Jesse Lynn Madera’s musical “Fortunes” are evident on new album

Jesse Lynn Madera’s new lyrical and piano-driven record, Fortunes, may be reminiscent of Tori Amos or a new age Kate Bush, but she’s very much her own artist. From its swelling string arrangements by Stevie Blacke (Pink, Rihanna, Chris Stapleton), to its Cohen-esque lyrics, the album has an otherworldly, mystical feel. Fortunes also features two amazing duets — one with Australian-born, LA-based musician, Joel Taylor, and the other with actor/musician John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone, Deadwood, The Sessions). Here’s a conversation with Madera about the new record.

Where did the name for your album Fortunes come from?

Well the joke in my head is that it cost me fortunes to make because I wound up having it mixed four times! But here’s how it really happened: I was in Ryan Hewitt’s studio finishing up the final mixes, and we took a coffee break. I’d been racking my brain for titles, and blurting them out during the session, each one met with a sort of lukewarm response. I went out for a walk and tried looking at street signs — nope, nothing there. The cover art designer and I had also sort of hit a wall with the artwork. Nothing was really doing it for me. Suddenly I realized that the answer was literally right in front of me! It really is true that when we squeeze a problem too tight we narrow our vision. I had to relax to see it. I knew my song “Fortunes” was going to be the closer on the album, because it represented the conclusion of a chapter for me, one in which I’d been paralyzed with anxiety about my work. The ending of the song sounds like I’m walking off into a mystical sunset, it gives the feeling of a fading out or an ending that is really a ‘to be continued.’ There’s a feeling of destiny. The path of the album arrives at “Fortunes,” so it made sense to have that be the title of the project. Also, there’s an otherworldly feel to the record, so giving it a mystical name seemed appropriate. While I was making the album I had some tarot readings done, and they were a big part of me pushing through when the process felt overwhelming. The portrait of me on the cover (painted by Katie Crawford) is based on the Queen of Wands from the tarot deck, which kept showing up in my readings. Basically, when the idea came, it came full on. I saw the artwork and the title all at once, and it was a delightful “duh!”

Who are some of your songwriting inspirations?

Joni Mitchell, Jason Isbell, Robert Earl Keen, poet Merrit Malloy, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, and sometimes Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Tori Amos, and Fiona Apple. It’s hard to stop there! I get inspiration from so many people and places, and I just know someone else is going to pop in my head! My nine year old son comes out with some great lines that are really blowing me away.

What is your songwriting process? Do you co-write or write solo?

I am used to writing alone, so that’s how I’m most comfortable. The limited cowriting I’ve done for my own stuff has been me presenting a trusted friend with a mostly finished song with a part that isn’t working so well. It doesn’t happen often though. I prefer to chew on it for weeks, months, years. But I do like to help other people! Just help them tweak here and there. I love doing that. For me, personally, I’ve needed to write it if I’m going to be the one singing it. There are always exceptions, I don’t have a rule about it, that’s just how I’ve preferred to do it so far. I start a lot of the songs in my head. As soon as I have words or a melody that is catchy to me, I record them in my phone so they don’t vanish. Inspiration is a mischievous and nosy little hummingbird who doesn’t care how busy or sleepy you are! She appears in a window and it’s up to us to seize the moment. I get a lot of ideas in the car. My husband drives most of the time, so I stare out the window and ‘write’ in my head. I turn the music off in the car, and my lips start moving, and off I go. I have a lot of unfinished songs, but I just love to do it and am happier and easier to be around when I’m working on something. I do it just to do it.

Where did you record Fortunes? Who did you work with on the project and how did you select them?

