Jessica Andrews Interview
(CSC) 1. Where have you been the last few years and what have you been up to!?!
(Jessica Andrews)
(Laughs) Well you know it’s been a couple of, actually it’s been several years since my last CD release in 2003.But I don’t know if many people know or not but I did record a whole record that was suppose to come out in 2005,but DreamWorks, my record company folded. I kind of knew it was happening. It was disintegrating. We released the first single off that record, it was called “Summer Girl” and I was out doing radio stuff and promoting it that summer of 2005 and I was starting to feel the disintegration of DreamWorks. You know, once Toby Keith left the label, things just started going downhill. Staff member’s contracts were up and they were leaving DreamWorks to go work with Toby. So that was the beginning of the end for DreamWorks. October 2005 is when it folded and I was released from the label along with all the other artists, so it’s been two years since then. I really just wanted to take time and write songs and just kind of figure things out. It’s been a rebirth for me. I just wanted to figure out what I wanted to do. I had a fresh new start where I could completely start over. I was offered contracts from different record labels in the last couple of years. People that wanted to sign me and release something fast, but it just wasn’t anything that I wanted to do. It didn’t feel anything that felt right to me. I really wanted to take my time and the next go-round for me is going to be a lot of hard work, and a lot of songs I’ve written. I just didn’t want to rush anything. And I’ve just been enjoying life!! I had a record deal since I was fifteen, so it was nice to kind of be free from the industry!! Write songs, and do what ever I wanted to do. I still play some shows here and there, LIVE with my band. I’ve just now gotten to a place where I’m really starting to get antsy and start gearing things up, practice again and get ready to come back out. I’m working with Jay De Marcus from The Rascal Flatts and also Marty Williams, separately not together!! Jay’s going to do half and Marty’s going to do half. So we’re working on my record right now!!
(CSC) 2. What did you enjoy most about recording your debut album “Heart Shaped World,” and what was the most challenging part of the process?
(Jessica Andrews)
Oh God!! You’re taking me way back!! Well that was many, many years ago, so let me think back to when I was fifteen years old!! I was fourteen when I recorded it. That record, it was just kind of like a fantasy. We were all just kind of like “Oh gosh, what’s happening?” I’m fourteen years old; I’m working with Byron Gallimore, who produced Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. I’m signed with DreamWorks. I’ve got a song on this animated movie that was coming out, that they were really hyping up called “The Prince of Egypt.” So it all felt like a whirlwind, like a fantasy, like we couldn’t believe everything is happening. You know we just moved to
(CSC) 3. Since the success of your #1 hit “Who I Am,” how have you changed personally as a singer/songwriter?
(Jessica Andrews)
Oh gosh!! Well I was seventeen years old when I released “Who I Am” and it went to number one. You really saw how many things have changed. It doesn’t matter if I’m in the industry as a singer or not, people grow up and mature from seventeen to twenty-four. So to me that feels like a different person!! It is a different person!! Anyone would look back on their teenage years and go wow that felt like such a different chapter ago; and it does!! It feels like a whole different chapter to me. I’ve grown leaps and bounds from then with my music, singing and songwriting. Everything!! You know, I guess the only way people can really hear that is with my next record. So I can only really say that it has grown, but no one will know for themselves until I come out with a new record, a new project and all that sort of thing. Then they’ll be like “‘Wow that’s the Jessica Andrews of “Who I Am??” “That’s crazy!!” So I’ve grown tremendously all around as an artist, completely!!
(CSC) 4. What originally inspired you to record the song “Who I Am” and did you expect so many people to relate to it?
(Jessica Andrews)
You know there’s a funny story about that song. We were almost finished with my record and we had cut a lot of songs already, and we were kind of rapping it up and it happened so fast literally. The A&R person that usually looks for songs for me, Miss Gallimore, Byron’s wife called us up when we were in the studio that day, already cutting like two or three other songs. She said “You guys got to hear this song. I know you’ve already got the songs that we’re doing today picked out. We’re going to cut those, but just listen to this song.” So she came up to the studio, we all went to the car, played it and we listened to it and it was something that just happened so fast!! We all just thought “Gosh, this song is a hit, it’s a hit!!” That’s all we could really say about it. So we went in and cut it!! Everyone just kind of started saying “Oh my… this is the first single, this is perfect!!” So there was definitely a vibe and a buzz about it throughout my label, management and producer and all of us who really believed in it. You just never know about a song. You can have your instincts and you can think that it’s a hit, but you know that when you release it it’s kind of out of your hands. You never know what people are going to like and not going to like. Obviously they loved it!! It kind of took on a life of its own. It became an anthem.
(CSC) 5. You’ve had the opportunity to tour with some of the biggest names in country music such as Trisha Yearwood and Faith Hill, what important lessons have you learned from that experience?
(Jessica Andrews)
Yeah my very first tour was with Faith. I was her opening act in 1999.Then the next year I toured with Trisha Yearwood. Then the year after that I got to co-headline my first tour by myself and that was in 2001.In 2002, I toured with Tim McGraw. The first year that I toured with Faith I used to just sit by the stage every single night after I finished my shows, I’d go change clothes and I’d sit and watch her shows every night. I just never had done anything like that before so I felt like it was important to kind of absorb everything I could. I wanted to. It’s not like I was forcing myself to try to learn, I just wanted to. I just felt like I was on this tour and I was intrigued by watching someone do it night after night. You know it was just a learning experience for me all across the board. You know I learned everything. I was so fortunate, you know because it’s hard to be on the road. The road can eat you alive!! I was just very fortunate from early on that I got to tour with amazing people. Her band and crew were just so awesome and nice and professional. They were very cool. They’ve done it for a lot of years and they were just the best of the best in the industry. So I was just lucky!! I got to learn from the best!!
