
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  I mean, there's
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  a lot of differences and a lot of similarities in that realm because you're putting yourself
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  out there for the world to see and judge you like cattle, kind of.
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  And so some people understand it, and some people don't.
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  And and to me, the reason I I even post anything about it at all is not for attention
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  or or anything like that, but for accountability reasons and to inspire others to
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  to do something that's that's challenging.
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  And and and I do get a lot of feedback from from people that say, hey.
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  You you motivate me, and then that that gives me an extra push too.
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  So
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  It It allows you to deal with
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  your question.
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  Right.
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  Well, it'll it allows you to deal with the cesspool of comments.
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  You know, I I've been in some of them to see.
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  But I feel like as musicians and especially female musicians, right, I've been in this
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  industry for twenty five years, and I see the way that female artists get treated in the bars
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  and in these other areas.
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  And I can imagine maybe you're a little more insulated being a member of the of the band in
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  the military, but I can imagine there's plenty of, you know, discrimination and a a lot of
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  things in within our military as well.
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  You know, it's not for the faint of heart on either side of the aisle, but even more so for
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  our female service members and our female members of the music community.
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  It's just a different beast.
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  Sure.
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  You know, and and that still exists to an extent, but it's a lot better.
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  It's a lot better than it used to be.
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  You know, there's a lot of strong women out there that are, you know, changing things and
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  and not putting up with BS, and I'm getting a lot better at that.
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  And if I if I see something or somebody is being inappropriate with me, I call them out on
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  it.
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  And I don't know if you've saw some of those instances, but, you know, we just have to stand
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  up and say this is not okay.
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  And it it's really helpful when there's other males in the industry or just in general that
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  can help back that as well.
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  So but, yeah, it it's not as bad as it used to be, but it it still exists.
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  And I think it always will because, you know, men are a holes, and there's always gonna be
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  that small segment.
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  I who you are.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, it just you know, it's the nature of testosterone, I guess.
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  But, yeah, Kimberly, you got such incredible insights.
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  Just a life well lived, but that always that path less traveled.
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  Right?
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  And that's what I admire so much about you and what you do.
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  And just I'm so inspired by you and motivated to to get busy on my own and to do more to
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  serve my community and to serve my country in in some way.
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  So I wanna thank you for being that for me, You're also a singer songwriter with with a
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  music career aside from your military career.
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  Know that's gotta be thrilling for you.
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  What's been happening with the, you know, music career outside of your outside of the military?
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  Sure.
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  It's an exciting time, and and everything's a learning process, and I I don't feel like I'm
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  there yet.
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  You know?
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  I feel like it's it's always a a hill to climb.
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  But, yeah, I've got several singles out right now.
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  I'm currently working with the Fijak crew in the Midwest and signed with an independent
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  label, United Republic Records, last, let's say, April 2024.
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  And so that's been an exciting time, and I've got a my my latest release called Music City
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  Miseries.
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  This is one that I'm trying to push right now.
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  And I love talking about it because I think it speaks to a lot of the the musicians that are
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  trying to, quote, unquote, make it right now.
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  And a lot of people are, you know, seeing these musicians doing our thing and like, oh, man.
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  You are you are making it.
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  You're working hard.
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  You you must be making a lot of money.
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  And that's just a
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  Nobody's making any money.
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  No.
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  No.
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  We are not.
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  Definitely not from streaming.
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  Well, we are sure working hard, though.
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  Yes.
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  And so and a lot of times that comes with a price to pay, and and that oftentimes is our
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  relationships.
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  And, you know, we we're carrying a lot of baggage, and so that's what that song is about,
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  the false perceptions that we portray.
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  Yeah.
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  The fake it till you make it.
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  We're we're all pretending to be big rock stars.
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  And as much as we want that life, I think integrity is so much more important these days.
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  And the stories are out there.
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  We we know that, you know, the these record companies exist to make money for themselves.
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  They will use and abuse you.
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  And I'm glad that you found an independent label that I hope supports you in a lot of ways
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  and gives you the the time and attention that you deserve and to help you really move along
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  in your career.
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  That that's absolutely thrilling to me to hear that.
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  So congratulations on, on your deal, and and I hope that it just continues to bring more and
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  more success to you.
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  Thank you.
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  Appreciate it.
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  Well, before I let you go, you gotta tell everybody how they can find you and maybe where
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  they can catch a show within you know, before the end of the year here.
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  Absolutely.
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  Thank you for asking.
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  So you can find me.
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  I on all the platforms, obviously, streaming Kimberly Meyer.
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  And then Facebook, Kimberly Meyer music.
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  I have a website, www.kimberlymeyermusic.com.
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  I have Instagram, Kimberly Meyer music.
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  It's all the same handle so you can find me easily.
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  And you gotta keep it easy.
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  Yeah.
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  And oh, you asked about shows.
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  I I have a couple solo acoustic shows coming up, but my entire schedule for the rest of the
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  year and beyond is on my website.
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  So kimberlymeyermusic.com/events.
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  Fantastic.
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  Well, Kimberly, thank you so much for being my friend.
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  These many years now.
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  It feels like I've been following your journey, and thank you for being part of the scene.
• 19:56
  Yeah.
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  Thank you again for having me.
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  We should do it again sometime.
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  I would love to.