The Interviews

Jessica Andrews

Interview by Darren O'Neill

I recently had the pleasure to talk with Jessica for about a half hour about her career and her upcoming CD Who I Am. While my full review of the CD will be posted in another section of the Featured Artist, I just want to say that it is some of the best music to come out of Nashville in a while. It's innovative and has it's own sound while not losing the country feel.

Jessica was one of the nicest, most gracious artists that I have spoken with, and it was obvious to me that she is truly excited about the music she is making and the career she has chosen. Much more mature than her seventeen years, I hope that people can start to leave that stereotype behind and listen to the music without making her age an issue.

Enjoy the interview, and be sure to pick up a copy of Who I Am when it is released!

You're seventeen years old now, I just wanted to get that out of the way because I agree with what you've been quoted as saying that your age shouldn't really matter, it's the music that matters. I'm sure you can understand that people are still amazed that this great voice with such range is coming from somebody so young...

Yeah, I've realized that for a long time that's probably going to be an issue because people, that's just normal I would do the same thing if I were looking at a young artist I'd say “wow, I wonder how they deal with this, and how they do that, and how does a big voice come out of such a young person.” But, I've tried for so long to really deal with that the best way that I can because I know it's going to come along with it. I guess the bottom line is that people know that I'm an artist and that I don't really consider it a big age thing. I want to be recognized twenty years from now for my great voice, great songs, great records and stuff, I just think that is really important.

I agree, the new single and the album are entitled Who I Am. How close is the new album to summing up your musical vision the way you wanted to present it?

I really think this album is more me than my first album. I kind of had some visions of how I wanted the record to be and how I wanted it to sound. I definitely wanted it to be more mature. Not so mature that it was ridiculous, but definitely a step up from the first album. I wanted this album to be more energetic and stuff that was more fun to do live and I think we nailed it. I definitely think we've got the songs, we've got the record, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun to do live. I think we really came close to what we had in mind when we went in to start recording the album.

With the end results that you've gotten, on both of your CDs, it seems that you and your producer Byron Gallimore are really a perfect match.

We are, we really are. From day one since he discovered me. We've spent a long time in the studio and really have got a feel for each other. He could probably hear a song today and tell you whether or not I can sing it or not. He just knows me that well. I think that's really an important thing when you're making records together is to really know the artist, and know the producer.

Tell me a little about that first meeting. If I understand correctly, you were twelve years old and were offered a record deal on the spot?

Well, not a record deal when I was twelve. When I was twelve years old I was introduced to Byron Gallimore. I sang for him, and he wanted to work with me from that moment on. We worked in the studio for a couple of years before we decided that we were ready to look for a record deal. He kind of acted as my manager for a long time, guiding me in certain directions and teaching me about the business and just everything possible. When I was thirteen years old I did a showcase for Dreamworks Records, it was the very first record label that I did a showcase for, and the only. James Stroud offered me a record deal right on the spot, it was magical, I will never forget that! I've been really fortunate.

How was putting together the second album different from the first, if it was at all?

It was definitely different than the last album, I think the last album we were really searching and trying to find my style, trying to find out which songs worked well. It was a long process, and I think we did a great job on the first album but with this album it came much more naturally. We heard songs and we knew right then “yeah we should do this” or “no we shouldn't do that” we could tell better what worked. I got to do some songwriting for this album. I think we were much more comfortable on this album, we just went in there and recorded songs and really gave it our all.

The one song that really jumped out at me was the one called Karma...

Yeah, that's with everybody...

It has a very unique sound, especially for a country song. If anything the structure and the guitar and the melody remind me more of something that Paul McCartney has done...

I know, a lot of people tell me that all the time that the song sounds very Beatle-ish to them.

Were you influenced at all by McCartney and the Beatles or was that more of an accidental thing that you came across yourself?

It was just accidental, because I really haven't heard a whole lot of the Beatles' stuff. I just came across that song, and maybe the songwriters were, but I loved this song so much. I know enough about the Beatles to know that it really sounds like them. It's so quirky and different and the lyrics are really cool. I just thought it was really a cool song and needed to be on the album.

It works really well...

Thanks!

The video for “Who I Am” is the breakout video on CMT this week, which means it will probably be hitting their countdown next week...

I know, that is so awesome! It was the most requested for this week, it's incredible!

Do you like to make the videos, or is it something that you just have to do to get the music out there?

