A friend told Quinn Hussey he should try writing his own songs, but he never thought he could actually pull it off.

“He really wanted me to write a song, and I told him that I was never going to be able to write a song, that I was not gifted enough,” said Hussey, a senior kinesiology and sports studies major who will be playing his original music at 7 p.m. Saturday at Jackson Avenue Coffee.

Hussey said a friend who had already written and sang his own songs challenged him to do the same, but he did not have the inspiration he needed until he fell in love.

He said it was the “awesome, incredible, wonderful, beautiful girl” he met at the start of last fall semester who prompted the first song out of him.

Singer-songwriters like John Mayer and Jack Johnson are the musicians Hussey said influenced his soft, acoustic and folk style songs.

“There’s some happy, upbeat, poppy ones, and then there’s some sad songs (that are) slow, like a 6/8 tempo,” he said of the eight songs he has written so far.

Hussey said his favorite song he has written is about his grandfather who died.

“The very first time I played the song about my grandfather, I don’t remember where it was, but I remember that my family was there,” he said. “And my Aunt Kathy, she just started bawling, and it was just cool to see people being hit by my songs in a way that I was hoping that they would.”

John Mayer was one of the reasons Hussey said he first picked up a guitar at age 16.

“I wanted to be like John Mayer,” he said. “I saw him playing and I was like, ‘Wow, I want to do that.’”

Hussey said he admires John Mayer’s guitar skills and his ability to sing and play an instrument at the same time.

“A lot of people can play and sing, but he is playing amazing things while he’s singing, and he’s got this very unique voice and a calm presence on stage,” Hussey said.

To help ease his nerves on stage, Hussey said he always begins with the song “Praise God” that his family helps him to sing from the audience.

“It’s just a church hymn that I grew up singing with my family before meals and stuff,” he said. “It calms me down.”

He said he plays guitar every day and still manages time for schoolwork.

“I probably play guitar two hours when I pick it up, and depending on what I’m doing that day I might be playing all day,” he said.

Between school and music, Hussey said he would also be training with his father for a badminton tournament three to four times per week this semester.

“Before music was ever in my life at all I played badminton,” he said.

Hussey said he and his father have both competed internationally in badminton competitions.

“It’s hard to stay committed to badminton because no one knows what badminton really is,” he said. “People think it’s an outdoor sport like drinking beers and stuff, but it’s an Olympic sport.”

When he graduates in May, Hussey said he would be moving from Charleston, his hometown, to Nashville, Tenn. in the hopes of playing more music.

“Everywhere there’s bars that I can play, and there’s a lot of talented people,” he said. “You run into a lot of famous people all the time. It’s pretty sweet.”

Hussey said he would be playing with a friend, Alex Smith, on Saturday and he would hopefully have copies of the four track CD he recorded in Nashville, Tenn. ready to sell.

Stephanie Markham can be reached at 581-2812 samarkham@eiu.edu.