GRUBS AND GROOVES by Mary Ann
"Thirsty Thursday" Featuring Glass Cabin
Thank you so much Jess for chatting with us today!
Mary Ann: What was the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given about pursuing a career in music?
Jess: When my new father-in-law asked me what I wanted to be. I told him I wanted to be a writer...maybe a journalist, a novelist or a songwriter. Maybe an actor or director. Maybe a playwright like Sam Shepard. He told me to pick one- just one of them- and focus all my energy on that one thing. He said, "when sunlight is focused through a magnifying glass, it will always start a fire."
Mary Ann: Looking back, what was the first album or “vinyl” you bought?
Jess: There were two Kris Kristofferson's Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" in a music shop in Rhinebeck, New York. I immediately started learning "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," "Birds," "Southern Man...all of them." I'm still a big Neil Young fan.
Mary Ann: If you could have penned a song in a different genre what would it have been?
Jess: The Nashville Songwriter's Association - a great organization - has this thing where you pick songs you wished you had written so let's see..there's so many - "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers, "Lose Yourself" Eminem, all of Sam Cooke, and "On The Street Where You Live," from My Fair Lady.
Mary Ann: What is one thing you can tell us that most people don’t know about you and might surprise us?
Jess: When I was a teen I lived out of my car for quite a while, then in the backwoods. I told my kids that I was a nomadic man about town. My son said, "So you were homeless." Ha!
Mary Ann: What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician?
Jess: I was an unknown, unsigned writer when I got to Nashville. I went to see Allen Shamblin ("I Can't Make You Love Me," "The House That Built Me") in a writer's round at the Bluebird Cafe. He was kind enough to offer some advice. He said 'write every day, all day, because a lot of pro writers take 3 to 4 hour lunch breaks and skip writing every day.' That really hit me - to treat writing like when I used to frame houses. I found my 24 ounce framing hammer, put it on my writing desk as a reminder of hard work, and then I'd sit in that chair with my guitar - six days a week, sometimes seven, 10 hours a day, then l'd lay tracks into the night at my friend's studio. It paid off. I had my first hit in a year.
Mary Ann: Best food that comes in a can?
Jess: King Oscar Wild Caught Sardines, Mediterranean Style.
Mary Ann: Home cooking or going out for dinner?
Jess: Well, I'm married to a Sicilian, so I'm partial to her cooking. Not only is she beautiful but her baked ziti is the best, and she could open her own restaurant with her fish tacos. My dad's family are from Virginia so I love cornbread but I'd put my wife's cornbread up against any of my relatives.
Mary Ann: What is the best dish you ever had?
Jess: When I was in the military, three friends and I went camping along the Big Thompson River near Estes Park, Colorado. We got up early to fly fish and caught these beautiful rainbow trout that we cleaned and grilled right there over a wood fire, along with a pan of scrambled eggs. To this day I can still remember the taste of that trout, with eggs and campfire coffee.
Mary Ann: What’s on your pizza? Do you fold your pizza or eat it straight on? Ranch or no ranch?
Jess: Extra cheese.! Coming from New York, I love pizza, and if it's thin crust I fold it. Every town back home has a family owned pizza parlor, like La Bella's in Kinderhook, NY. Ask for Tony.
Mary Ann: Finally, if you could be sponsored by one food/drink brand who would it be and why?
Jess: That's a tough one. I gave up soda and haven't had hard liquor in a long time...just coffee and wine. But I remember what it's like to wish I had a hot meal. This company, The Soulful Project makes delicious, hearty cup packs of hot cereal with oats, grains and fruit, and for every one sold, they give one to a local food bank that they're partnered with around the country.
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