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| Jessica Andrews Direct | media > interviews |
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Jessica Andrews By Austin City Limits September 10, 2003 q: Thank you so much for coming down and doing the show. How did it feel out there tonight? a: You know my experience incredible. I thought it was really great. It takes on a whole other atmosphere when you're there live then it is when you are watching it on TV. This is my first time being in this studio live. There is nothing like being on stage and singing. It sounded great and felt great and the fans were awesome. It was a really great experience. It was everything I thought it would be. q: Did you think it was outside when you were watching it growing up? a: Oh, yeah. I definitely remember thinking is it outdoors or what. q: That's a common misconception. a: Yeah. I can't even tell you how many times I've watched the show growing up. I was telling the truth on stage talking about my childhood and not having cable because we lived really far out in the country. We had only like three channels and one of them was PBS. We watched Austin City Limits quite a few times. It was kind of a surreal moment to be walking out there and singing on stage. It's like wow I watched this show a lot growing up. q: It's a good thing you didn't think too much about it because the people who have stood on that same spot on the stage could be intimidating when you think about it. a: You kind of have to block that out. You can't really think about who's been on the stage. You have to just go up there and do your thing like it's another show. But it's in the back of your mind the whole time. It's like wow this is Austin City Limits and I can't wait to watch it. Watch it back and see how it looks. It was an exciting time for me to do this. q: Let's talk about you now. This is your third record and you're 19 years old. How would you say you've grown musically and as a person during this time? a: I started out very young in this business. I released my first record when I was 15. I have to say that I don't lead the normal live that your average teenager does. I'm different, but it's something that has always been normal for me. I've been a hard worker and been pretty determined from the time I first started singing. I feel like I've evolved so much in these last few albums of mine. I can go back and listen to the first one and compare it to the one that's out now and really hear the path that I'm on. I really feel like I'm just getting started. I'm 19, you're right, I'm very young but in this business I've got so much more I want to do and I'm just starting out. q: What do you look for in a song? What makes a song work for you? a: I don't really have a theory when listening to songs. My only theory that I have is that the song has to move me in some way. I have to be touched just like anybody that was listening to the radio. If I hear a song and it bores me I'm going to change the radio station. That's kind of the mind set that I get into when I'm listening to songs for my records. It's like OK it's boring me, it's not grabbing me. It's got to move me in some way. All the songs that are on my records that I've ever chosen have been ones that I've felt pretty in love with, that I can't stop singing or that I've just become attached to. q: Other than watching Austin City Limits when you were growing up, what other kinds of music and artists did you listen to? Could you just as easily have gone down the path to a pop music career as country? a: You know, I grew up with a very, very versatile variety of music in my house. My mother sang in bands up until she was nine months pregnant with me. All of my toddler years I was around music. She sang some country, but it was a lot of other stuff too. I can't say that I like something more than the other. I love music, whatever it is, if it's pop or country. All of it moves me in some way. I don't really fit into any category, I don't think. It's just the music that I love and what I write. I had a lot of different influences growing up � my mom being one of the biggest. My mom worshiped Elvis and I listened to Whitney Houston as well as Reba McIntire, Wynonna and Madonna. There's just been a lot. I'm a mixture of all of that together, I guess. q: Who knows where that path will take you in the years to come? a: Who knows. Nobody knows. I'm in the country format right now. I've got a lot of fans that love what I do and I'm going to keep making records for them. q: Sounds like a good idea to me. Thank you. It was great. |
