We all know that our goals usually line up with what we’ve experienced in our lives, and the same goes for Jessie Frye, the lead singer and songwriter of The Jessie Frye Band. Frye hopes that her music creates a connection with her listeners and their lives. “I know how wonderful it feels to connect with someone’s music. I want to keep that cycle flowing.”
After joining together in 2009, Frye along with Matt Olmstead on drums, Michael Garcia on guitar, and Paulo Castillo on bass, have opened for acts such as Pat Benatar, Eric Hutchinson, and Joan As Police Woman. They’ve also performed at the SXSW music festival hosted in Austin, Texas three years in a row. Frye realizes the important influence of each band member and believes it’s just as important to get along with your bandmates and have a good time together. She says her bandmate’s “creative input brings even more potential to each song.”
Jessie Frye currently has two EPs, The Delve released in 2008 and Fireworks Child just released this April, 2011. It’s difficult to truly place a genre on her music since it varies from easy piano music and country on The Delve with an edgier sound on Fireworks Child. Apparently Jessie Frye likes the fact that her music is genre-less. She says “I try to stay away from [genres], personally. I don’t like barriers. When I am creating in my own little world, I ignore expectations and contexts that genres imply. It is a real mind opener if you practice listening to music with your heart, instead of worrying about fitting into a box.” Although Frye’s music can seem similar to Vanessa Carlton and Sarah McLaclan, the true uniqueness of the music lies in Frye’s soothing vocals and poetic lyrics.
It’s easy to see why another of Frye’s goals is to “write music all across the spectrum” since her musical influences vary from genres such as classical, acoustic, and hard rock. Her list includes Chopin, The Cure, Tori Amos, T. Rex, Ryan Adams, Michael Jackson, VAST, Led Zeppelin, and David Bowie. She even mentions Oscar Wilde and Anais Nin since their writings “helped shaped [her] perspectives on art.”
This seems to be only the beginning for The Jessie Frye Band. When asked where she sees herself in the years to come, Frye answers with a determined, positive air, “Hopefully a lot of great tours, festivals, working with other talented musicians, and constantly challenging myself to create music that has both quality and excitement.” Her EPs prove she can and already has accomplished the latter, but the future holds many opportunities for this up-and-coming band.