Why One Eyed Cat?

It’s a sweet story.

Back in autumn of 2001, my (Jenny’s) family rescued a kitten named Stewart.

Shortly after bringing Stewart home, he became very ill.

Stewart was the runt of the litter. As I nursed him back to health, it became abundantly clear that he was a fighter, in the best way.

As a military kid, my family moved every 3 years or so. 2001 was a moving year and I found myself in a new city, at a new high school. Stewart quickly became my best friend.

Fast forward a few years and Stewart disappeared for 3 days.

We searched everywhere for him. I was sure he was a goner.

On the third day, Stewart came limping home, his face mangled and matted with blood. The vet said that he was likely hit by a car and was lucky to be alive. The vet couldn’t save his right eye – and from then on Stewart was a one eyed cat.

Yet again, this tough little cat survived.

Unfortunately, my husband, Tyler, is very allergic to cats. During one visit to my parents’ house when we were dating, his eye swelled completely shut.

I thought, I guess this isn’t going to work out. Eventually, I had to choose…Stewart or Tyler. Obviously, I chose Tyler.

When we’d been married about a year, Tyler was sitting on the couch in our little Nashville apartment one day and began to sing, “You gave up your one eyed cat, still makes you sad but I’m allergic…”

We proceeded to write a song about the things we gave up to be with each other, but how ultimately we gained more than we gave.

As Jenny & Tyler, One Eyed Cat became one of our most popular songs. We’ve played it at nearly every show since 2009.

It’s been heard at weddings and folks have sent videos of themselves covering the song. I love that a little song about my pirate cat has made such a big impact.

Sometimes I wonder if we would be where we are today without Stewart. He’s since passed, but it feels very right to honor him with the naming of our studio.