Vogt Feature: Jenna Paulette
Vogt Silversmiths has been creating heirloom-quality custom silver since 1970. We design every piece to last many lifetimes. It’s always an honor to hear the stories of how our silver becomes part of a family’s legend and legacy. We’re pleased to share a story just like that with you today. Up-and-coming country music artist Jenna Paulette sat down with us to tell about the cherished Vogt buckle in her family, and what she learns from the guiding power of legacy.
Pictured: Custom Vogt Buckle (circa 1983), Saddle Brown Over Under Leaf Belt, The Classic Clara Cuff
We love your Vogt story! For our readers, can you tell us the story of your family’s heirloom Vogt buckle?
Hi! I love my Vogt Heirloom Buckle so much. It’s a crazy story because I met Chet Vogt in 2019 at National Finals Rodeo in Vegas, somewhat fortuitously, right before my Grandaddy passed away. I remember meeting Marijka Hunsaker at the Vogt booth, we had both been following each other for a while on Instagram and we stood there and talked to Chet, I had a drink and admired all the Vogt pieces. That was pretty much that, I briefly talked with someone about working with them in the future and went to an NFR watch party.
A few weeks into 2020, my Grandaddy passed. I was devastated. I had just lost my other grandfather in November 2019. They were my best friends and biggest fans. I learned how to Cowboy from my Grandad, William Alley Jones, and my Uncle Tim Jones. After my Grandaddy passed away my uncle moved from our family ranch to be with his wife in Japan leaving the ranch. He wasn’t going to use our family brand anymore so it was given to me along with my Grandad’s buckle with our “WA” brand on it.
Grandaddy got that buckle as a present in 1983 when he officially received the land he started his heard on in Thackerville, OK right on the Oklahoma/Texas line. It had formerly belonged to a woman named Newcomb Gladney Sietz. She ended up giving Gladney Ranch to him as a gift because he had faithfully taken care of her herd and land for so many years. He received a buckle with his “WA” brand on it as a gift when it was official that he owned the ranch.
It just happened to be a Vogt buckle.
He wore it my entire life and I get to wear it now. I plan on starting my own herd with that “WA” brand. I can’t even tell you how proud it makes me to wear it because I get to carry on the legacy of his name and his dream.
My Vogt pieces are staples. I know they were made to last a forever, like my grandaddy’s buckle. I love looking down at my saddle horn with my hand resting on it and seeing my pinky ring and then glancing at my buckle. A little bit of me a little bit of my grandad. That craftsmanship and focus on legacy is not something you find often.
Pictured: The Wagon Wheel Mini Earrings, The Wagon Wheel Pendant, The Blue Sky Whitney Ring
We’re so pleased that Vogt silver is part of your family legacy. You grew up in Texas with a ranching background. Can you tell us more about your childhood and how your heritage informs your art?
My family and our ranch had a huge impact on my career. I knew I could sing at a young age but it was being out in the country and singing “Wide Open Spaces” and George Strait songs that really resonated with my soul. Those songs, singing them on the back of a four-wheeler to the sky, are what made me choose country music. However, Grandad and my Uncle are what prepared me for a career in country music. They believed I could do anything a man could do, they expected me to get the job done while still honoring my femininity. So I didn’t think of myself as having a “limp” if you will because I am a woman. I just expected myself to get the job done. I am so thankful for that—the lifestyle is what made me want this, gave me something to sing about, and made me gritty enough to pursue this career.
Pictured: The Classic Clara Cuff, The Wagon Wheel Pendant, The Blue Sky Whitney Ring, The Wagon Wheel Mini Earrings
As a musician, how does your upbringing inform your art and the way you tell stories through music?
It showed me what kind of songs I want to sing and how I want them to sound. I think that’s because I was resonating with songs that made me feel most like myself out there in the pastures. All of it helped me define a lane for myself that I like to call the “New West”—it’s a combination of the early songs from the Dixie Chicks, the “Fly Record,” traditional George Strait sounds like pedal steel and a little fiddle, along with the way Shania brought western music into the modern era especially early on in her career. It made me want to bring the Western way of life to the forefront of commercial country music.
Pictured: The Wagon Wheel Pendant
When did you discover your love for music?
Soon as I could match pitch with my mom. I would sing anywhere anyone would let me—from the porch at my Grandmommy and Grandaddy’s off highway 80 to the truckers as they passed by to random Mexican food restraints when my JP (dad’s dad) would ask “Jenna Lynn, you got a song for us?” I would usually sing something by Patsy Cline. It was a part of me from when I was sitting in our suburban in the 90s singing along to “Cowboy Take Me Away” with my parents sitting in the front looking in the rearview saying “She can sing.” I think it was always in me and it led me to what I am doing right now.
Pictured: Saddle Brown Over Under Leaf Belt, The Rodeo Sweetheart Earrings
Craftsmanship is important to us at Vogt Silversmiths. We believe that the heritage of crafts such as silversmith and leatherwork are a valuable way of passing on history and meaning. Country music is also about roots and connection, legacy, and values. How do you see the connection between Western fashion, jewelry, gear, and the art of folk music?
Crafting leather/silversmithing and crafting song and artistry are very similar. It takes practice, apprenticeship, and studying under someone you want to be like. I have spent years narrowing down my craft, etching out a lane for myself in country music, striving to create something that has its own voice in a field that is VERY crowded. It takes time, attention to detail, authenticity, and excellence to truly excel in both my industry and yours. It also takes people that have paved the way before you who have done things on the highest level and given you something to be inspired by and build upon. The Western industry does all of that well and gives me something to be proud of and a people to represent.
Pictured: The Rodeo Sweetheart Earrings
What is your proudest accomplishment to date?
Releasing my first EP “Modern Cowgirl Vol. 1”, going on my first National Tour as an opening act in fall 2019, and the shoot/story I got to tell with Boot Barn that year. I wore my Vogt Buckle for that shoot, we shot on our ranch and everything about it confirmed the direction I was headed in as an artist. That whole season of life gave me a foundation to stand on when nothing was happening in 2020 and showed people (including myself) what I am capable of now that the world is headed back to normal (I hope)!
Pictured: The Rodeo Sweetheart Earrings
Any news or sneak peeks for our readers on what they can expect from you next?
I am out on the road and I hope that doesn’t slow down anytime soon AND I will be getting back in the studio this year and hope to have new music out to y’all in the fall.
Where can our readers listen to your music?
Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, Google Play, YouTube, etc. All of that can be easily accessed through my website JennaPaulette.com.
Pictured: The Rodeo Sweetheart Earrings
