Musician Feature: Guinevere Sheafer
Written by Kayla Curry, photos by Zoe Brown
Guinevere Sheafer used to feel embarrassed to admit her love for country music. Now, the 22-year-old Springfield-native plays gigs around the city as a self-proclaimed folk artist. Inspired by 90s country and icons Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, and Emmy Lou Harris, Shea spends her free time covering folk songs on her guitar and writing her own.
Like many young, local artists, Sheafer balances music with a busy school and work-life. Most of the time, you will find her working as an HR intern for an architecture firm while working towards her business management degree. While it may seem unrelated to her love for music, she sees herself using her degree to bring “vulnerability and connection” to a work environment, and being vulnerable and making connections is exactly what music has taught her.
“There is so much amazing content and so many talented people here, so I’m just continuously inspired by working with those people,” Sheafer said. “I learn so much about myself and about the world and Springfield by having those conversations and getting into very vulnerable creativity with other people.”
Sheafer wasn’t always so involved with her music. In fact, as a high schooler, Sheafer sang for tip money at Ebbets Field, but she never planned on taking her music any further than that. Then, one day the manager of a local club saw her perform and booked her for a show. Others began offering her gigs as well. For Sheafer, becoming a local musician happened by total accident.
“I have a really weird relationship with my music,” Sheafer said. “It’s always been kind of something that I’ve been able to do. I’ve never really felt like this is my life’s purpose or my passion, so I really do think it’s been my friends pressuring me.”
Although it was never the plan to pursue music, Sheafer moves about her life without too much expectation because she realizes nothing ever goes as planned. A black snake tattoo curls around her forearm to remind her of “perpetual change and rebirth” and accepting things for what they are. Her love for music is enough to keep her pursuing it, but she sees no reason not to earn her degree and make an impact in other ways while she’s at it.
“It’s not my goal to be widely known,” Sheafer said. “I think I just really enjoy being a part of the music scene, and I’m encouraged to continue being a part of that community because of my other creative friends in Springfield.”
By ensconcing herself in the local music scene, Sheafer found herself falling in love with the art of story-telling. Recently, she has written more about her own experiences not only for herself but also to help the reputation of country music which she used to be afraid to love.
“The reason I love country and folk music so much is that it truly is a story-telling art,” Sheafer said. “I strive to write songs that are extremely genuine. I have a hard time writing in poetic terms, so I just like to sing about what’s happened. I really want people to hear my story through my music because I think story-telling is an art that is lost in our culture, so I want to cultivate that more.”
The local music scene and other female folk artists have inspired her, but Sheafer still faces creative blocks. As a self-proclaimed “slow song-writer,” she hasn’t released many originals, so most of the videos found on her Instagram are covers. She is adamant about not forcing anything. As a fairly new musician in the scene, she is still exploring herself as an artist, but she is open to finding other local artists to collaborate with on original music.
Her new single, “Daughter,” is set to release this month or early January, and she garnered support from her friends in the music scene to make it a reality. In it, Sheafer tells the story of how being raised by her parents has shaped her into who she is today. This is her debut single, and she says she is excited to share her story for the first time. For her, it comes at the perfect era in her life as she stands at the beginning of a path towards a potential career in music. But as always, she refuses to pressure herself to meet expectations and welcomes whatever may come of it.
“If there’s a story that needs to be told, I’ll sing it,” Sheafer said. “I just give those stories patience, and let them come out when the time is right.”