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CONTACTS
MANAGEMENT
Jody White [jody at jdwhitemanagement.com]
BOOKING
Bruce Solar [brucesolar at theagencygroup.com] (US)
Ben Martin [ben at marshall-arts.co.uk] (Europe)
PUBLICITY
Mary Moyer [mary at sacksco.com] (US)
Andy Prevezer [andy.prevezer at warnermusic.com] (Europe)
LABEL
Polymer Sounds (US)
Munich Records (Europe)
Shock Records (Australia)
Jessica recently gave Uncensored Interview a candid perspective on everything from life on the road to super powers to her secret phobias. Click here to check out videos from the sessions.
On a recent stop to Amsterdam, Jessica played a live session on VPRO's 3voor12. Click here to watch her solo, acoustic performance of "Kiss Me Again".
FILM/TV/COMPILATIONS
Jessica's cover of Buddy Holly's "Words of Love" appears on the Starbucks compilation Sweetheart: Our Favorite Artists Sing Their Favorite Love Songs. Click here for Pitchfork's preview and full track listing.
Jessica's song "Kiss Me Again" appeared on CW's hit series Gossip Girl, episode "Carnal Knowledge" (Season 2: Episode 17). Click here to visit the Gossip Girl website.
Starbucks selected Jessica's song "For Today" for their Have You Heard?: Winter '09 compilation.
Jessica's song "Bible Days" made an appearance on the CBS series CSI:NY, episode "Dead Inside" (Season 5: Episode 7). Click here to watch the full episode on the CSI:NY website.
“…mesmerizing…this is music that lets you hear all its details.” —The New York Times
Critically acclaimed songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield continues her headlining tour this summer adding new dates in Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles (please see below for details). Mayfield has been on tour all year (including dates with Ray LaMontagne) and played this year’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, TN.
Her debut With Blasphemy So Heartfelt was released this past September and received tremendous praise. NPR declared, “a mature sound that seems evolved beyond her years,” and The Huffington Post proclaimed, “lilting, aching, and magnetic.” While Time Out New York praised the album as an “impressive debut” and Pitchfork hailed it an “8.2…fascinating and endlessly listenable…”
Mayfield’s song “Kiss Me Again” was featured in an episode of Gossip Girl and “Bible Days” was included on CSI: NY. She also recorded a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Words of Love” for Starbucks’ Sweetheart compilation. Mayfield recently released a vinyl edition of With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, with artwork by Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers.
Her country-rock is wary and passive and trancelike, and kind of way out. The songs document love relationships from a vantage point so abstracted that it might be a space satellite. Growing up in a family bluegrass band in Kent, Ohio, she made her first record at 15, perfecting the sound of withdrawn emotion. She’s in a special position for someone so young, and she hasn’t gotten there by giggling. view article
USA Today: Pop Candy
June 2, 2009
by WHITNEY MATHESON
I saw Jessica Lea Mayfield, who put on a mesmerizing, heartfelt show with her band. I melted during "Kiss Me Again" and got quite excited when she brought out the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach for the last couple songs. (He produced her stellar debut.) She's still on tour, so see her if you can. view article
11 Saddest Cover Songs in Music History
May 21, 2009
Esquire magazine recently named Jessica's cover of Buddy Holly's "Words of Love" one of their "11 Saddest Cover Songs in Music History." view article
Mountain Stage
April 21, 2009
With a stark, haunting voice and swirling layers of guitar, Mayfield performs six songs from With Blasphemy, with her brother David on bass, Anne Lillis on drums and Richie Kirkpatrick on guitar. view article / listen to session
Daytrotter Session
April 16, 2009
Illustration by JOHNNIE CLUNEY
Words by SEAN MOELLER
Mayfield has such skill in her songwriting craft at such a frighteningly young age that it’s all the more remarkable – the pace and the voice and the tone of her words, like a forest whispering throughout the night – that she already can make unforgettable music seem so easy. view article / listen to session
Interview
January 8, 2009
By AARON KAYCE
For our first feature of 2009 we'd like to introduce you to one of the brightest young stars we've come across in quite some time. Last year, a 19-year-old Jessica Lea Mayfield released her haunting alt-Americana debut With Blasphemy So Heartfelt. Truth be told, we'd be impressed if this came from a 40-year-old woman who fought off a string of drunken husbands and a lifetime of lost dreams. How a teenager pulled this off is beyond us. Jessica Lea Mayfield is one to watch in 2009. Get to know her. read interview
Number One Album of 2008 - With Blasphemy So Heartfelt
Best New Artist of 2008 - Jessica Lea Mayfield
December 18, 2008
By THE BLURT EDITORS
And as we lived with the album, the realization grew that we were witnessing the flowering of a major artist; so much so, that in addition to picking With Blasphemy So Heartfelt our top album of 2008, Mayfield must surely be our Best New Artist, too. That's our own imprimatur, certainly, but when you consider some of the musicians she edged out - among them, Lykke Li, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and She & Him - it's nothing less than an article of faith, too. view article
World Cafe Studio Sessions
December 9, 2008
Jessica played a session on NPR's World Cafe. The session included "We've Never Lied", "Kiss Me Again", "For Today", and an interview with host David Dye. To listen to the session, click HERE. Be sure to check out the web-only outtake of "I'm Not Lonely Anymore".
