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: When I was 11 I took a public transportation bus to an actual store that sold CDs and cassettes called Time Travelers. It hasn’t been there in years; now it’s some campus apparel store. I bought Purple on CD for $17, cracked it open and listened to it with my portable CD player on the ride home. Today I still think it’s one of the best albums ever. STP really creates some beautiful studio albums. This year my husband bought me this record on vinyl—and the vinyl itself is purple. He also bought me Core on vinyl, which is another fucking amazing STP record. “Creep” was actually the first song I ever learned on guitar, that same year.
