Jessie Lee Montague is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist originally hailing from Albuquerque, NM. She moved East with her family as a teenager, and besides a brief detour to Madison, Wisconsin, has remained on the East Coast for most of her adult life. After recording her first album at Bearsville Studios she relocated from the city to The Hudson Valley.
What does music mean to you, and how do you plan on projecting your sound, regarding your own interpretations of music?
“Music to me is as close to having religion as anything else I’ve ever experienced. It’s what makes me feel most alive and connected.
I’m going on instinct and releasing a new album sometime this year.”
How did your passion for music start? Your drive? What was the beginning of this? How would you describe, or define, that beginning?
“I was always a HUGE lover of music, and I listened to my parent’s records, whilst I would stare at the album covers, reading every last liner note. I was a very shy child, but when I was about 8 years old, I got involved in acting, which then evolved into musicals, etc. and I found a real sense of freedom being on stage…
So when I picked up the guitar it seemed natural to bring it there. I didn’t start playing guitar until I was 17. But when I did, I got obsessed with it and started practicing every day for 3 or more hours… I was determined to learn how to play and write. I had done a lot of journal and poetry writing as an angst-ridden teen, so writing songs became an extension of that. As soon as I could play a few chords fluidly I wrote my first song…
I basically started writing right away.”
What three words best describe your performance, music, your style, if only in three simple words, which are as accurate as possible? Considering the difficulty of this task?
“Hmmm…that’s a hard one…I’m probably a terrible judge of myself…
Three words: A love affair.”
When you pick up the guitar and play a song, is it a natural feeling, an instinct that leads you to the very next note? Or do you have hours and hours of booked practice on your conscience, knowing you won’t miss a note? What is playing guitar like for you, in a sense of musical inclination and feel?
“Well, I mentioned before that I practiced and practiced methodically, but that was to get the fluidity of movement on the guitar neck so that I could be musical with it. I wanted to be able to create music like the music that I loved so much. Now, playing guitar is guided one hundred percent by instinct, I pick it up and try not to think at all…and just play…
And let the songs reveal themselves because they are there. I have to just let my serial sequencing brain step aside. I’m in love with playing guitar, truly. I didn’t play for about 13 years while I was raising my kids in their earlier years, as a single mom, and running a small business!
So now when I play, I’m so passionate and grateful for it.”
Is there something else you feel you need to add? Something that you feel is better expressed in words here before someone might feel the meaning of your message in the music?
“I’m super psyched to be releasing this latest album, the incomparable Grammy award-winning producer Malcolm Burn mixed a couple of the songs and it’s been amazing to work with him and have him lend his ears to the sound.”
Questions For The Photographer
What was your first impression of Jessie? In contrast, what was your overall outlook on her music and character, on and off the photography shoot? Especially after the shoot, and song?
“I found Jessie to be a very serious musician. But at the same time fun to work with. She took direction well without becoming frustrated with the process, she came to get the job done and we did just that. She was the same on and off the set. And we have stayed in contact since the shoot, and I do go out of my way to help her out. I don’t do this with everyone, however, Jessie’s shoot was probably my best one to date.”
(Photo by Deborah Degranffenreid)
What was the thing that hooked you, which drew you in with Jessie?
How does someone perceive the potential, when at first, a simple woman with just her guitar, turns into something much, much more than just simple?
What does it turn into, and what is that transformation as viewed and experienced on set, and even as the photographer?
“What drew me into Jessie was her dedication to her craft and that she was “taking the bull by the horns” so to speak, to get her image ready to be out there when her new release happens later this year. She has the potential both in songwriting ability and her performance standards to make it in this crazy music business.
She is not self-conscious, which if you are, could potentially get in the way both in performing and doing a photoshoot.”
(Photography Courtesy of Joe Mack’s Event Photography).
