dvaughan@heraldsun.com; 419-6563
DURHAM -- Last summer, you could see Jessica Long perform for free at a Durham Starbucks. Tonight, she's having a CD release party at Motorco Music Hall.
It's the first CD for a singer/songwriter/guitar player who stands at the cusp of a music career. Things are moving fast for the Durham native, and local audiences have a chance to see her before she takes flight.
Long, 25, wrote all the songs on her CD "Painted," which is described as alt-folk rock. It has the rock band instrument staples like bass, drums and acoustic and electric guitars, but also upright bass, cello, mandolin, fiddle and even ukulele. It's a sound better to just listen to rather than describe. Long plays guitar, piano and sings lead vocals. Her practice space is the room above the garage in the house she grew up in, surrounded by comfy couches with microphones, guitars and drums set up in the center of the room, ready to go.
A series of chances led her here, back home in Durham with a promising music career. Long has always liked to write music, but didn't think she'd be able to do it for a living. She works at the restaurant Parizade, too.
Long was home schooled and attended Cresset Christian Academy. She went to the small Christian school Bryan College in Tennessee and majored in musical theater. But she had a vocal injury, and was told that her vocal lesions could become nodules if she pushed it. Losing her voice was frustrating, and the diagnosis meant "there goes my major," she said. After graduation, she went to Los Angeles for six months and studied sound editing and composing. She auditioned for acting jobs. The city was culture shock and an overwhelming experience, both good and bad, she said. And she couldn't afford to stay there, so Long moved home.
That was two years ago. Things in Durham were kind of at a standstill, she said. She tried modeling and signed with a Raleigh talent agency. And she kept on composing and singing. Writing her own songs, she had control over how to preserve her voice. About a year ago, she opened for Christian singer Elizabeth South at a local church, and met Nashville producer Billy Smiley.
One lunch with Smiley changed her course. Two trips to Nashville to record "Painted," plus e-mails back and forth to mix and master the CD, and Long's debut was ready. That's when she went to the local Starbucks and pitched her idea to play there. That led to another Starbucks show in Burlington, a coffeehouse in Washington, D.C., venues in Phoenix, Ariz. and Georgia, plus Broad Street Café here in Durham.
Long decided she'd give it five to 10 years to see if a music career is feasible, but things are moving faster than she expected. One thing she has learned is that it is hard to be a woman in the rock business, she said.
"It's so dominated by men. It's hard to be respected," Long said. When she picks up an electric guitar, guys expect her not to be good, she said. They're wrong, of course.
"I want to be amazing and show I can do this," she said. A little blood won't stop her, either. She cut her finger during a show and bled on her pink guitar, but kept going.
Long's influences include Led Zeppelin, the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel. She likes classic rock, and pulls her melodic undertones from the 1960s and 70s era.
"Now I feel like there's a lot of experimental indie hipster music, which I like, I but I want to bring it back to classic rock," she said.
Her music is a blend of genres, but live shows are "more rocked out," she said. Her band are local musicians Calin Nanney on electric guitar, Mike Bare on bass and harmonies and Drew Walstrum on drums.
Long took music lessons growing up and sang in the girls' choir at Meredith College as a kid. She is a mezzo soprano. Her parents have been a big source of encouragement. At 15, she got her first guitar and was more excited to learn by ear than formal lessons. Long does a lot of her songwriting in her bedroom, or any secluded place by herself.
"Whatever I feel from the music, whatever flows form the music, I write. Lyrics come from that, evoking emotions and what I'm feeling," she said.
Long is just starting to get paid for what she does.
"I don't consider this work. I get money for this?" She loves the music and will go wherever people want to hear it and can relate to it.
"I want to let the world out there that's mostly guys know that yeah, a girl can do this, too," Long said.
She is ready for wherever the music takes her.
The first song on "Painted," called "1 2 3 4" has the lyrics "…You ready for this? 1, 2, 3, 4. Start the car, cause here we go…"
