Jessica Lea Mayfield’s haunting and soulful vat of country, folk, and rock is tasty enough to have attracted the attention of local big wigs like Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. The Kent native has toured with nationally know acts such as The Avett Brothers, Cake, and Auerbach’s Black Keys. At the ripe young age of 18 Jessica has already released an EP titled White Lies and is currently finishing up work on a follow up. We tracked her down to talk about her fateful roller-coaster ride, working with The Black Keys, and i-chatting with boys.
S*KM: In the song “All I Do Is Cry” you sing “I’m fifteen and I hit rock bottom.” Are you referring to yourself? If so what could have caused you to hit rock bottom at such a young age?
Jessica: Well, if you refer to the next line of the song it’s because at the time, I couldn’t write about anything but my falling out with one person. I was very depressed and yes, had felt like I hit rock bottom.
S*KM: As legend has it, The Black Keys lead singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach’s dad introduced your music to the bearded blues rocker. Which then prompted Auerbach to contact you and subsequently begin recording together. It also led to you performing a guest vocal spot on the bands track “Things ain’t like they used to be” from the duo’s new album Attack and Release. How fulfilling has it been working with such talented musicians and do you feel blessed for the fateful meeting?
Jessica: I’m very grateful for meeting Dan Auerbach. Now the other guy Pat…. whatever. He doesn’t impress me much. The real story isn’t how I met Dan but rather how I met his father. I sat next to him on a roller-coaster at Six Flags. He seemed very nervous and told me that he hadn’t ridden one in years. Well about half way through the ride I could see him turning red and suddenly he began to vomit. Spraying what looked like it might have been a falafel sandwich earlier in the day, all over me. After the ride he apologized profusely and offered to by me a new shirt. We walked over to the gift shop and he bought me a six flags shirt. We began to talk and I told him I was a song writer. He said “My boy Danny is a songwriter too” A few weeks later I got a Myspace message that simply said “Hi my name is Dan, and I play in a band called The Black Keys” we started recording the day we met.
S*KM: Is Dan Auerbach’s beard as impressive in person as it looks in photos?
Jessica: Well, a lot of people don’t know this, but Dan was horribly burned in the face from a terrible fire breathing accident a couple years ago. He tried to grow a beard to cover his mutilation but was unable to. The hair we see on his face today was actually transplanted from his back
S*KM: You recently won the Free Times Vocalist of the Year award, what was it like taking home the brass and beating out the best Cleveland had to offer?
Jessica: I wasn’t able to physically take it home, because I was on tour with an awesome band called the Avett Brothers during the awards ceremony, but I sent my Mom & Dad, who I think bribed them with cold hard cash.
S*KM: Do you ever feel overwhelmed at times having accomplished so much so early in your music career?
Jessica: Nope.
S*KM: Not many kids have the opportunity to grow up in a musical household and play in a family band like you did, is that something you are grateful for and do you feel it has helped you furnish a sound that is well beyond your 18 years of age?
Jessica: well, I guess so. I don’t think of myself like that so much. I do think that I wouldn’t even play music at all if it wasn’t such an important thing in my house. No one ever pressured me to play, but it was always around. You had to move an instrument if you wanted to sit down, each room of the house had someone either playing music themselves or listening to music.
S*KM: On the surface a lot of your songs seem simple in structure yet manage to create a massive world of illusion around each one, do you feel some artists get lost overdoing things and forget about what’s important for a good song?
Jessica: I think what might be a good song to one person, might be a terrible song to someone else. Who am I to express my opinions on what a good song is? I don’t even know, or think that there are, “keys” to writing good songs. I write my songs for me, and if I think there cool, then that’s all that matters.
S*KM: What has been the most surprising experience of your time in the music business thus far?
Jessica: Everyday is something different and new. I guess nothing has been a surprise, I’ve been doing this since I was 8 years old…this has always been my life, so I guess I’m used to it.
S*KM: With the warm Ohio summer weather upon us, what is your perfect night out on the town?
Jessica: I don’t ever really go out…I prefer to spend my nights surfing the internet on my mac book and i-chatting with boys.
S*KM: If you could pick one song from any other artist that you wish you could have written, what would it be?
Jessica: Honestly, one that made a lot of money. Because then I could buy a car that didn’t stall out on I-76 west, and I could put that money into my career. Right now things are really hard and touring is almost impossible, but I’m out there doing it. I’ve never had a day job, and with the way my schedule is looking I can’t apply for one anytime soon.
You can listen to Jessica for yourself at www.myspace.com/jlmayfield and catch her live on Saturday, July 19 at The Clubhouse in Tempe, Arizona