Jessica Lea Mayfield has been a Next Big Thing by SPIN magazine. "Black Keys-approved, smart-ass country-rock ingénue." That's what SPIN says to expect from Mayfield's "stunning" new album, Tell Me. USA Today's Pop Candy podcast features her song "Blue Skies Again," saying: "Her voice really is like a patch of blue sky." The Huffington Post names Tell Me its Must-Play Pick of the Week, describing her vocal delivery as "full of detached rapture. No vocal gymnastics. Nothing too emotional. Just those words that perfectly capture the awkwardness and awesomeness of infatuation mixed with unsure bravado."
Jessica Lea Mayfield has been named among the Next Big Things for 2011 by SPIN magazine. As such, Mayfield is featured in the magazine's forthcoming issue and at spin.com, along with some beautiful new photos of her shot for SPIN by Jimmy Fontaine, like the one at left. "Black Keys-approved, smart-ass country-rock ingénue." That's what SPIN says to expect from Mayfield's recently released Nonesuch debut, Tell Me, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach.
"Mayfield's drowsy vocals are almost too tender to be this wry and too wry to belong to someone so young," writes SPIN's Phoebe Reilly. "Each of the songs on this stunning collection ... could out-maudlin Cat Power's Chan Marshall, though her nationwide tour, which includes a stop at South by Southwest in March, isn't likely to feature similar onstage meltdowns. In truth, she's kind of a badass."
For a few examples of why that's true, head to spin.com.
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Mayfield is also included on USA Today's Pop Candy podcast, which opens with the song "Blue Skies Again," off of the new album. "I've mentioned this singer/songwriter bunches," says Pop Candy's Whitney Matheson, "and this is one of my favorite tracks from her latest record, Tell Me. Her voice really is like a patch of blue sky." Listen to the podcast at usatoday.com.
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The Huffington Post's PLAY>SKIP feature, showcasing the week in new music, selects Tell Me, out of all the albums listed, as its "Must-Play Pick of the Week," even if that week is off by one.
"I don't where I was last week when this album was released, but thank God I was set straight," raves Huffington Post contributor Shawn Amos. "Why am I always the last to know about a brilliantly tough and vulnerable singer-songwriter with a lo-fi guitar and dark lyrics?" Amos describes her vocal delivery as "full of detached rapture. No vocal gymnastics. Nothing too emotional. Just those words that perfectly capture the awkwardness and awesomeness of infatuation mixed with unsure bravado."
Read more at huffingtonpost.com.
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Mayfield spoke with WKSU, the public radio station in her hometown of Kent State University, when she was home for last week's record-release concert there. "I’m a happy person, I think I get all my sadness and all my crazy out in my music," she tells WKSU's Kabir Bhatia, "and it kind of helps me purge myself of that, and then I can be fun and happy and approachable." You can listen to the segment at wksu.org.
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To pick up a copy of Tell Me on CD and pre-order the vinyl (due out next week), head to the Nonesuch Store, where all orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the complete album at checkout. Nonesuch Store downloads also include the exclusive bonus download "I'll Be the One You Want Someday (Live)."
For more information on Mayfield's upcoming concert schedule, including, in addition to those SXSW dates, three shows with the Avett Brothers this weekend and her own headlining tour in March, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. As announced yesterday, Mayfield will also perform at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in June.
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