Hey! I'm Layloni Ghee, the Rock and Roll Cheerleader. What does that mean to me?

 

It means bringing people together and cheering them on! If you are a lover of music, play music, have a creative spirit, believe in the power of love and/or can appreciate a smile and a hug...you're my people.

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I grew up in a musical family. For me, the holidays meant doing the "Ghee Jams". Grandma Ghee, singing melody loud and proud, was the anchor. Southern food in the kitchen, hymns in four part harmony and rotating instruments. Every cousin, sibling assigned a vocal part. If you didn't know the words, you followed someone that did. Music meant belonging.

​Where music meets the cheerleader? I was cheerleader in High School... however that didn't mean I was the most popular and well liked person. In fact, growing up in a small farming community I often felt like an outsider. We were the only family of color in area for decades, and finding a sense of belonging didn't always come easy. On long bus rides out of town my taste in music and the others taste seemed very different. But we found commonality in the rock music of the 90s. Music brought us together. I know what it feels like to stand on the outside...to want to be a part of something, to feel seen, to feel like yourself. I believe music can do that.

 

Cheerleading also taught me that a few voices could inspire a crowd like a ripple. That stuck with me.

 

Now with over 17+ years of traveling and playing on stages big and small, I continue to build spaces where my people can feel seen. If you feel something: you want to dance, sing along, and be a part of it. You are encouraged! Because you are part of it... in spaces where strangers become friends, where you feel the most...you. My job is to be a candle that passes on the light.