About

Jennifer Shaffer and the drums have been a love story from elementary school.

She started playing drums through her elementary school when she was just 7 years old. Her family didn’t have much money and she was given a used Slingerland snare drum and a practice pad made from a block of wood and a piece of rubber stapled to the wood by her elementary music teacher. The next five years had her pounding away on those two items…along with boxes, pans, pots and anything else she could get away with hitting before her mother would take her sticks and hide them.

At age 10, a friend’s neighbor, who shall we say enjoyed a certain herb, was told Jenn was a drummer. He jumped up from his chair and said she had to hear this great new band he found. He brought over his copy of Rush’s “Moving Pictures.” Jenn never gave it back. Neil Peart became her life’s hero.

When she was 12, her father said to go with him to pick something up. A professional drummer who was moving from acoustic drums to the newly released electric drums heard about Jenn’s family and gave her his old drum set. When most girls in high school were into 90210 and boys and fashion, she was in the basement in a fruit cellar playing drums every night after school.

Life turned her down a road where she spent 40 years in media and broadcasting and journalism, but she never stopped playing her drums, and after the deaths of her parents she’s now in Nashville trying to fulfill her mother’s last request to “find a way from surviving the rest of your life to living the years you have left” by pursing her life’s passion: playing drums.

Learn more about Jenn on the FAQ!

While she focuses on music, the writing bug still bites Jenn often, and you can see her thoughts on her Substack.