Author: Jennifer Pernicano

Hey there! My name is Jen, and I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. I played college soccer at Santa Monica College from 2008-2010, where I actually first established my love for country music.

My friends and I watched Scotty McCreery compete on American Idol and fell in love with his sound. Once we started listening to the songs he was covering every week, we were hooked. While visiting my friend at Texas Christian University, I went line dancing for the first time and had an absolute blast! That visit solidified me as a country fan, and I quickly bought tickets to Stagecoach that same year. We saw Josh Turner, Darius Rucker, Easton Corbin, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, and more. I remember vividly when Rascal Flatts announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed and led the entire crowd in a USA chant. I still have chills.

In 2011, I moved further down the coast to San Diego to attend and play soccer for Cal State San Marcos. During my senior season, my team traveled to many different places, but specifically, Gwinnett, Georgia for our Conference Championship and Orange Beach, Alabama for the National Championship. I scored a game-winning goal to send us to Orange Beach; it will forever be one of the most memorable moments of my life. It’s also where I was able to go to Lambert’s and experience real Southern food for the first time. My team got a kick out of their famous throwed rolls!

Over time, my love for country music only increased. In 2012, I attended Stagecoach once again and began going to other country shows in my area.

I fell in love with a lifelong country fan and we got married in 2016. Our first dance was to George Strait’s “I Cross My Heart” sung by Country Rebel artist Dawn Beyer. We have two kids, a six-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son, who both love country music. My daughter’s favorite song in the whole world is Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” It’s even her walkup song for baseball!

A few memorable concerts I have been to include Luke Bryan (with Sam Hunt and Billy Currington) at Dodger’s Stadium, George Strait (with Blake Shelton and Cody Johnson) at Gillette Stadium, Luke Combs (with Lainey Wilson and Riley Green) at Soldier Field, and Morgan Wallen at Petco Park. Some of the other live shows I’ve attended are Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Alabama, Shania Twain, Miranda Lambert, Cody Johnson, Maren Morris, Sam Hunt, Lady A, Brad Paisley, and many more.

My kids even came to see Luke Combs with us! It was quite hilarious to watch scream the lyrics, “Long neck ice cold beer never broke my heart!” They were just three and four years old at the time!

Before Country Rebel, I worked for the radio company, iHeartMedia, doing marketing and promotions for seven San Diego-based radio stations. There was not a country station, and I knew in my heart I needed to be near country music. Then I found Country Rebel in 2015, and I’ve been part of the team ever since! I have continued to work remotely since the company’s relocation to Tennessee and it has been so incredible to see how far our company has come in the last decade and I’m happy to be along for the ride! I love writing about country music, breaking news stories, and learning about the genre’s history.

In addition to loving to listen to and write about Country music, I enjoy listening to a variety of podcasts, watching Food Network, Reality TV, and shows like Grey’s Anatomy. My family and I love visiting restaurants that have appeared on “Diner’s, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” and try to visit one any time we go out of town.

I am a HUGE women’s soccer fan and support the San Diego Wave and the US Women’s National Team. Watching my daughter fall in love with a sport I have loved since I was eight years old has been so much fun. We both shed tears when we watched the legendary Alex Morgan take off her boots for the very last time and walk off the soccer field. We also watched Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger’s last match in person as well.

I am the Team Mom for my kids’ baseball team and serve on the PTA board at their school. I stay busy shuttling them back and forth between dance classes, martial arts classes, soccer clinics, baseball practices and games, and Girl Scouts.

Lastly, our family is on a years-long quest to visit every MLB ballpark. My husband has visited 14, I’ve visited 13, our son is at 9, and our daughter has been to 8! Whenever we visit a ballpark, we usually time it well with a country concert in the same city!

Thanks for getting to know me!