OCT 14 2024
FEATURED ALUMNUS: JAY GOLDSTEIN ’68
As a student, Jay Goldstein ’68 remembers sitting in the Riddle Refectory on a day that Pete Seeger ’36 happened to be visiting his old school. After some excited encouragement from those in attendance, Seeger delivered a short, impromptu musical performance.
At one point, Seeger even got up on Jay’s table with his guitar to sing. As Jay looked up, he recalls thinking to himself, “How cool would it be to come back here one day and play for the student body.”
Fast forward to 2024 Reunion Weekend: Jay will be doing just that. “It’s going to be really fun.”
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Jay was born and raised on Long Island. As a freshman he attended Southside High School, and although it’s a top tier public school, he wasn’t exactly excelling academically. “I started to get in with a bad crowd and my dad decided I needed something else. If I had stayed at that high school, I don’t know where I’d be right now. I’m very thankful for Avon.” As is the case for most, there was an adjustment period for Jay, but once he settled in at Avon he became very involved in a variety of areas on campus. He was a member of the student council, a monitor, manager for the yearbook, vice-president of the tudor club, vice-president of the history club, vice-chairman of the gourmet club, and was a multiple-year member of the varsity soccer, basketball, and baseball teams. |
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His senior year, he served as captain of both the basketball and baseball teams. Surprisingly, the only music-related activity he participated in was a brief stint in the glee club, but admits that was mostly just to woo the girls at Miss. Porter’s.
However, his peers, and the school overall, did have an influence on his musical interests. His roommate, the late Donald Janney ’68, introduced him to the guitar. “He was a big influence on me,” Jay says.
“He opened my eyes to what music could be.”
It was after graduating from Avon, while studying speech communications at the University of Arizona, that he began to take a serious interest in music. Specifically, he spent a lot of time visiting his aunt, Anita Leonard, a famous songwriter known for hits like “A Sunday Kind of Love.” He began teaching himself to play piano and guitar and started writing songs of his own.
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It remained just a hobby as he pursued a more stable career in marketing and sales, moving around a bit after graduating from college–first to Los Angeles, then New York City, and finally to Louisville, Ky., in 1977. He has remained in the Louisville area ever since, with stints working at a radio station and then in television for Warner Brothers. All the while, he was continuing to write and play music. At first, he was playing piano or keyboard as a member of a band, but eventually gravitated to solo work playing guitar and singing. “I got a couple of hernias moving that piano around, so I started playing guitar more which led to a solo career.” Over the years he earned himself a few song writing credits, attended multiple music writing events in Nashville, and sent out several demo recordings. |
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“I’ve sent out close to 40 packets of demos. This was before the internet.”
At least one tape came back with positive feedback that eventually led to a writing collaboration with the Canadian songwriter responsible for Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” That was a huge moment of encouragement for Jay. “It was at that moment of getting some kind of affirmation from a publisher that I was feeling pretty good about my songwriting, even in its early stages,” he says.
Finally, in 2014, he retired from his day job to pursue music full-time. “I had known I was onto something, but I was still working and it was all a balancing act,” he explains. His second career in music really started to gain momentum within the last three years after he was put in touch with Jeffrey Teague, a music producer and publisher based in Nashville who has worked with many big-name artists including Kenny Rogers, Harry Chapin, and George Jones. Jay was invited to Teague’s studio in Nashville to perform as an informal audition. Teague liked what he heard.
Now, Jay has a whole team behind him which includes one of his oldest friends, fellow Avonian John Wendler ’68. “He’s just been a really supportive guy,” Jay shares.
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The constant encouragement from people like Wendler is crucial to success, Jay says. “It’s very easy to get discouraged. That’s especially true for artists, but it’s like that in any field. Business, medicine, etc. When things get tough, you have to stick with it.” He says that several of the life skills needed to persevere through tough moments are instilled in students at Avon Old Farms. “Going to Avon, getting on the right track with balancing your life and garnering a work ethic, the school gives that to you. Sometimes you don’t realize it until later, but at some point you look back and realize that the school was pretty cool.” |
Goldstein (left) and Wendler as seniors |
That perseverance has paid off for Jay, who has had a very busy past few months with his music career. In early October, he recorded several songs in Nashville with Luke Combs’ band playing behind him. The next step is for him and his team to organize a pitch to music labels. “We’re going to be making a big push soon.”
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But before then, Jay has an upcoming performance that is in the forefront of his mind: Avon Old Farms Reunion Weekend. He’ll start the weekend on Friday at Morning Meeting where he will perform for the entire student body, exactly like Pete Seeger did for him all those years ago. Then he’ll sit in on several music classes throughout the day. On Saturday evening, he will be performing during the dinner reception on the Village Green. If any alumni would like to be in attendance for this performance, or for any other of the events throughout Reunion Weekend, it’s not too late to register. This year, Avon Old Farms School’s Reunion Weekend will take place October 25-27 and celebrates milestone class years ending in 4 & 9. All class years are welcome. Visit our Alumni page for more information. |
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