Jessica Lea Mayfield is a 21 year-old raised on Blue Grass and 90’s rock, and she’s spent most of her life performing music and traveling as part of her parents’ band, One Way Rider. Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys found her 2005 demo, began working with her, and thus she winds up on RubyHornet as an artist you should know about. Mayfield has also signed to Nonesuch Records, the label that counts Auerbach on its roster, and will be releasing her Nonesuch debut next month. In fact Auerbach produced Mayfield’s first album, With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, and featured Mayfield on “Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be” from the Black Keys’ 2008 disc, Attack and Release. On February 8th, Mayfield will release her new LP, Tell Me, which is also produced by the Black Keys frontman.
The songs are focused on heart break and contains elements from Mayfield’s blue grass past as well as her affection for 90’s rock such as The Foo Fighters and Stone Temple Pilot. Unlike her previous release, this time is Mayfield breaking the hearts. She said, “It used to be me getting my heart broken; now it’s about me breaking other people’s hearts. It’s not something I sat down and intended to do—to write an album of songs about being mean to boys. But it’s kind of what was going on. You meet a boy at a show and then they’re like ‘Oh my God, I fell in love with Jessica Lea Mayfield last night…’ They obsess over you, so eventually you have to write a mean song about them. I guess it’s all I can do. I’m not going to get married and have someone’s baby. I have a career.”
You can download “Our Hearts Are Wrong” below.
Jessica Lea Mayfield: “Our Hearts Are Wrong”
[audio: http://rubyhornet.com/media/rh/music/