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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.

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Speaker 2: If you ever told me I'd be going to Malaysia

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Speaker 2: playing country music, playing in Poland's I'm going to Africa

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Speaker 2: soon to mentor young artists and train them for performing

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Speaker 2: I if you've said, if you bet me a million dollars,

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Speaker 2: I would have lost you know that I'd be doing that.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast with your host,

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Speaker 1: Buzz Night. If you like this podcast, please check out

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Speaker 1: our companion podcast called Music Saved Me, hosted by Lynn Hoffman,

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Speaker 1: where Lynn delves deep into the healing power of music. Today,

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Speaker 1: Buzz is joined by Jessica Lynn, a rising country star

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Speaker 1: captivating audiences with their powerful vocals and heartfelt songwriting. This

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Speaker 1: talented singer songwriter is known for her dynamic stage presence.

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Speaker 1: She's independently built a successful career, touring extensively and releasing

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Speaker 1: acclaimed albums like Loan Writer. At the moment, Linn is

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Speaker 1: hard at work on her highly anticipated new album, set

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Speaker 1: to feature collaborations with renowned Nashville songwriters and showcase her

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Speaker 1: continued growth as an artist. Rising star Jessica Linn joins

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Speaker 1: Buzz Night next on Taking a Walk.

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Speaker 3: Well, Jessica Lynn, how does a Brooklyn born Italian end

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Speaker 3: up as a country music singer songwriter.

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Speaker 2: It's always so funny hearing that out loud. So my

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Speaker 2: dad always loved country music. He was a Harlem street

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Speaker 2: cop and an Italian Brooklyn born I mean, which is

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Speaker 2: really funny that he fell in love with that style

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Speaker 2: of music. But every car ride was George Straight and

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Speaker 2: Phil Vasser. When I was a kid, we always had

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Speaker 2: country music on in the house and I just fell

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Speaker 2: in love with it. I fell in love with the

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Speaker 2: instrumentation as a multi instrumentalist myself, and I fell in

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Speaker 2: love with the stories that country music tells.

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Speaker 3: So, since this podcast is called taking a Walk, if

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Speaker 3: you could take a walk with a musician, living or dead,

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Speaker 3: who would it be with and where would you take a.

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Speaker 1: Walk with them?

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Speaker 2: Easy? Easy question. Elvis for me, he was such a pioneer,

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Speaker 2: just what an incredible and unique performer, and I would

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Speaker 2: love to take a walk with him around Memphis. I

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Speaker 2: was very, very lucky. On my twenty twenty two USA tour,

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Speaker 2: I got an email from Warner Brothers that asked me

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Speaker 2: to be a part of the premiere for the Elvis

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Speaker 2: film that came out. So in the middle of my tour,

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Speaker 2: it's funny how life works. The only three days we

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Speaker 2: had off on that entire tour, they flew me to

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Speaker 2: Memphis and I took my.

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Speaker 4: Dad with me, who was a huge Elvis.

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Speaker 2: Fan, and we filmed all promos for the movie coming out.

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Speaker 2: Total VIP closed down Graceland for us. We got to

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Speaker 2: go in and video and all the rooms and see

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Speaker 2: things that no one.

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Speaker 4: Gets to see, go to all his spots.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it was such an incredible experience. But how

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Speaker 2: cool would it have been to have him actually there

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Speaker 2: with me?

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Speaker 3: That's a good one. That you can't go wrong having

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Speaker 3: Elvis with you, that's for sure. Can you define the

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Speaker 3: music category that you think you're in, because some have

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Speaker 3: called you a country arena rock and I want to know,

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Speaker 3: is that what you think your genre is? And if not,

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Speaker 3: what do you want it to be?

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Speaker 2: Yes? I totally agree with that. And it's funny because

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Speaker 2: I never could quite put my finger on it. I

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Speaker 2: always just said country rock. But a lot of my

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Speaker 2: music has a very anthemic feel. I grew up loving

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Speaker 2: rock and roll and listening to bands like Journey, ACDC,

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Speaker 2: all of those really anthemic rock and roll acts, and

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Speaker 2: I think that really comes through and my music, and

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Speaker 2: a magazine had put that out one year, and I'm like.

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Speaker 4: Yes, that's finally what I should call it.

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Speaker 2: That's so perfect.