Oh no, I really like videos. I think that's such a huge part of everyone's career, people being able to identify the song with the artist by getting to see them perform the song on the video. With videos it's a little different from recording and singing, you get to try your hand at acting a little bit. That's why I enjoy it, because that's something that I kind of want to do in the future. Maybe not now, but I'd love to do some acting. I love doing the videos, I'm getting more comfortable with every one that I do.

One of the other songs that I really liked on the album was the ballad “Show Me Heaven”...

Yeah, “Show Me Heaven” is a beautiful song!

That was also featured on the television show Dawson's Creek and on their soundtrack, I read in your press kit where you said that when you hear this song you just get swept up by it, which I think is a key ingredient to knowing you have a great song. Do you usually know right after hearing a song for the first time that it's something that you have to record, or have you ever passed on a song later to come back and go “oh yeah, NOW I get it...”

Different songs are different. It depends on the mood you're in. I've passed on hits before and so have many other artists. I guess it kind of has to be what you're liking at the moment. When I heard “Show Me Heaven” I said “man, that's beautiful” and if I can react that way then I know other people will. But like I said, I've passed on “I Hope You Dance” the big LeeAnn Womack hit, I passed on that because I obviously didn't hear it when I heard the demo. The demo was not nearly as good as her production of it. I just didn't hear it and I messed up! (laughs) All I can say is that's just something we can't control, it just wasn't meant for me it was meant for her.

You have mentioned that you like to write songs as well. I was pretty impressed when I saw that you co-wrote one of the songs. It seems to be something that not a lot of artists are doing. You co-wrote the song “Good Friend To Me,” which is on the new CD, with two talented writers. The song has a great attitude...

It really does. When I was making this album and I wanted to do some songwriting, I made myself a list of the songwriters that I wanted to work with because I've watched their careers closely and I kind of knew which writers were in my style, and who were writing the kinds of songs that I wanted to sing. Annie Roboff and Bekka Bramlett were definitely two writers that I said are going to know what I want, we're going to click when we get in a room together. And sure enough we did! At the beginning of the session when we started writing the song we just immediately started snapping our fingers, getting a good groove established and we started talking about how we thought guys should treat us and the line came to us “you're going to have to be a good friend to me.” That's basically the whole song, before I'm going to commit to you, before we're going to do anything else we're going to have to be good friends first. It was a blast writing with them, we had a great time. It was a really fun day.

When you write do you have a set structure where you write the lyrics first, then the music or the other way around?

I kind of like to start out with a melody. If I already have a line that I want to write about, if I have a title or something, then that's a good foundation. I think you have to start with a melody, that's the way I like to start with a melody, get a good melody established then if you start saying things and talking and then you start singing it. Everybody has different ways of doing it. I think that doing a melody first makes it fall into place for me.

Do you like to write strictly about your own experiences or do you see a movie or read a book and take ideas from there?

I write about all different things. Whether it's my own experiences, things I've seen in a movie or read in a book, I write whatever comes into my mind.

On performing, I've read that you play guitar, piano and drums.

Oh, well very, very, very little! (laughs) Not good enough to play in my show. I play a little guitar, I can probably play a song or two. I really want to work on that. I play a little piano, and I love the drums, I would love to be able to play the drums one day. I wouldn't get up and play them in front of anyone!

When you're writing, do you ever play guitar and try to come up with a melody that way?

No, I really don't. I let whoever I'm writing with do that because I'm not good enough to find the chords myself, I'm still just learning.

How about getting an audience involved when you're performing? If you look out and see everyone sitting on their hands, how do you get them up and involved?

Well, usually it's up to the music and the way you perform. If you have good energetic music and are saying “come on everybody get up on your feet” then that usually gets them going. But now, I've had some shows where I've done everything that I could and I could not get the audience on their feet. Those are the kind of shows that you leave the stage going “man, what did we do wrong?” We always try to make ourselves better after those kinds of shows. We always say what can we do different next time to get the crowd on their feet. It's hard to know because a lot of those shows are at fairs, where the people have been walking all day long and just want to sit down and listen to a show.

Your first performance was at a talent contest when you were in the fourth grade?

Yeah, I was ten years old, my fourth grade school talent show.

You sang “I Will Always Love You” in more of the Whitney Houston style than the Dolly Parton style.

Yeah, it's a Dolly Parton song but I sang it Whitney Houston's way. That became like my signature song in my hometown, everybody wanted me to sing it everywhere! That was actually my very first public performance ever, that was the beginning.

And, you've said that before that you didn't really think you could sing?

