Jessica Lea Mayfield joined her parents’ bluegrass band when she was eight. In her teens, she did some recording with her brother, privately releasing an album under the alias Chittlin’ in 2007. That led to recording with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and her official debut, With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, which came out in 2008, when she was 19. That well-received album presented Mayfield as a moody, rootsy singer/songwriter of precocious talent, confirmed by its follow-up, 2010’s Tell Me, also produced by Auerbach. The new Make My Head Sing…(ATO) will surprise listeners who expect a third set of Americana-style folk rock. It’s a grungy power-trio album that places Mayfield’s calm voice in a squall of her electric guitar. Mayfield will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on her.
Mayfield: I don’t have cable, or TV for that matter, but you get me in a hotel room and I can’t look away from the glowing buzzing bug light for people. I really like all of these shows (fictional and non-fictional) where they use super-cool forensic evidence to solve crimes. I think it’s amazing the massive strides that technology has made even just over the course of a few decades, and I’m really excited to see where it’ll be at 10 or 20 years down the road.
