Singer-songwriter Jessica Lynn’s backstory reads like a movie script and one that is most likely to have a very happy ending at that. Starting her first band at thirteen years of age, she encountered the cruel downside of the music industry as a teenager. Pursuing academic qualifications while still performing and writing, Lynn disregarded the standard music career path and instead, with the help of her father, self-managed her occupation and, in doing so, became the only woman and female artist to reach the Top 5 on Amazon Music with her debut full-length album LONE RIDER in 2022. Obstacles such as being financially defrauded by a promotion company in 2020 and undergoing major surgery earlier this year were further issues that Lynn has overcome. Going against industry norms seldom leads to long-term survival in the cutthroat music industry, but Jessica Lynn is living proof that with talent, coupled with dogged determination, astuteness, and a strong work ethic, that model can be challenged and overcome.
Given your qualifications, did the idea of an academic career rather than one in the arts ever appeal to you?
No, I've always been playing music as long as I can remember. I started my first band when I was thirteen. I quickly found out how horrible the music industry can be. I was close to a record deal when I was a teenager, which fell apart because of other people. I studied because I wanted to have something else to do if I ever decided to leave this crazy life that I'm in. So, I decided to study Maths and Adolescent Education and have a Masters in both. When I was recording my first television special, I was recording and teaching school every day.
Did those specific qualifications help you in your music career in any way?
Yes, particularly working with children with special needs, which teaches you so much, including compassion and patience, and you learn to be a better person. The people with special needs I have worked with are such beautiful people with pure hearts and spirits, which I've really taken with me.
You have had to undergo serious sinus surgery earlier this year. How has that affected your plans for 2024, and, more importantly, has the surgery been a success?
This has been a very difficult year for me. It's been one of the busiest touring years I've ever had. We started touring in mid-May, and we go to Christmas. I had major surgery in January that I'm still healing from; I basically had every single thing that you can have to your sinuses done. I have been chronically ill for years; every tour that I've done, I've been ill at some point, and it has been not easy. I had been on so many antibiotics, and it is a big risk having sinus surgery as a singer, but it was taking such a toll on both my physical and mental health that I had to do it. It has been a success; they reconstructed the inside of my nose so I could function better.
Your band includes both your father and your husband. Is that a blessing, and who calls the shots?
It's hard in this business to have people around you who genuinely love and care for you, so I'm very lucky. My family and all my crew have been with me for a long time, so I have a very solid support group. It is an interesting dynamic, okay, because I'm the boss. My parents and husband are employed by me, which is funny, but everybody knows their role and works together.
You remain self-managed.
Yes. My dad took that role on for many years while I was still learning the business, but I've self-managed for the past three years. I'm type A, organised to a fault almost, and enjoy being in charge and ensuring everything is as it should be. I'm a Capricorn, and anyone else who is also a Capricorn will understand.
How does that pan out, given the obstacles that women still encounter in the music industry?
That's true about the many obstacles, but I'm not a quitter or one to give up even in the face of adversity. I'm an entrepreneur running my own business. It's funny the number of times I have gone to meetings, and people would totally ignore me and start speaking to my husband or my father. I've gone into music stores with my husband to buy something, and they would start immediately talking to him rather than me. It's interesting, but it also fuels my fire.
Your album LONE RIDER, written during the pandemic in a desperate time, catapulted your career in many ways.
I didn't have any publicity engaged for that record. I had all of my money stolen from me before that record came out by a company that was supposed to be promoting it. It made that time even more difficult for me during the pandemic. I had my biggest tour booked for that time, with a hundred dates in fifteen countries, and all of them fell apart. So, I started streaming online; it was the only thing I could do. I went to work and did six live streams a week, and my numbers started to fly through the roof. I was honoured that I was one of the top forty live streamers in 2020 and a top twenty live streamer in 2021 up there with Stevie Nicks and the Zack Bryan Band, and it was just little old me in my living room with my piano. It felt like I had a hundred thousand people sitting in my living room with me, and I made lifelong fans and friends after having that severe personal loss with I had with the record. On the day of the release of LONE RIDER, I didn't expect a lot because I didn't have anyone promoting it except my own social media; it went to No.1 in so many countries, making for a very special time in my life.
