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 love to play games: board games, arcade games, pool, pinball, skeeball, bowling. Farkle! Farkle is like poker with dice … I love that shit, and all you have to bring with you to play it is dice. I just need to always be doing something, so I am usually down for a game of anything. Obvious board games I like would be Scrabble, Monopoly, Battleship (with my 13-year-old nephew) and the not so obvious Mall Madness. Me and my long-time friend Caitlin play Mall Madness like nobody’s business. My Battleship is very old, and pictured on the box is a father and son playing the game, and a mother and daughter in the background doing the dishes. I guess back in the ’50’s doing the dishes was more fun?!
