John Zocco
There was a time when 90s and 00s country was considered too poppy for the mainstream. Flashforward twenty years or so and now it’s considered classic to the new fans and those of us who remember hearing the hits. And no nostalgic 90s country soundtrack would be complete without adding Jo Dee Messina to the mix. Messina was the first female in country music history to celebrate three consecutive multi-week No. 1’s during this era. To date, she has two platinum and three gold-certified albums and has been nominated for two GRAMMY Awards. Currently, Messina just kicked off her 45+ headlining tour titled the “Heads Carolina Tails California Tour”, which will be making a stop at Tannahill’s Tavern and Music Hall on April 14.
In preparation for her visit to Cowtown, Fort Worth Magazine had a chance to talk with Messina about motherhood, touring rituals, and her new single and album release.
FW: What was your inspiration for getting back on the road and headlining a tour?
JDM: Actually, we’ve never stopped touring, we’ve just never really toured under this banner. I did shut down with COVID like everybody did, and then last year we toured at a slower pace. We’ve been doing some make-up dates from COVID and some new dates here and there, but this year is the first year we are back for a full tour.
FW: Tell us about your first foray into vinyl
JDM: I just had a greatest hits vinyl album come out about a week ago. This is the very first time I’ve ever had anything pressed on vinyl. This album captures eleven of my top songs and it’s just been a blast. I’ve had a resurgence of popularity with my fans through streaming, to the point that people have actually had to tell me how popular my songs were. I started to notice over the last five years, kids with like “Bye, Bye” signs and I’m like, ‘You weren’t even alive when this came out,’(laughs).
FW: What was it like having Kelly Clarkson pay homage to you with her rendition of “Bye, Bye” last September?
JDM: It’s Kelly Clarkson, so you have that voice behind it, which is like its own miracle right there. It was so much fun and then she did a different arrangement of it, which is great. It was just neat …It was great to just sit back and watch her do it and appreciate it. But then also, kids and people Kelly Clarkson’s age are now the fanbase coming up knowing the music. It’s mind-blowing to me.
John Zocco
FM: What artist would you like to do a duet with given the chance?
JDM: My whole life I always wanted to do something with either Bonnie Raitt or James Taylor. Since I was a little kid, I wanted to do something like this, which is kind of what Kelly (Clarkson) did with my song. I would love to do something with Kelly or Pink, oh my gosh, that would be a blast.
FM: What’s your take on the acceptance of 90s country being considered classic?
JDM: That’s so funny because back in the 90s they said it wasn’t country music. I remember “I’m Alright” not being considered as a single by my record company because they said it wasn’t country. And now you look back at it and it’s got that steel guitar right from the beginning. People now hear it and say ‘That’s a classic,’ well it wasn’t back then. People like Faith (Hill) and Shania (Twain) they got a hard time from the masses for this. Now it’s all considered classic.
FM: What can you tell us about your new single “Just To Be Loved”?
JDM: I got together with some amazing songwriters in Nashville, one of whom is Tim Nichols, who wrote “Heads in Carolina…” and we started talking about how young adults’ and teenagers’ perceptions change. I have a son, who just turned 14, and he doesn’t have a cell phone. We have a house phone and I saw some of the texts coming across, from girls, and I was like ‘What is going on?’ So, this song became a story about a girl I used to know. She’s fearless, the kind of girl that would just spin around in the yard, who didn’t have a care in the world, and then one day the door swings open on social media. This started to change who she was, just to be loved. And in all reality, God loves us just the way we are. It’s just kind of a heartbreak, this scenario and so this is what we talked about when putting this song together. This sixteen-year-old girl felt like she could never measure up and was never good enough and was not pretty enough, but what I’m saying is that you are. And that’s the gest of that song.
FM: Do you use music as a way to communicate with your teenager?
John Zocco
JDM: I think I use my past experience as a cautionary tale. I walked that road and sold out who I was just to be accepted. So, with my music career, I had teams of people, when I first started, who would tell me how I should look and how I should act. I had to amend kind of who I was to the point where we got to the third album and did a photo shoot where I didn’t even recognize myself. This team of people around me told me I looked so beautiful, and I was like, ‘I can never duplicate this look.’ It took a team of people; one to do hair, one to do makeup, one to do wardrobe, and another to do the lighting. I could never duplicate this look on my own. So, when I see kids doing this now, I’m like ‘No, don’t do it.’ I feel like this image thing is unnecessary because God made you the way he wanted you to be, which is different, and not all the same.
FM: Do you have any tour rituals or superstitions?
JDM: I go out and do sound check every day. Not a lot of artists do this before a show. Another ritual we do is the band I will get together and sing through a few songs so that, that first note on the stage is not the first time we’ve seen each other and it’s not the first time we’ve sung together. This puts us all in the same headspace as we walk to the stage. I might walk on after the band for a show, but just before that we were just together singing. We’ve always done that, you know, just to get the frogs out and really get into the same headspace every show.
FM: You told us about the new single, what can you tell us about the release of the new album?
JDM: The album just went off to be mastered yesterday. I’ve just been going to Nashville to collaborate with some amazing writers. I just did a collaboration with Brennley Brown on a song called “Tell The Truth” that really gives a life lesson. This song is about either answering with the truth or with what you think the answer should be. I get asked by my assistant all the time, ‘what would you like me to tell them?’ And I say, ‘How about the truth?’ You can’t argue with the truth. With this album, I’m really writing from life experience. There’s still no name for the new album, it’s still to be determined. But since everything is so singles driven on this album we are focusing on the single first.