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Speaker 3: Well, and you do play large venues, so I think

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Speaker 3: it's certainly fitting for that reason. But can you think

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Speaker 3: of yourself in your creative sort of forces that work

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Speaker 3: within that you'll be bending the genre through your career.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I grew up loving everything. So my

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Speaker 2: dad loved country, rock and roll. My mom loved soul music,

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Speaker 2: so on every car ride with her it was Al Green,

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Speaker 2: Aretha Franklin, ROBERTA. Flax, she loves jazz. So I always

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Speaker 2: had all of these things. And in my music there's

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Speaker 2: a lot of motown style harmonies.

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Speaker 4: That are used a lot of soul inspiration.

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Speaker 2: My vocals are a little bit more on the soulful side,

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Speaker 2: so it's really a mix of everything. I'm a true

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Speaker 2: genre bender.

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Speaker 3: So one thing I love about your path is the

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Speaker 3: independent path that you've taken. And there's an artist named

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Speaker 3: Drew Baldridge who was on the podcast who's taken his

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Speaker 3: own version of that independent path, no big label, no

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Speaker 3: big management, all kind of doing it pretty much from

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Speaker 3: his own way, his own team, and it's really built

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Speaker 3: into a tremendous story. And your story is a tremendous

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Speaker 3: story in terms of your independence. Talk about the challenges

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Speaker 3: of being independent, the difficulty of that as you work

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Speaker 3: to get your music out there and you tour so

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Speaker 3: much in the course of a year.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's funny. I think nobody ever chooses to

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Speaker 2: be independent, but it chooses you. In the beginning, nobody

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Speaker 2: would offer me a deal. You know, I was so different.

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Speaker 2: I was kind of doing different things and other country

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Speaker 2: artists out there. I had a few offers that came

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Speaker 2: in that wanted me to change everything about myself, and

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Speaker 2: I just wasn't comfortable with that. So I wound up

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Speaker 2: being independent, not by choice. However, as my career started

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Speaker 2: to flourish, I realized that it was such a wonderful thing,

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Speaker 2: and I think that perhaps that's what had happened to

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Speaker 2: Drew as well, you know, or other independent artists that

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Speaker 2: are being successful. When you find something that works for

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Speaker 2: you and you just keep going with it, it keeps growing.

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Speaker 2: If it truly works, it's going to keep snowballing and

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Speaker 2: getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And then at a

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Speaker 2: point it's like, well, why do I need somebody? You know,

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Speaker 2: I'm out there doing it. I'm successful. And over the.

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Speaker 4: Years, we've had a series of offers.

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Speaker 2: Again come in that wanted so much of everything that

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Speaker 2: I've built, and you know, for we had a very

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Speaker 2: high end management company come in that, believe me, I

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Speaker 2: would have loved to sign with, and I lost. I

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Speaker 2: had many sleepless nights over this. However, they wanted twenty

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Speaker 2: percent of everything of touring that I had booked two

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Speaker 2: years prior, and I said, why am I going to

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Speaker 2: give that to somebody? That's all of my hard work.

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Speaker 2: And so I think that's why I've chosen to remain independent.

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Speaker 2: And of course I would love a partner, but it

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Speaker 2: has to be the right partner, and it has to

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Speaker 2: be a partner that sees the value and everything and

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Speaker 2: has respect for everything that we've built up to this point.

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Speaker 2: So I think it's just the hurdles have always been financial, financial,

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Speaker 2: and getting your foot in the door. The band in

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Speaker 2: Iowas say though, once our foot's in the door, it

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Speaker 2: always goes well, but getting that crack there is really

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Speaker 2: hard because you don't have the connections. You know, if

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Speaker 2: you have a high powered agent. They can call somebody

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Speaker 2: and say, hey, my client that they've worked with five

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Speaker 2: thousand times. For me, it's the first time. It's a

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Speaker 2: cold connection. However, if you have a good product and

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Speaker 2: you have a good support system, once you get in

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Speaker 2: in that door, it always works out well for us.

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Speaker 2: And finances, I have to finance any music video every tour.

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Speaker 2: I do all my own tour logistics. I do all

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Speaker 2: my own finances. I want a music video, I got

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Speaker 2: to pay for it. I need to fly the band somewhere,

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Speaker 2: I have to pay for it. I have to promote

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Speaker 2: a record, I have to pay for it. And that

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Speaker 2: can be very, very very difficult, and I've given up, unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: had to given up major opportunities because I couldn't afford them.

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Speaker 3: Is a great part about this independence. When we talk

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Speaker 3: about building audience and community, would you agree that a

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Speaker 3: large part of that is winning an audience and building

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Speaker 3: an audience one by one. Yes.