I started the basic tracks at a studio called Eastside Sound on the lower east side of Manhattan. I worked there years ago, and was at that front desk nearly around the clock. I was officially titled “Studio Manager” but really I was more of a ‘Hostess With the Mostest’ and ‘Mother of Interns’ type character. I loved to keep everyone fed and make them feel welcome when they walked in the door. I even tried to caramelize pecans on the coffee pot’s warming plate for some Thanksgiving sweet potatoes I made in the microwave! It’s the studio I was most comfortable in, and the city that had the most impact on me as an artist. It seemed natural to go back and cozy up in that safe space. I called my old boss, Fran Cathcart, and asked him to engineer. He was so welcoming and always makes me laugh. I wanted to work with someone who knew me and already had faith in me. I produced several of these tracks myself, something that I hadn’t considered possible before taking it on. My vocal coach, Claire McKeown (who also arranged a lot of the background vocals) was probably the person who inspired me the most to take the reigns. I do not have any technical abilities regarding the sound board. I know zero. I only know what I like and don’t like, and what I hear in my head. My handicaps, as frustrating as they can be for me, are probably a big part of why the album sounds the way it does. There’s not a phoned in or thoughtless note on the whole project, because I had no preconceived notions, no real experience of how things should be done. It wasn’t made to sound like anything else. With the exception of 72HVN, none of it was cut to a click track. This was a mistake and also a blessing, and a mistake, and a blessing (in that order). What I mean, is that it can cause some issues in post-production, and it did. I was in the home stretch, but I wasn’t getting mixes I liked because the tracks were not as clean as they needed to be. I phoned up my friend Paul Redel and practically begged him to help me get the tracks in shape. He’d already produced “Sentimental” and “You, With the Sullen Eyes,” so I knew he’d understand where I was wanting to go. He helped organize the tracks, and called in some incredible drummers to fix some things I’d overlooked. One was Kiel Feher, the other was Ed Bedrock of Jamestown Revival. In my opinion, the star of the record is “One Man Orchestra” Stevie Blacke. His strings play a major role in the way it all moves. He is the not-so-secret sauce. I can’t say enough about him.

How has your sound evolved since your first release, Come Visit Soon?

It’s funny, I’ve heard that exact word a lot, “evolved.” Really, they’re just different projects! I was working on them at the same time. “Come Visit Soon” is a dusty, California Americana album, produced mainly by Los Angeles singer-songwriter George Stanford. I grew up listening to acoustic guitar, singer-songwriter stuff, so that folky style is in my blood, and it’s some of my favorite sort of music. I love to be able to focus on the words, and love simple arrangements. I have more coming out like that. My cover of “White Christmas” is heavily influenced by Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton. I don’t think too much about genre. The songs come out how they come out. “Fortunes” could be considered more sophisticated or arty, and I have more songs that fit into that world in the chamber. If you strip “Fortunes” down, take out the orchestral arrangements, they might sound like folk songs. That might be a fun project for me one day actually, to record them differently.

You collaborate with Joel Taylor and John Hawkes on two different duets on the album. How did those collaborations come about? Any fun stories from the recording process?

The song with John, “You, With the Sullen Eyes” is the oldest recording on the album. The duets were originally for a duet project I was trying to get off the ground called Belle and The Claytons. Trying to work with several different singers was a challenge, so I wound up taking those songs and adding them to this album. John Hawkes and Joel Taylor were so very easy to work with, and I learned a lot from them. John worked on his performance in much the same way he approaches his characters. He’s a phenomenal actor, one of the very best character actors on the planet. To have him portray the man in this song was a huge honor, and I can’t think of anyone who could’ve done it better. He has a sensitivity, a receptiveness, and humility about him that is strikingly unusual. If I remember correctly, it was about two takes in the studio for him. That was it. He knocked it right outta the park. Joel Taylor is a much better musician than I am, and he carries that brilliant understanding of music around with him. We’re pretty good friends, and have had a few Thanksgivings and lots of fireside and living room jams, and no matter where or when, this guy is on point! I marvel at his ease. If I ask him for a harmony, he doesn’t have to work to find it. I’m not that way, I have to play around with notes before I land, I feel around in the dark. He always has his lights on!

Your bio mentions that you are the granddaughter of “self-taught porch musicians”. Can you speak to how this influenced your sound?

