Authenticity: Jacobsen of The Merlettes - The Bluegrass ...

Authenticity:      Kristina
Jacobsen of The Merlettes

Authenticity: Kristina Jacobsen of
The Merlettes
by Shelby C. Berry

 “I’m a big believer in your journey being about doing what
 others can’t and living authentically. Songwriting, travel,
 and mindfulness are those things for me, and it’s all about
 linking them. It feels like, particularly with songwriting
 and touring, that it’s something that feels authentically
 me,” said New Mexico-based singer-songwriter Kristina
 Jacobsen.

Kristina combines honky-tonk and classic country with western,
Americana, and roots creating meaningful music inspired by the
places she’s been. Spending time in Norway, Italy, and the
Navajo Nation and being fluent in multiple languages across
the world led to Kristina’s impeccable talent of putting pen
to paper to create the most beautiful and honest songs about
the human experience.

The deep understanding Kristina feels for playing music,
specifically her lap steel guitar, and the experience of
touching people with a perfectly written melody didn’t only
come from her time and experience in other countries and with
different cultures. From a very young age, she taught herself
how to listen well, harmonize, and sing along with her father,
a folk musician in her hometown in western Massachusetts.

Kristina, now a multi-instrumentalist, began playing her first
note on the flute in the fourth grade. She moved on to the

guitar a few years later when her dad bought her one from a
local pawn shop. Later, she learned the nylon string guitar,
the steel-string acoustic guitar, the lap steel guitar, and
even a touch of the dobro.

“Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to watch TV or listen to country
music, but when I went to college, I fell in love with The
Judds and their tight harmonies. I loved the feeling and the
vivaciousness of country music,” said Kristina. “I was
majoring in classical flute, so the music I was listening to
and the music I was playing couldn’t have been further apart.
After college, I moved to Chicago and started taking lessons
in songwriting and the lap steel guitar, and I never really
looked back.”

https://youtu.be/zF9cOTW44A8

But it wasn’t her time in college listening to The Judds that
led Kristina to her love of music and storytelling—it was
studying the language of the Navajo people.

Visiting Navajo Nation territory and falling in love with the
people and the community led to a post-graduate job for
Kristina as a radio deejay – learning a new language in a
completely different environment while submerging herself into
the world of country music.

Kristina later found herself at Duke University in North
Carolina, studying for her master’s degree and writing her
dissertation on a Navajo country-western band. With this
study, her research was to perform and tour with them across
Navajo Nation.

This same dissertation eventually became a book that Kristina
released in 2017 titled The Sound of Navajo Country: Music,
Language, Diné Belonging.

Finding her place as a singer and songwriter, Kristina
performed with her band while living in North Carolina and

brought The Merlettes to life.

Named for the warm voice of country legend Merle Haggard, The
Merlettes got a new rendition when Kristina moved back west in
2016.

As a band focusing on all the twang country music can bring,
the modern version of this all-female band, fronted by
Kristina, features the tunes of Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn,
Kitty Wells, and their original jams.

Dair Obenshain joins Kristina on fiddle, guitar, and vocals
along with Laura Leach-Devlin on upright bass and Sharon
Eldridge on drums as their air-tight harmonies warm the hearts
of listeners while making you want to stomp your feet along to
the beat.

“The Merlettes debut show was in Albuquerque at a place called
Outpost,” said Kristina. “It is one of the nicest venues in
town, and it was packed out. It’s like this sit-down venue,
but they let us push chairs back and make a dance floor. We
invited friends from the Navajo reservation, and they got a
bunch of 2-steppers on the dance floor in this stuffy jazz
venue. It was incredible.”

Singing and performing solo and alongside The Merlettes isn’t
the only way Kristina graces the world with her talent. She
passes her impeccable knowledge of music and songwriting to
the next generation of performers as an Associate Professor in
the Departments of Music and Anthropology at the University of
New Mexico.

Hired at the university due to her Ph.D. in anthropology, she
was surprised to use her musical background to teach there as
well. Since joining the music department, she founded the UNM
Honky Tonk Ensemble and the Songwriting Focus Area program.
Kristina uses this opportunity to help songwriters find their
voice – literally and symbolically – by digging for their
emotional truth in storytelling.

 “As a musician myself, it makes me a way better teacher. They
 challenge me, especially the songwriters. I’m super humbled
 by them, and it allows the continued conversation,” said
 Kristina.

Her time with the music department at UNM allowed Kristina to
receive a grant to become the U.S.-Italy Fulbright Scholar
from 2019 to 2020.

As a teenager, Kristina lived briefly with her family in
Italy, traveling and co-writing with musicians in the area.
She decided to spend time in Sardinia, Italy writing and
recording an album like those she helped co-write in the past.

 “I got a grant to write an album of songs. One of the     ways
 that I studied the language in Italy was writing songs    with
 people,” said Kristina. “It’s introducing something you   know
 with something new. It makes learning the language        much
 easier – at least that’s my theory.”

Together with 20 other musicians, songwriters, storytellers,
and producers, Kristina completed the album she dreamed of
creating.

Earlier this year, Kristina announced the release of this
collaborative album titled House on Swallow Street. Although
primarily released overseas, it is now available on all major
streaming platforms.

Throughout her long, impressive career immersed with culture,
Kristina credits two things to making it especially rewarding
– songwriting and teaching her craft to others.

 “The most rewarding part of all of this is teaching the
 creative process and songwriting. I got to facilitate a
 songwriting workshop in Finland, in prisons in Sweden, and
 North Carolina,” said Kristina. “Those are the moments I feel
 super connected to humanity. I have feelings of catharsis,
 nobility, and healing. In writing, we go from having someone
 else tell our story to tell our own story. It can be very
 powerful.”

In 2019, Kristina spent the year in Italy recording her album.

In 2020, she was under lockdown due to COVID-19.

photo by Antonio Ramon
This month, Kristina performs live with The Merlettes at a
local New Mexico venue for the first time in years, finally
getting back to local roots in baby steps. She also looks
forward to touring overseas in 2022.

“With my music and songwriting, cultural exchanges meet
storytelling. Poetry meets medley. I’m biased as a songwriter,
but I think there are times and places that music can change
the world. It’s an amazing thing to be able to do.”