What happens when 3 students come together with a shared love of music? They make a band. And that is exactly what happened with seniors Jillian Ellison, Greer Miller and Ben Pinkerton.
Ellison and Miller came up with the idea during a lunch period in the early months of their senior year. Ellison was talking about her guitar with the table and Miller, a strong vocalist and prominent member of Hudson High School’s chamber choir, became very curious. “We should make a band,” where her next words. Back and forth, they started spitting out ideas: what covers they could sing, who else could join it and even the thought of someone jumping in with a harmonica came up. From here, no actual steps were taken towards the making of the band, but the product was in the works.
It all came together at the 2025 HHS Leadership Conference. One of the events of the conference consisted of a performance from teachers in the HHS social studies department who have a band together called Jefferson’s Diner. For the last song of their set, they asked the audience if anyone could play the guitar. Pinkerton was chosen out of the crowd and was pulled up on stage to back the band with the acoustic guitar. Somewhere in the audience, Ellison and Miller thought back to that lunch period and had an idea.
Later that day during down time, Jefferson’s Diner invited interested students back for a jam session. When all three of them showed up, Miller and Ellison brought up the idea of the band to Pinkerton, and the three of them walked out as a band.
Their first rehearsal didn’t come till a month later and they spent their this first session just playing around, getting to know each other both personally and musically. But it was enough to make them set up a second time to meet. This is when they starting working on their first cover.
In an interview with one of the founding members of the group, Ellison shared that “So far, my favorite part of the band is how chill it is. I love coming together to make awesome music, but at the same time most of our practices are just messing around and having fun, and trying to teach Greer the guitar. It’s a great, low pressure environment that we create when we are all together and I think that is why we work so well.”
Ellison has been playing guitar for around a year and a half now, starting back in October 2024. She has been entirely self taught, with the help of some youtube and TikTok creators. This was until recently when she decided to take her skills to th next level by getting lessons. Ellison explains that she started on this journey because “Music means everything to me. I can’t think of a time in the day where it isn’t surrounding me. It’s a huge comfort and a motivator in my life, especially when it comes to guitar.”
After a couple rehearsals, the band was ready to show people who they were. They practiced and recorded a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.” Miller took to the vocals, making her own version of Dylan’s familiar lyrics while Ellison and Pinkerton backed her with two acoustic guitars. They then posted it to their instagram account where it was quickly picked up and supported by excited classmates.
Since the kick off, the Bridge Band account has gained over 300 followers and they have grown to cover songs like “Rivers and Roads” by The Head and the Heart and most recently Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California.” Ellison shared that she hopes the next cover they work on is either “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer or “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles.
For a further look at the future, Ellison explained that they hope to preform at graduation. To be able to do this, they have to audition in front of a group of graduation planners. Some of these judges are HHS students who are tasked with speaking for what the students would want to see at their graduation, so this could give Bridge Band a high chance of getting the gig. In terms to what they are planning on preforming was left a surprise by Ellison, but she did say to except something “different and fun.”
On top of this, the band has thought about preforming some backyard show this coming spring and summer as Ellison says to “definitely look out for those.”
HHS students have enjoyed getting to see some of their classmates live out some of their passions and supporting them from behind the screen. But in the near future, if all goes to Ellison’s vision, they will take to the real stage together.