My first instrument was my grandma’s antique upright piano. When I was about two or three, it was the focal point of our living room, and the highlight of our entertainment. We didn’t have a guitar as far as I knew. In my eyes, the piano was everything. Music was a major part of our daily lives. My mom has a beautiful voice, and was always singing Linda Ronstadt, Joan Baez, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt. The family was always having sing-alongs, (way before I was born, my grandparents hosted them with banjos, guitars, washboards, spoons, etc), and it was considered normal to either play or (listen obsessively) to music. My father didn’t play an instrument back then (he does now), but he was a fantastic analyzer and appreciator of words. When he heard a lyric that stood out to him, he’d rewind the tape and make us listen to it again so that we could absorb it’s meaning. This had an enormous impact on me when it came to my writing. My brother is a great writer, and has always played an instrument. He picks instruments up pretty naturally. As far as how this all influenced my sound, I think it’s just the amount and variety of music we were playing and listening to that stuck with me. There was a ton of enthusiasm, and enthusiasm is contagious.

Can you talk about your relationship with Johnnie “B. Goode” Johnson and how he’s impacted your life as a musician?

When my mom remarried in 1993, they hired Johnnie to play their wedding in Michigan. Little did they know at the time, Johnnie had already had an incredible journey. That’s an understatement! I encourage everyone to watch “Hail, Hail Rock & Roll’’ and to read his biography, written by my brother Travis Fitzpatrick, called “Father of Rock & Roll” to understand the incredible history of this man. Between the years 1993 and his passing in 2005, Johnnie was a major part of our lives. He recorded several tracks in our living room in Houston, and there was a significant period of time when I would come home from school and walk into a recording session, or there’d be a blues jam late into the evening. Every once in a while a little Johnnie type riff will make its way into my playing. Certainly the blues show up in my voice from time to time. My brother learned to play that style from Johnnie, and is much better at it than I am. I was pretty young, and shy, and learned from listening and watching. I got to sing with Johnnie several times, as did my mom, and performed with him at a place called Billy Blues in Houston when I was a teenager. His influence on me came from immersion and osmosis, and him being so humble and kind enough to show me some things.

You split your time between New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville — three very different cities. How does the culture of these unique places impact your work?

I’ve moved around a ton since I was 3 or 4 years old. I see the world as being full of possibility and color, and believe I could find a way to feel at home in lots of places. Our home base is now Nashville, mainly because of the kids. I want them to have the green space, and the lightning bugs. It’s so peaceful and beautiful here, but not stagnant. There’s enough movement in Nashville to keep me inspired, but enough peace to raise a family. Nashville grounds me, and I can think here. Los Angeles feels like vacation. It’s a great place to have a big ol party, with beautiful food and starry eyed people. It’s a place to dream. New York is everything to me. It’s where I cut my teeth as an artist. It’s infinitely inspiring to me. But I like to be alone there. I like to walk around alone, eat alone, drink alone, see music alone, ride the subway alone. There are great ghosts in NYC, it’s a city full of art. And everything is smashed together, so you don’t have to travel to experience hundreds of different things in a day. I love to get lost there. I love to write there.

Is there someone you dream of collaborating with on a future project?

I think my voice would sound good with Jason Isbell’s, and I’d love to sing something with him.

What drew you to a career in music? Did you always plan to pursue music professionally?

I knew from early childhood that I’d be singing. I used to sit in my room and make up songs all the time. I got protective of my music as a teenager, and went to the famous High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, but for theatre not music. But when I got home, I went straight to the piano. I wrote poems in class. It was always about music and writing for me. I love acting, but I feel empowered writing and playing music.

What is your favorite part of performing live?

My nerves go into overdrive and I think some sort of survival instinct kicks in. The adrenaline rush forces me into the moment, and that’s where the emotional honesty lives. The larger the crowd, the easier it is for some reason.

Piano is a driving force in your songwriting. When did you first learn the instrument?

My brother was taking piano lessons when I was about 2 or 3 years old, and that’s the first time I remember being interested in learning. He taught me the Christmas song “Old King Wenceslas.” I mostly played by ear, and just to accompany myself singing songs like “Nobody’s Girl,” a Bonnie Raitt song written by Larry John McNally. That was my big number!

You’ve been quite productive in the past few years, releasing a single, EP, and an album — how do you balance your personal life and music?

It feels strange to say it, but the quarantine has assisted me in this balance a great deal, and the togetherness has been good for our little family. My husband is usually gone for half the year filming, and the kids would usually be in school. Having us all together has been wonderful. I don’t feel so stretched out. When we are all together, I am home and I feel secure.