Jo Dee Messina, back with a new album and Fort Worth tour stop, wants you to ‘share the laughter’
Country singer Jo Dee Messina will soon be back in Fort Worth with some new tunes.
The “Bye Bye” singer released her first album in 12 years last month titled “Bridges.” The 11-track record also helped kick off a new tour for Messina that began in mid-June and continues into the fall.
One of those tour stops will be at Billy Bob’s Texas on Saturday, Aug. 1.
Ahead of her Fort Worth show, Messina spoke with the Star-Telegram about “Bridges” and what inspires her after 30 years in the music business.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Star-Telegram: Ms. Messina, how’s your summer been so far?
Jo Dee Messina: It’s a bit hectic [laughs]. I just dropped off my son at robotics camp and [am] running to another appointment. Every day is a little crazy.
S-T: Are you ready for this Texas summer heat when you get down here?
JDM: Oh my gosh, I know. It’s gonna be warm.
S-T: “Bridges” is your first album in 12 years since “Me” in 2014. I just want to ask this plainly: Why the break between records?
JDM: Well, I’ve been a single mom raising two boys. That’s taken up a great deal of time. We’ve still toured, but I’ve just really been kind of caught in the day-to-day of being a mom.
S-T: As a songwriter, I assume you’re always thinking about lyrics and are writing ideas down constantly. I’m curious about the distinction between saying, “OK, this is something I want to record and not just an idea floating around in my head.” Could you speak on that?
JDM: Oh well, I’ve had those too [laughs]. I’ve had the ones where you have an idea, you go in, you write it, and you’re like, “Oh, this isn’t that great.” Like the idea is great, but the song doesn’t turn out good. So yeah, I’m always thinking songs, and sometimes they make it, and sometimes they don’t [laughs].
S-T: You’ve been doing this for around 30 years at this point. Do you find it easier to write songs now than before? Or, is it still hard to bang out some ideas and make something?
JDM: I don’t know if that’s ever been hard to write songs. I think because I was in the writing process, co-writing for other people and co-writing with other people and whatever, it just kind of flowed out. For me, it’s an idea. Usually, I come up with like the melody and the hook, and then I’ll work from there. Like, [Messina begins to sing] “It’s all about you. Ooh. You got everybody fooled.” You know what I mean? It kind of starts with the hook or with the idea or a melody, and then I kind of work my way out from there.
S-T: This new album and tour are celebrating 30 years of your career. I’m curious what keeps you inspired and makes you get out of bed nowadays ready to go play music?
JDM: Oh my gosh! Well, I’ve always been touring, so I’ve always been doing shows. It’s just I was working off a catalog, and I love it. It’s all I’ve ever done. I started when I was a kid, I was like 13. I think about that now, like, “Son, I was working for four years when I was your age.” It’s what I’ve always done and what I love the most. To get out there and do it, there’s no like, “Oh, I have to find a reason to do it.” I just love it, it’s part of what I do. I enjoy the people. Especially now, like being in it so long and having a different perspective. I have the ability to just kind of hear people’s stories and just enjoy it. And coming from a position of gratitude. I’ve always loved the touring.
As far as new projects, it was my co-writers that really were saying, “Hey, we need you. You need to record this song.” And I’m like, “I don’t know how to put a record together anymore.” You know it’s so different, and I don’t have the label in place. I don’t have the millions of dollars in promotion and all that stuff. One of my writers was a producer, and was like, “Hey, if you want to put a record together, I’ll help you do it.” And he did. That’s David Spencer, who produced this record. I have stuff to say, to write about, because that’s what I’ve always done. Writing is just what I do. It’s, “Oh, here’s an idea. Or, man, if I could only da, da, da, whatever.”
There’s a little bit of everything on the record too. You got the funny songs, you got the serious songs. If you look at like the song, “Can Anybody,” that came from a conversation with one of our teenagers. The teenager was like, “I feel like my mom and dad don’t hear a thing I say. I’m like invisible in my house.” I was thinking, “Wow, as adults, we feel that way too, right?” Like you’re going through something, and you got to get up and go to your job, and you have to live the day, and no one has a clue that you’re falling apart inside. Very inspired by everyday things.
S-T: I’m wondering if you could describe the energy in the room when you’re playing a show? It’s such a rare thing for most people to feel.
JDM: You kind of play off that energy. Some people are like, “What’s your favorite song to sing?” For me, it kind of depends on the crowd, right? One day they might be like rocking onto "Heads Carolina, Tails California” or “Bye Bye” is having a resurgence right now with the wrong lyric, by the way. It’s got its own life going on right now. What blows me away now, I told you I didn’t have the record label in place. I didn’t have the millions of dollars to promote things. When we released this record, my past has mainly been, you release a song to radio, and little by little, the audience starts to know it. You’ll see one or two people singing it, and then a couple of people singing it, and then you know it’s number one record, and everybody’s singing it.
Now with digital streaming, the album’s barely a month old. And we go out, and people are singing words to all the songs. Because there’s not a single, right? I mean, technically they have songs that you focus on as a single, but I mean the whole album’s out there. They’re singing like “Welcome to the Show” when I get on stage, or songs that I’m just like, “Oh my gosh, they know these.” That is mind-blowing. I would say, what does it feel like? It’s mind-blowing. It adds energy to the show. That energy rolls off the stage, which goes in the audience and rolls back up on the stage. If you come to a show, we have a lot of fun. I mess with the audience. I try to stump them with songs, and it’s just like hanging with a big bunch of friends.
S-T: You’ve played at Billy Bob’s Texas a few times now. What’s it like playing there?
JDM: Well, it’s a fixture in the industry. To be able to go back there and play it is always a thrill. I’m always nervous to see who shows up because so much of it is tourists passing through, which is crazy, but it’s amazing. They did just have some sort of appearance on a Yellowstone spinoff the other day, so that’s interesting.
S-T: Right, that was in “Dutton Ranch.” Jo Dee, is there anything else you want to add before we wrap up here?
JDM: Follow me on social media. I tell everybody to follow me on social media. We do so many crazy things. Not crazy like irresponsible, but just funny, like goofy. I’m so goofy. Somebody asked me to do a Christmas song with them, and I was like, “Yeah, you can be the sexy one, and I’ll be goofy.” I was like, “You can be all sultry, and I’ll be the elf.” We do a lot of fun stuff on our social media, so I always ask folks to follow me there because it’s fun. If you look at like the “Bye Bye” thing that’s blowing up right now, you’ll see the followers join in the fun. They’re not like, “You’re so stupid, you’re dumb.” They’re not insulting. They get the joke, and they’re showing up at shows with the wrong lyrics on signs.
If you go look at the last few posts on social media, you might get a kick out of it. I hope you do. I mean, that’s one thing I notice: people don’t laugh a lot these days. Next time you go out to lunch, I want you to sit there and notice how much laughter you hear. There’s not a lot of laughter these days, and so, I don’t know. I grew up laughing, so let’s share the laughter.
Jo Dee Messina performs at Billy Bob’s Texas on Saturday, Aug. 1.