Did the live streams and where your fans were streaming from give you ammunition to plan where best to tour when the world opened up again?
Yes, it did. I built my social media from nothing and worked very hard to do that religiously using my insight. That helped us decide where to tour and where to target, both in the U.S. and in Europe, where I've been touring for eight years now. We've built up a big fan base in Europe, especially Germany, France, and Switzerland.
Given the hectic touring schedule and administration responsibilities, when did you get time to write?
Not when we are on the road; we are too busy then. Normally, I will spend a month of the year writing before we go on the road; our touring season tends to be May through to December, and we do a huge Christmas tour in November and December. Those months are usually downtime for a lot of artists, but they are the busiest time of the year for us. This year, as I've had the surgeries, I wrote from the end of March up until May, and we also recorded a new record in those two months. It's been a difficult year for creating; everything has been so rushed, but I'm so excited about the new record; we literally sent the album to the mastering guy to prepare for distribution at 3 a.m. on the day we left for the U.S. tour.
You have already released three singles from the new album, including Shame, which was co-written by another artist and academic, Rachel Walker Mason. How did that connection come about?
We initially connected on Instagram sometime during the pandemic. She's an amazing songwriter and musician; connecting with her was great. That's the amazing thing about the internet: You can connect with people you would have never met otherwise.
Where did you record the new album, and when will it be released?
I have a home studio, and I co-produced the record, so I was there for every single session. Everyone came over to the house, and we recorded the tracks one at a time in the small but mighty home studio. We released a few of the singles last year and then recorded six songs in two months, which was a race against the clock, but I am so excited that we got it all done. It's coming out on January 17th next year. We decided not to do a fall release because we have a lot going on with the Christmas tour. It's our biggest one yet, and I wanted to focus on that. We've been playing the songs on the road for a few months now, so it's funny; they sound like old songs already.
You have opened for household names like ZZ Top, Keith Urban and Joe Dee Messina as well as Loretta Lynn. What highlights do you draw from those experiences, and how does it increase your fan base compared to your own headline shows?
It's very different. Opening for artists like the ones you mentioned is like a pinch dream moment, artists that I've listened to since I was a little kid a lot of times. To be introduced to their audiences, who then can become my audience, is exciting. I also love watching from the administrative and logistic point of view how they operate, how many crew members they have, and their roles. I'm always watching and learning. We do a lot of festivals here and around Europe as headliners, which consistently increases our fanbase.
Despite your busy schedule, you also find time to support worthy causes like Animal Shelters, the military and various charities.
That is very important for me; music is one of the most powerful mediums that can make a difference in the world. Ever since I was a kid and started my first band, I have always played at nursing homes, animal shelter benefits, and children's hospitals. I have continued that into my career. We have done a ton of work with the military, veterans, and charities. I have a disabled rescue dog myself who is missing two back legs; she has prosthetic legs.
You are an extremely structured person. Do you set yourself short-term or long-term goals?
My goals are never hard set, and there is a reason for that. I've learned throughout my career that if you are too focused on a particular door, you're going to miss other doors. Those other doors can often lead you to the most amazing things in life. If I had been told years ago that I would be doing country music and touring in Lithuania, Latvia or Mexico, I would have thought that was crazy. My goal is to love life, wake up every day, be happy with what I am doing with the people I love most, and be a little bit better than I was the day before. As long as I am progressing in some way mentally and physically, that's an achievement. I think I have been able to keep building my career by always keeping an open mind.
For anyone unfamiliar with Jessica Lynn's music, how would you describe it?
A magazine described it perfectly a few years ago as 'country arena rock.' You couldn't say it better: high-energy country mixed with rock 'n' roll.
Interview by Declan Culliton