Review of With Blasphemy So Heartfelt
Rating: 8.2
November 11, 2008
By STEPHEN DEUSNER
Jessica Lea Mayfield sings with a drawl that goes slightly flat when she sustains notes and gives certain words the semblance of regional color. It could be a personal characteristic of her downcast voice, or perhaps a nod to her Rust Belt upbringing, but the 19-year-old singer/songwriter, who recorded her 2007 debut under the name Chittlin', sounds immediately distinctive and poised on "Kiss Me Again", the opening track on her second album, With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, calling to mind but ultimately surpassing comparisons to Hope Sandoval or Syd Straw. "You can kiss me again if you want, I don't mind," she sings, yet she sounds actively invested in her romantic passivity-- a fascinating and endlessly listenable contradiction. continue reading
I am heartbroken that I cannot make your show in Portland. You must do a west coast tour. Specifically, a lot of dates in Oregon when I am not broke off my ass.
Days before the festival, someone I know was listening to your album in the car, and I asked what we were listening to. He told me your name and I stored it away. When at Bonnaroo, I looked at the schedule to see you were there. Your show solidified it. Originally, I was just pleased to go see someone sort of local and of a similar age that had made it so far already, but your work itself is seriously beautiful. Just always want to thank musicians when they can move me as much as you did.
I'm with Chris below. Bonnaroo was my third time seeing you and I finally heard it. I knew you as a capable songwriter but you are an artist and performer. Maybe it was the spirit of music which had me under it's spell that day. Maybe it was the fact that you weren't in anyone's shadow. The crowd that gathered was there to see you. Perhaps it was your band who was having a great time and really playing your songs (a little more mustache than I prefer, but you know :) ).
Maybe it was just you.
Whatever it was I listened to your new CD over and over on the way home until I knew every note and every word. I got home too soon.
CATS ON FIRE Lay Down Your Arms LOVVERS OCD Go Go Girls CHAPTERHOUSE Greater Power JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD We've Never Lied SONIC YOUTH Sacred Trickster LORD CUT-GLASS Even Jesus Couldn't Love You LORD CUT-GLASS Look After Your Wife DEEP PURPLE Fireball 6 DAY RIOT O Those Kids UNDERLINE THE SKY Sweet 16 DUKE GARWOOD Havin Had You HOUSEMARTINS Hopelessly Devoted To Them ROYAL BANGS Russia Goodbye JARVIS COCKER Angela RINOCEROSE Week-End Of Sin [with Mark Gardner] CLINIC Nicht --------------------------------------------------------------------- WEBSITE : www.popscenewithjalal.com MYSPACE SITE : www.myspace.com/popscenewithjalal --------------------------------------------------------------------- POPSCENE with J*A*L*A*L Radio Weser [Bremen/Germany] 92.5 FM [antenne] / 101.85 FM [cable] Fridays at 18 hrs [since 1994]
Caught your show in Pitt. My wife and i didn't know what to expect, but were impressed with your performance. We plan on getting your cd's. Nice show again.
Amazing job at Smith's Olde Bar last night. Thoroughly enjoyed the show. I about lost it when you intro'd for the Buddy Holly song. haha. Enjoy Bonnaroo this weekend. Best of luck and happy travels. :)