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Speaker 2: I actually didn't even put out any recorded music until

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Speaker 2: three years after I started touring. I couldn't afford it.

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Speaker 2: My career started with a television special that was on

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Speaker 2: a shoe string budget and a dream, and I built

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Speaker 2: my career getting out there, shaking hands, going on tours

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Speaker 2: the old fashioned way.

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Speaker 3: I believe you've cited that Selena is of great inspiration

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Speaker 3: to you. How has she and Latin music influenced your songwriting?

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Speaker 2: So, my mom was a huge Latin music fan. I

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Speaker 2: wore out our Selena CD when I was a kid.

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Speaker 2: I would practice to her greatest hits every single day

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Speaker 2: with a microphone that would plug into a boom box

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Speaker 2: in front of my mirror and on my bed like

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Speaker 2: I was in front of Arena's Oh my Gosh. I

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Speaker 2: watched that movie so many times they can't even count.

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Speaker 2: My mom was a huge Gloria Estefan fan. I could

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Speaker 2: sing that record in Spanish and English back and forth

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Speaker 2: all day long when I was a kid, and I

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Speaker 2: always felt really connected to the rhythms and the sounds

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Speaker 2: in Latin music. And it's really funny because until I

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Speaker 2: always just thought I was Italian growing up, and I

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Speaker 2: did a DNA test two years ago and I realized

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Speaker 2: I am forty percent Hispanic, which I never ever knew.

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Speaker 2: So it made a lot of sense because I think

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Speaker 2: something internally was saying to me, you know, I'm fifty

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Speaker 2: percent Italian and forty percent hispanic, and again I had

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Speaker 2: no idea, but I always felt this deep connection which

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Speaker 2: I was able to portray in my single Shame that's

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Speaker 2: on the upcoming record.

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Speaker 3: So let's talk about the upcoming record, talk about some

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Speaker 3: of the songs you particularly love off of it, and

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Speaker 3: talk about the process, how it came together, and what

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Speaker 3: inspired you about the new record.

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Speaker 2: So this record is half singles that I have put

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Speaker 2: out recently and kind of gearing up to the record,

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Speaker 2: and half brand new music that nobody's heard before. It's

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Speaker 2: truly a record that I did not care about conforming

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Speaker 2: to anything for so it's very rock and roll, it's

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Speaker 2: very soul influenced. There's some acoustic ballads on it. It's

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Speaker 2: really a variety of sounds and flavors and stories. So

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Speaker 2: basically the whole record is a double meaning. Every single song,

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Speaker 2: when upon first listen you would think, oh, this is

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Speaker 2: a love song, or this is a song about breaking

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Speaker 2: up or However, the double meaning is that every single

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Speaker 2: song also tells my story going through the music business.

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Speaker 2: So if you listen with those ears, you'll be able

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Speaker 2: to also hear that side of everything.

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Speaker 3: And particular favorite tracks you want to talk.

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Speaker 2: About Ooh, it's hard. I love bet On It, which

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Speaker 2: hasn't come out yet. That's a real racous rock and

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Speaker 2: roll fun you would think upon first listen, I'm talking

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Speaker 2: about a cheating X or a cheating boyfriend. However, it

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Speaker 2: is about the liars and cheaters I have come across

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Speaker 2: in the music business.

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Speaker 4: That's what I wrote it about.

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Speaker 2: Basically, it's say you could bet on it. I'm gonna

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Speaker 2: it's a for every king and queen. I've got an

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Speaker 2: ace up my sleeve, like I'm always gonna come out

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Speaker 2: on top is my favorite line of the song. And

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Speaker 2: that song I wrote in probably under fifteen minutes because

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Speaker 2: I was so burned and I was just like feeling

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Speaker 2: really inspired. Another favorite track is I Never Said It

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Speaker 2: Be Easy. That's very seventies rock inspired sounding. That song

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Speaker 2: is out already. It was a single we put out

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Speaker 2: during my euro tour this summer, and it's the journey

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Speaker 2: finding your path in life that makes you happy. It's

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Speaker 2: never easy, but you keep going down that road and

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Speaker 2: you'll find the sunshine. And that's another favorite. I have

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Speaker 2: so many favorites. You save me as an acoustic ballad

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Speaker 2: on the record that I partnered with a British Army

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Speaker 2: veteran Liam Wakefield.

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Speaker 4: He did a duet with.

