The Full Story

Vanessa was born into a musical family, so she has been singing since she was old enough to hold a mic. Growing up, she sang in local talent shows and at church. As a teenager, she fronted a rock band with her dad, renown guitar player Terry Rogers. They recorded her self-titled debut rock album, composed of rock ballads and bangers written mostly by her and her dad. The album was reminiscent of a mixture of Van Halen and Evanescence. Soon after recording this album, Vanessa moved off to college to pursue a degree in psychology, and the rock band project was put on hold indefinitely.

The day she finished her degree, Vanessa moved to Nashville. After trying out several different career paths and obtaining a master’s degree in teaching, she eventually realized what she was born to do, and found her way to music again. She started singing full-time at Tootsies on Broadway and began to pursue a career as a country artist. During that time, she recorded demos for songwriters around town, and released a country EP of dark, moody songs with noticeable bluegrass flavors, influenced by some of her favorites like The Steeldrivers and Gillian Welch.

Singing at Tootsies catapulted Vanessa’s career as a music artist, and she was blessed with many wonderful opportunities. She got to travel the country and open for lots of big-name artists such as Kid Rock, Terri Clark, and Brantley Gilbert. She also got to share the stage with many amazing artists who would go on to become famous, such as Tara Thompson, Caylee Hammack, and Naomi Cook of Runaway June. For a while, as she watched her peers obtain stardom, she felt a little left out and lost, like there was no place for her in the world.

She took a break from the music scene to reevaluate her music career and use her degrees to teach adult education. Once again, she discovered she did not feel like herself if she wasn’t doing music full time. So, she came back to the Nashville music scene in December of 2017. She started her own classic rock tribute band and played with them full-time in Nashville until the pandemic hit in 2020. Due to circumstances beyond her control, she ended up accidentally moving to Panama City Beach, Florida, where she played with her band almost every night for 5 weeks. Her band had to go back to Nashville, but she stayed behind in Florida. What seemed to possibly be the end, however, turned out to be just the beginning.

She had started dabbling with recording and producing her own songs several years ago, and always found joy and fulfillment in making her own music. So, this became her focus after she found herself alone in PCB. Feeling like a feather on the wind, she refocused her life on God, who had always been faithful to her. She found comfort, peace, and a new direction for her life and music. This led her to revisit some songs she had written during her time away from Nashville, and thus a new Christian rock sound was birthed. She officially released her new single called Battleground at the end of October 2022. This song about spiritual warfare is the anthem of her life and spiritual journey, as well as the culmination of her recording and production artistry. She recorded and produced the song in its entirety, featuring her dad, whose electric guitar skills elevate the song to a soaring new level. This is only the first of many new songs and sounds you will hear from Vanessa!