Jessica Wright
When she’s not out fighting crime as a forensic social worker, Jessica Wright ’17 has a deep-seeded passion and investment in creating music as a Sufi dervish, a person that dedicates their practices to a god through meditation, music, and poetry. She is part of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order in San Francisco, CA – the city where she grew up and now calls home.
Wright attended CC as a double major in Neuropsychology and Music. She participated in some of the first national tours that Bluegrass instructor, Keith Reed, organized. As she reminisces on those tours, it’s apparent that the Bluegrass tours were as impactful as the classes she took at CC. “Keith did such an amazing job of giving us diversity within the trip and setting us up with high-level musicians that we could talk to…we did a little bit of everything,” says Wright.
The CC tour groups performed in venues, busked, did a recording session in Nashville, worked with Bluegrass major students from the East Tennessee University, and played with professional Bluegrass musicians. These first major tours of the CC Bluegrass studio paved the way for the current Bluegrass students who get to attend Bluegrass festivals all across Colorado and perform in local venues, often opening for headlining Bluegrass musicians.
Beyond her love for the Bluegrass program, Wright deeply values the classes she took at CC and the mentors who shaped her journey. One particularly impactful course was the World Music class taught by now-retired professor Victoria Levine, which introduced her to traditional Persian music and directly influenced her Sufi songwriting passions. Levine also encouraged Wright to embrace her identity as a woman in the music industry, where misogyny often discourages many from pursuing their artistic goals. “It was a sending-off letter,” Wright recalls, describing Levine’s empowering guidance.
Wright also fell in love with many of the classes taught by her music advisor and CC’s current Music Department Chair, Ryan Bañagale, including his courses on The Beatles and Billy Joel. “His classes were all phenomenal. He’s such an eloquent professor and is so passionate about what he teaches,” she says. “The way [Bañagale] gets you to critically think about music…you could talk about any artist with him, and he would get you to become interested in what their music has to share. He really understands the art of teaching and loves music and everything about it.” Today, Bañagale continues to support the growth of the CC Music Department while teaching courses like AI @ CC and Writing About Music.
Looking back, Wright encourages both current and incoming students to embrace exploration—both in music and academics. While she deeply valued her time in the Bluegrass community, she wishes she had pushed herself further outside her comfort zone to collaborate with musicians from different backgrounds, recognizing the wealth of talent and knowledge within the CC student body. “Don’t just stay in your lane—take advantage of the diversity of musicians around you,” she advises.
Beyond music, Wright urges students to take courses in subjects they know nothing about, as it was through this openness that she discovered neuropsychology. “You never know what’s going to spark something in you,” she reflects. “Enjoy the time you have to explore.”
You can listen to some of Wright’s current music and read about the Nimatullahi Sufi Order on .
Wright (second from the left) posing with her CC Bluegrass Ensemble group 'Duck Soup.'