Well, not really, I always knew I could, but it was more of a hidden thing that I did. My sister heard me sing and she went to my parents and said you know what, you need to hear her sing she might have something here. So, I guess it's up to my sister that she discovered it! I didn't really hear it, I was just trying to sing like Whitney Houston!

You've toured with a lot of big names, with Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride. What was the most important thing that you learned while touring with these performers, and what was the craziest thing that has ever happened during a performance?

I would have to say I learned just everything. I've learned a lot of things from them. I can't just sit here and say I just learned this one thing. I learned everything, I was like a sponge on both of those tours. I just listened to everything, I watched the shows, watched how they communicated with the audience and with their bands. Just everything, I take all of that in so much and incorporate it into my show, and the way I handle the things in my career. I think every artist does that to a certain extent. If you're Shania Twain and go to a Rod Stewart concert, you're gonna love that artist and learn things from them.

Probably the craziest thing that ever happened on stage, I would have to say it was probably on our last show with Faith in 1999. It was in Winston Salem, North Carolina. On stage during our very last song Faith's band comes up on stage and starts taking away my drummer's drum set. One by one they start taking it off the stage. Oh my gosh, by the end of the show he was left with nothing but a snare and his hi-hat. It was just hilarious. We had silly string on stage, had a big cake fight after the show. I got to go on stage and sing with Faith, it was really a magical night!

You know that you've arrived when they come out to steal your drummer's kit, right?

No! It was awful, but it was a lot of fun!

I read that on the tour Faith gave you a camera and a scrapbook, which I thought was a pretty poignant thing to do because you hear artists all the time say that they wish that they could have enjoyed the early part of their career more, or that they wished they could have slowed down a bit to enjoy it. How did that gift affect the way you looked at your career, if at all?

In the fall of 1998 was when she did that, gave me the camera and scrapbook. It was our very first show in Bakersfield, California. She gave it to me and really told me that it was so important, it was something that she didn't get to do in the beginning of her career because she was so busy. So, she kept telling me to take pictures and keep a journal because it's so important that you want to remember everything. So, I know that I've made sure that I've taken lots of pictures!

You sang the national anthem at the Indy 500...

Yeah, that was awesome! It was a lot of fun, very, very exciting!

I've been to Indianapolis for the NASCAR races, and just being in the audience of 400,000 or so people can be a bit awe inspiring. What was it like to sing in front of that many people?

I was nervous! I was definitely nervous. I just put on my face and said I have to do this. I can do this, and I just did it. It was an awesome feeling.

Do you have a favorite song to perform live?

Oh my goodness, favorite song to perform live... Right now, probably of my songs, because I haven't learned my new album to do in my show since we haven't been touring. I would have to say “Unbreakable Heart” it goes over so well live, people really are touched by it when we do it in our shows.

We talked a little bit about your influences. I can hear a lot of different influences in the music, there is country obviously, but there is also a little bit of rock, a little pop, some soul. Who were your biggest influences while you were growing up?

Well, my mom was a huge Elvis Presley fan, so I listened to a lot of his music growing up. Whitney Houston, I idolized her when I was ten years old, up until the time I was like thirteen years old I just loved her. I'd have to say Reba and Wynonna, a lot of blues and jazz. Basically everything, I'm telling you I've really had a wide range of musical influences, and I listened to everything, even today I do. I can listen to all kinds of music. But those are my biggest influences.

Do you think that the country is going too pop debate is getting a bit out of hand lately?

You know, I don't really know. I don't pay attention to that too much. I try not to worry about those things, I'll leave that to the industry people. I just try to make the best music I can, and I want all the people in the world to hear it. That's what I want as an artist and as an entertainer.

That is definitely what's important. On your website you list one of your top three favorite songs as “With or Without You.” Were you referring to the song by U2?

Yeah, that's like so long ago. We need to update that, but yeah, that's one of my favorite songs of theirs. At the time I was so pushed to try and think of three of my all time favorite songs, but that is one of my favorite U2 songs. I love that song.

It's one of my favorite songs as well. I was actually your age, seventeen, when that song came out and it's always stuck with me. So, when I read that I wondered if you ever think that your music can have that kind of effect on someone, that thirteen years down the road people will point to the song and say “I remember this song because this was happening to me at that time” or the song changed my life for whatever reason?

I can only prey that happens, hope and prey that twenty years from now people will listen to my music. I want my music to be timeless, and have an effect on people's lives. I think that's why I do what I do, you know, to make people enjoy the music, and want to hear it, and want to know more about me. I think that's what it's all about. I can only hope and prey that people will love me now and twenty years from now. That would be the highlight of my life!