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Speaker 2: Me on that song. He had a very he was

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Speaker 2: diagnosed with illness, mental illness, all different types of personal struggles.

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Speaker 2: After coming home for more a very serious condition, actually

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Speaker 2: tried to commit suicide and music saved him. So when

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Speaker 2: I had written this song about again, on first listen,

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Speaker 2: you would think this is a love song to somebody,

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Speaker 2: you save me, you bring the light to my life. However,

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Speaker 2: it's really about music. And when I wrote it, I

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Speaker 2: said I have to have my friendly I'm sing this

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Speaker 2: with me because his story and his passion add so

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Speaker 2: much to that track. So there's a ton I could

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Speaker 2: go on and on. I'm really so proud of this record.

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Speaker 3: That the last song you saved me. That's a powerful

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Speaker 3: story and I want to, you know, tell our listeners

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Speaker 3: that you were gracious enough to be on our companion

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Speaker 3: podcast Music Saved Me with with Lynn Hoffman, And part

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Speaker 3: of that is your personal story as well about you know,

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Speaker 3: some physical health issues that you went through and your

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Speaker 3: resilience with those with those issues and how you just

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Speaker 3: pushed through the resistance, you know, with with so much intent.

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Speaker 3: Can you talk about how you muster that strength to

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Speaker 3: push through the resistance when you've had these challenges.

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Speaker 2: I think it's the love for music. It's the same

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Speaker 2: thing as being on a really taxing tour, Like we're

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Speaker 2: on a tour right now. We're doing three hour sleep

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Speaker 2: a night, fifteen to sixteen hour work days, but somehow

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Speaker 2: I still wake up excited the next day to do

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Speaker 2: it all over again. And I think it's the same thing.

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Speaker 2: I just I've loved music so much ever since I

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Speaker 2: was a little girl, and I think just be feeling

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Speaker 2: so grateful to get to wake up every day and

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Speaker 2: do something that makes me truly happy and excited and

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Speaker 2: passionate is how I pushed through every hurdle I ever

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Speaker 2: come across.

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Speaker 3: I know you've been on a lot of tours with

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Speaker 3: a lot of different artists in particular, I know you've

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Speaker 3: toured with Brad Paisley and Keith Urban as well. What

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Speaker 3: do you take from artists like that that are you know,

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Speaker 3: lessons or you know, just particular foundational music things that

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Speaker 3: help you grow as an artist.

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Speaker 2: We've been very, very blessed. We did a bunch of

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Speaker 2: festivals with them. I've gone on tour with Jodie Massin,

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Speaker 2: and I've gotten to play with one of my songwriting heroes,

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Speaker 2: Richard Marx Phil Vasser, who again was like my everyday

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Speaker 2: car ride country music inspiration when I was a kid,

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Speaker 2: which was a total trip to get to sing with him.

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Speaker 2: It's Loretta Lynn. It's It's been such a wild and

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Speaker 2: exciting ride and definitely many pinch me moments where on

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Speaker 2: backstage like I can't believe I'm doing this, I can't

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Speaker 2: believe they're standing right there, and I listen to them

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Speaker 2: my whole life, and you learn you learn so much

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Speaker 2: from watching them. Also on the other side of the coin,

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Speaker 2: you also learn a lot about what not to do

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Speaker 2: sometimes when you watch people. So it's really interesting seeing

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Speaker 2: all of their cruise work and how they're behind the

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Speaker 2: scenes operations. Works just for me as someone that does

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Speaker 2: like a lot of the all of the logistics and

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Speaker 2: planning for everything. I learned something new every time we

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Speaker 2: work with a new artist.

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Speaker 3: I think another thing that's really cool about your music

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Speaker 3: community that you've built, that you are building is the

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Speaker 3: international aspect of it. Particularly, I'll highlight your Australian audience.

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Speaker 3: How is it do you think that you've connected so

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Speaker 3: brilliantly with the Australian audiences.

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Speaker 2: I have no idea. I wish I could tell you.

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Speaker 2: It's so funny. I feel like everything we put out

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Speaker 2: sometimes just resonates with a different crowd. And I've worked

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Speaker 2: really hard on building my social media. I have over

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Speaker 2: eight hundred thousand worldwide followers, and for me, as an

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Speaker 2: independent artist, that was the only marketing that was.

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Speaker 4: Free, so I really focused a lot.

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Speaker 2: Of my energy there over the last several years and

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Speaker 2: it's turned out great. I network as a professional influencer,

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Speaker 2: which is really exciting and fun and creatively challenging. But

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Speaker 2: I mean, I've had every single release I've put out

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Speaker 2: in the last three years chart in the country of Georgia.

