In Clinton, Mississippi College has long been a nurturing ground for musical talent, producing artists who have significantly contributed to various genres. While the college’s Department of Music offers a comprehensive education that combines rigorous academic training and many performance opportunities, musical talent at MC transcends the classroom.
One such group is a band called Broken Halos, a group consisting of MC students who found their musical synergy outside of their academic classes.
“It’s been a solo project for a long time. The solo project started when COVID hit and I wanted something to leave that time with,” lead band member Nate Brock said. “I thought songwriting sounded more fun than Zoom class! I think I always wanted it to be a band with multiple members, especially for live setups, but I was waiting for the right people.”
Their music, a blend of indie rock with Southern influences, has garnered attention both on and off campus.
“Being recorded live at the Institute for Southern Storytelling at Mississippi College was awesome,” bassist Micah Lindley said. “It was really neat to see Nate’s vision come to life with his watercolors being used as unique backdrops to each song in the set, and having a small audience created a very relaxed and personal environment to play in.”
Increasingly, A growing number of MC students are creating and producing their original music outside of the college’s formal music department, forging their creative paths from their dorm rooms, piecing together beats, lyrics, and melodies in between classes with the help of unexpected campus resources, like the Institute for Southern Storytelling, making some of the university’s exciting new sounds coming from students with no formal and rigorous music training.
What makes MC’s emerging music scene unique is the support students find beyond traditional music channels. The Institute of Southern Storytelling, housed in the Gore Arts Complex, has become an unexpected ally for young artists. Originally created to celebrate Mississippi’s cultural heritage through literature and oral history, the institute has provided an extended reach to include student musicians who are using sound as a form of “modern storytelling.”
Solo Christian artist Gabe Williams is one of many who also found their musical voice through unconventional means at MC.
“Music has been a part of my life for a majority of my life,” Williams said. “My brother is a producer and artist himself, and he started when he was in middle school. Just watching him do it all the time, it kind of planted a seed within me.”
William’s heartfelt lyrics and melodies have struck a chord with listeners seeking spiritual connection, something the Baptist university prides itself on offering to prospective and current students.
“I will be honest, being here at MC has really shaped my spiritual journey, which has a big effect on the music that I make,” Williams explained. “I kind of made a vow to myself to never make anything that’s not really productive to live, anything that’s not uplifting, anything that’s not Christian-oriented, in a sense, and me being here, I’ve been able to experience a spiritual growth like no other.”
Williams is currently working in collaboration with an intern at the Institute of Southern Storytelling, Xavian Branch, who is helping him shoot a music video for his new song, “Discipleship.”
In a time when access to professional studios, equipment, and record labels is no longer a prerequisite for success, Mississippi College’s “dorm-room producers” and Institute of Southern Storytelling collaborators are proving that passion, creativity, and community are more than enough to launch a musical journey.