The music on this new disc is very timeless, you can't really pin it down, but I feel it's the reasons artists like U2 and the Beatles remain successful so many years down the road because the music really stands on it's own.

I hope that I can continue to do that.

If we were to look in your CD player or your mp3 player right now, what kinds of music would we find?

When I was driving up here today, I was listening to the Police “Greatest Hits” CD. I'm a huge Sting fan. So I was listening to that, and Billie Myers, who had a song out a couple of years ago called “Kiss The Rain.” That's what I've been listening to most lately, then I kind of have my own records, I listen to rap and rock and country, I listen to everything. But those are the two that I've been listening to the most lately.

It's good to be diverse.

Yeah it is, it helps me when I go into the studio to know what's going on out there in all formats.

How important do you think that is? I think it's a little different for artists recently, as far as incorporating different styles. It used to be in the “old country” it was one style and everything kind of came from one place. How important do you think it is for country music, or any genre for that matter, to grow and evolve and borrow things from other types of music?

I think it's very important. The more you can expand and set yourself apart in a good way, that's the most important thing. You don't want to sound like everyone else, you don't want to look like everyone else. You want to have your own appeal to everyone. I think whether it's writing your own songs, or having songs that are a little more country, or more pop, whatever to set yourself apart from the mainstream. The important thing is to really stand out, and that's what I tried to do with this album. I really wanted songs that would get your attention and stand out, and I think I definitely found some of those.

You just won the ACM award for Top New Female Vocalist, joining the likes of Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, LeeAnn Womack and Shania Twain. How does it feel to be put into the same category as these performers?

It's awesome! It's a dream come true, don't get me wrong, I've got the award sitting on a shelf at home. It's a wonderful feeling, and I'll always remember that night, always. But I think that awards aren't the most important things in your career. I think it's more about the music, and making sure that you are doing what you love to do and people hear it. Whether you win awards all the time or never again I think that the music should come first. But, it was great, it was wonderful that everyone recognized my music, and me as an artist, it was awesome.

One of the best lines in your new single mentions something about if you never win a Grammy...

That'll be alright, exactly, that's exactly how I feel, I'm telling you I should have wrote that song! (laughs)

When I heard that line, I thought back on something that Jimmy Buffett said years ago that the awards don't mean anything as long as you have fans and people who enjoy the music.

That's exactly right. That is so true.

I read on your website (JessicaAndrews.com) that you like to spend time using your computer. When you surf the web do you like to read what your fans are saying about you?

Always! I'm on there every day looking at what the fans are writing on the web board. I've replied to them, and talked to them and keep in touch with them. I think that's really important.

There was one thing on your web site that I have to ask you about, on Labor Day I guess it was a couple of years ago, you had a bus break down, and the power metal group Powerman 5000 came along and gave you a lift into Nashville.

Yeah, Powerman 5000 and Stained. Stained is a band who's had a record or two out on MTV and rock radio or whatever. They gave us a lift back to Nashville, it was quite an unusual thing to have a rock band like that pick us up! It was a very different environment than what I'm used to, they took us back to Nashville and were as nice as could be.

I wasn't familiar with either group, so I went and listened to a few song clips on the net. They're kind of a cross between Rob Zombie and Metallica.

They really are, they are REALLY hard. (laughs)

And they had your CD on the bus with them...

I know! Isn't that something?

I thought that was a pretty good testament to where music is, and how diverse things are getting. What was your initial reaction when you realized who they were...

I didn't really know who they were. Later on I found out, but I didn't know when I was on the bus with them.

So to know that they had your CD on the bus as well...

Well, Powerman 5000 is on Dreamworks as well, so I'm thinking they probably had my record on there if they got a shipment from Dreamworks with all the artists. I always have all the records of all the artists that are on Dreamworks, so maybe that was why. I don't know, I DOUBT they were listening to country! I don't know!

The new CD is coming out on February 27th, are you getting nervous or excited?

I'm excited! I just can't wait for it to get out there. I'm very excited.

I think it will do very well.

I hope so, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Hopefully country radio, who doesn't always know a good thing when it hears it, will know it this time around.

I hope so, the song seems to be doing really, really well right now, so that's exciting!

Well Jessica, I'd like to thank you for talking with us!

Thank you!

I wish you great success with "Who I Am" and I hope we can talk with you again after it goes Platinum!

Oh, I hope so too! Thanks a lot!