SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artists
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Jessi Alexander
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Jessi Alexander was born in a small town halfway between Memphis and Nashville. Her childhood summers were spent in Memphis with her dad. Jessi remembers walking along Beale Street before it was sanitized for tourists, stumbling over winos, seeing fights, and just taking in the scene and the music. It was in these streets where her love of music was born. Her sultry voice expresses the pain, longing, and despair of the music and life of the region.
"Growing up, I had such a wide range of influences," she says. "I remember thinking that Linda Rondstadt was country. So was Ralph Stanley and Earl Scruggs and Dolly Parton. I didn't have the same kind of boundaries you see in music today." Her influences include, but are not limited to The Band, Bob Wills, Karla Bonoff, Bonnie Raitt, Little Feat, Bobbi Gentry, Jackson Browne, Hank Williams and, always, Patsy Cline. In fact, when she realized, at age 10, that she could sing, it was Cline's vocals she tried to channel. So much so that young Jessi eventually had to work to stop sounding like Cline. That memory brings a laugh from Jessi. 'Honeysuckle Sweet', Alexander's debut album set for release March 1, 2005 on Colombia, introduces an artist without boundaries, whose confidence in herself and her roots shines through in each cut. Working with co-producer Gary Nicholson and writing with Nicholson, Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), Gary Louris (The Jayhawks) and Darrell Scott, among others, Jessi found her musical self. What comes through is a new voice, strong and proud, unafraid to tap into the best of the past while forging its own sound. Kind of what popular music used to be like before it was so strictly subdivided. "I wanted this record to be very much a portrait of all my sides, all my influences. I wanted this to be a good template. This is Jessi. This is the platform on which I start," she says. "I think more than anything, this is the first chapter of a long history. I think success would be to know the songs have touched someone because they've been living in me for so long. Some are four, even six years old. To know the transfer has happened - that I've written songs and someone has heard them. That's success." By that measure, Jessi is already a success. She spent some time as a Warner-Chappell music writer, and Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless and others on country's A-List have recorded her songs. And there's one more measure of success she's looking forward to. "I hope some day some little girl goes, 'I want to sing like Jessi.' How cool would that be?" www.jessialexander.com www.sonynashville.com For More Information, Contact: Sony Music Craig Campbell Ph: (615) 742-4314 E: craig_campbell@sonymusic.com Shore Fire Media Diana D’Angelo Ph: (718) 522-7171 E: ddangelo@shorefire.com Management Contact: Universal South Artists Dorian Stinson Ph: (615) 259-5300 E: dorian.stinson@umusic.com |
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