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’ve had my hair every color of the rainbow and then some. Friends tell me I look less natural with normal colored hair. I dye my hair at least once a month; my natural color is a light brown, my spirit color is pink. The in-between result of that is blonde … a blank canvas for whatever mood I’m in. Since I got married, my dear sweet husband Jesse has turned me coloring my hair into an all-out thing. He puts on the gloves and does it for me … getting all the spots I usually miss. Maybe he’s filled up a bath full of epsom salts for me to put my feet in. I never thought I’d had so much fun getting my hair dyed or find a dude who treats me so special, and goes with the flow of my drastic sporadic physical changes.