(CSC) 6. What are your thoughts on the current trends of today’s country and what’s being played on the radio? Do you enjoy any of the newer artists on the scene?
(Jessica Andrews)
Yeah!! I mean I listen to everything!! Usually when I’m in my car, I’m usually listening to XM or CDs. Yeah I’m a big fan of it all!! I don’t know that I’m particularly invested in certain artists. I like Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Kenny Chesney. I like a lot of artists out there but I just get more invested in the songs. You know, I don’t care who it is!! If it’s a great song, I’m like “Oh my gosh, I love this song!!” It takes a lot for me to really fall in love with an artist and want to go buy their record and listen to everything. I’m just more about the song. I like Jason Aldean’s new song a lot and Tim McGraw’s “If You’re Reading This.” There’s so many. Like I said earlier, I listen to all different kinds of music.
(CSC) 7. As a songwriter where do you find inspiration to write and what sort of songs do you gravitate towards?
(Jessica Andrews)
It really all depends on what I’m feeling, and what’s going on with me. I never think about it, I never over think it. I never think about what I want to write about when I’m getting ready to write. I let it happen. I get in there and I see how the moment’s going. If someone starts playing a melody, it just starts spilling out of me. I don’t know how it happens, I don’t what triggers it. But I’ve got a lot of stuff inside and it just comes out!! And that’s the way I release it. It’s through songs!!! I just never really think about it. I try not to. I feel like if I think about it, it may not flow as well as I like. So when I get into the writing mode, I get inspired by a melody, then the singing, then I just start singing the lyrics. I don’t even know what the song’s going to be about when I start singing lyrics and that’s how the song develops from there. So that’s the kind of writer I am. I am very spontaneous, very in the moment!! That’s more my kind of writing style.
(CSC) 8. Out of all your accomplishments in your career, what are you most proud of?
(Jessica Andrews)
The respect most definitely!! Every artist has highs and lows. Everyone has a year that’s amazing then the next year maybe not as amazing. I really feel like I’ve garnered a lot of respect in this industry as a great artist; which I’m still striving to do. When I come out with my new record, people are going to see how much I’ve grown and that I haven’t been just twiddling my thumbs and doing nothing. I’ve grown as an artist tremendously, so my fans know that. They’re seeing the growth with me. My true fans who go on my MySpace page, hear new songs occasionally, or the one’s who see me in concert on the road from the very few shows that I do a year. They know I’m definitely progressing. That means more to me than the awards, the number one songs and all that; that I have a lot of respect as a really great artist. That’s the one thing that I really hold on to more than anything else; the integrity that I have now. I hope to keep that more than anything else.
(CSC) 9. You broke onto the country music scene at a very young age. Did you feel like you were taken seriously by the industry at first?
(Jessica Andrews)
Yeah, I did. Even from an early age, the people that I worked with like my producer and my manager. That was a must!! They respected me and my opinions and the songs that I wanted to do. They didn’t look at me as a fifteen year old girl, or a kid that doesn’t know anything. They really respected and listened to me. That was our goal with presenting me to the public was that I was not just a puppet who was told everything to do. I had a lot of say in everything with my career. I think radio made that clear. You know a lot of radio stations had and still have a lot of respect for me and know that I’m not a puppet. They know that I can really, really sing and write songs. You know obviously with time, the longer I keep at it, doing my thing, you know, as you get older, you do tend to get more respect. You get out of that whole teenage, prodigy, “oh she was just a kid who was told what to do.” You know that kind of goes away after awhile when you keep doing your thing. It was harder at times with certain people. If I sensed that somebody wasn’t taking me seriously, I‘d work harder on them and if it was a radio station that thought I might be a puppet that was on strings and told what to do who didn’t pick my own songs, I worked harder and sang better to show them that’s not what you think.
(CSC) 10. What was it like for you to win the “Top New Female Vocalist” award from the ACM?
(Jessica Andrews)
It was special!!! I won in the year 2000, for the year of 1999. The whole day leading up to that night was exciting. We’d flown out some family to be with us out there. I felt surrounded by comfort and love from my family. It was exciting to be nominated and to know that I was going to be performing on the show. We were out there to have fun and enjoy it. When I won it was just exhausting, it was so emotionally draining to win an award. It was so exciting!! You are on such a high all night!! It was hard to sleep that night. I just remember getting into the shower that night and getting ready for bed and washing off all the makeup and rinsing out my hair while laying in bed and just going “Wow that was amazing!!” and taking a deep breathe and saying “Now I can breathe!!” The next day was exciting. It feels really good and I’m not going to lie, to win an award!!
(CSC) 11. If you had the chance to work with any “legendary” female country music artist, who would you choose and why?
(Jessica Andrews)
Tammy Wynette would have been great to sing with. I really always liked her voice a lot. Dolly Parton would be amazing to sing with too. She’s so well respected from all kinds of music. That would be a hard one!! Any of them!! Any of the legends would be an honor to work with. Tammy and I would sound nice together. That would be cool!!
(CSC) 12. What can fans look forward to next from Jessica Andrews?
(Jessica Andrews)
A new record!! I’m working on it as we speak. I’m just getting ready to start everything. It’s exciting!! I really can’t wait to get back out there and show people what I’ve been doing. I’m excited to get started again. I’m working hard on all of it right now. So that’s what they can expect from me!!
(CSC) 13. What are you most looking forward to about being a part of the “Country Christmas” tour and what can fans expect to hear from you?
(Jessica Andrews)
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For the latest news and information on Jessica, please visit her official website here; http://www.jessicaandrews.com