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Speaker 2: We've never toured there. Australia some of my top streaming numbers,

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Speaker 2: so it's just really interesting to see how we just

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Speaker 2: got home from Malaysia on an Asian tour and they've

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Speaker 2: the people there have been so incredible. I mean, they've

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Speaker 2: been watching all of my YouTube blogs and these beautiful comments,

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Speaker 2: and it's just interesting to see that different things resonate

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Speaker 2: with different audiences.

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Speaker 3: Who are some of the folks that you'd like to

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Speaker 3: play with or collaborate with songwright, you know, go into

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Speaker 3: the studio with that you haven't. Who are some people

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Speaker 3: on your wish list?

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Speaker 2: I love John Mayer. I'm a big John Mayer fan.

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Speaker 2: And also Shania Twain. She was a huge inspiration on

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Speaker 2: me growing up. But she was for so many is

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Speaker 2: for so many young country artists. But when I first

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Speaker 2: wanted to do country, she really gave me the push

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Speaker 2: to do it because I saw that her music was different.

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Speaker 2: I saw that she was different, and I think I

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Speaker 2: I read her autobiography, she was banned. I think it

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Speaker 2: was from TV because she had showed her belly button

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Speaker 2: in one of the music videos. You know, she always

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Speaker 2: kind of pushed the envelope and did her own thing

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Speaker 2: and never fit into a box. And I was like,

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Speaker 2: I think I could do that.

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Speaker 3: Following your own voice, right, Yes, So as you think

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Speaker 3: about in closing, following your own voice, can you close

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Speaker 3: your eyes and sort of think where you'd like to

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Speaker 3: be three years down the road in this journey.

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Speaker 2: So whenever I get asked that, I never have a

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Speaker 2: hard answer. And this is why my life has turned

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Speaker 2: out in ways I never expected. And I think it's

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Speaker 2: because I always ca up to an open mind. Whenever

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Speaker 2: someone asked, where do you want to be in five years?

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Speaker 2: Just bigger and better than where I am now, Because

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Speaker 2: if I say I want to have a number one

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Speaker 2: record in Australia in three years, I may be so

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Speaker 2: dead set focused on that that I miss this thing

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Speaker 2: and I miss this thing, and I don't take this

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Speaker 2: opportunity because I'm chasing this thing that maybe is not

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Speaker 2: the right thing to chase. If you ever told me

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Speaker 2: I'd be going to Malaysia playing country music, playing in Poland,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to Africa soon to mentor young artists and

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Speaker 2: train them for performing. I if you've said, if you

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Speaker 2: bet me a million dollars, I would have lost, you

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Speaker 2: know that I'd be doing that. So I think I

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Speaker 2: just as long as I'm growing and I'm constantly not

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Speaker 2: on a plateau. And I see, if you have ten

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Speaker 2: followers today and I have eleven followers tomorrow, that's growth,

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Speaker 2: and that's all I want to do. I want to

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Speaker 2: continue to make music. It makes me happy. I want

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Speaker 2: to continue to travel the world and meet amazing people.

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Speaker 2: And as long as again that's kind of rising and rising,

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Speaker 2: I'm really happy with that. In five years or three

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Speaker 2: years or one year or one year, you never know

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Speaker 2: or next week. Yeah, it's so true. I mean we

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Speaker 2: spent the fourth of July this year in Guantanamo Bay

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Speaker 2: performing for the troops. I never thought in my life

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Speaker 2: I would get to see that place and again, if

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Speaker 2: I had been so hard focused on I want to

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Speaker 2: tour Europe in July of next year, I wouldn't have

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Speaker 2: been there.

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Speaker 3: Jessicallin, I admire your passion, your resilience, your tenacity, and

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Speaker 3: just you your authenticity about what you're up to musically,

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Speaker 3: but as a person as well, sharing what's been going on,

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Speaker 3: sharing your your challenges and pushing through. Really appreciate you

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Speaker 3: being on Taking a Walk. Congratulations on the new music,

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Speaker 3: and of course people will see you across the country

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Speaker 3: and globally that are listening to this. I'm sure soon

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Speaker 3: because you're a road warrior.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure meeting

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Speaker 2: you and speaking with you today.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a

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Speaker 1: Walk Podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends

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Speaker 1: and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking

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Speaker 1: a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: and wherever you get your podcasts,