You have said that you chose to cover Jessica because of the idea that if your partner shares their name with a song, you are obliged to learn it and serenade them. Is that the real reason for choosing the song?
Jacob Johnson: I say that with my tongue in my cheek, but it is basically true. As great as the song is, I never would have picked it without my wife nudging me. The album version and Grammy-winning live versions are so quintessential, it just never crossed my mind that I might have something different to bring to the conversation. But, to impress my then-girlfriend-now-wife, I played with it a few different ways until I found a way to approach it that took it in a different direction. I played a version of it at our wedding a few years ago, and when I was working on songs for my new album, it felt like something I should revisit, so I did.
You’ve also managed to take the song into wonderfully understated territory, considering how lively the original is. How hard was it to retain the melody at the expense of the song’s more obvious qualities?
Jacob Johnson: Thank you. Yeah, there are lots of little pieces to “Jessica” that make it “Jessica”, you know what I mean? I think the drive of the band is what we associate with the song, so slowing it down to focus on the various melodies and sections hopefully shows the song from a different angle. I was very surprised though, once we started laying down the bass and drums with Jack Ryan and Stephen Campbell (of The Marcus King Band), at how much the song still really ‘moved’ for lack of a better word. We slowed down the tempo and feel, but there’s still a drive to it. Still feels like movement.
Like the original, the melody is shared amongst the players rather than carried by one instrument alone. Can you tell me about the process of arranging that and the other players involved in making the song what it is?
Jacob Johnson: Yes! That’s what can make it feel overwhelming to arrange. Chuck Leavell, who plays the piano on the original recording, has an album called Southscape where he plays an arrangement of it on piano. That really helped me wrap my head around the different sections because I could hear it all played on one instrument. That brought it down to earth in a way and made it a little more manageable. When I had the basic sections worked out for guitar, I brought it to Jack and Stephen, and they knew just what to do with it.
The key change coming out of Stephen’s bass solo is a cool moment, I think, in particular. If I had led into it with my guitar, it would’ve been too “in-your-face.” But having the bass do it out of the solo creates that cool, understated dynamic you’re talking about. Mickey Raphael did the harmonica tracks from his home in Nashville, but after talking about it on the phone, we both agreed we wanted to hear the harmonica play that main motif and not just play a solo. He has such a pretty style of playing harmonica, I think, that really illuminated the melody in a fresh way.
For people unfamiliar with your work, how representative is Jessica of your music as a whole?
Jacob Johnson: I think of myself as a live performer and a showman. Someone once described me as having “a lot of cheap tricks and lots of very expensive tricks,” and I think that sums up my style pretty well! All that to say, I think this track is more understated and less flashy than a lot of my music. I definitely steer into the guitar pyrotechnics in concert, but all of that stuff would’ve gotten in the way of this song. So it’s a little different, but I think if folks enjoy guitar-based music from a Southern perspective, they’ll enjoy my other music as well.
You have covered some other reasonably unusual songs, including a tune from Mary Poppins. How do you choose which songs to cover, and what about them catches your ear?
Jacob Johnson: Honestly, I don’t think much about it. I play the stuff that catches my ear. I might start fiddling around with something, and if it really sparks my imagination, I keep going with it. I’ve loved those songs from Mary Poppins since I was a kid. A song romanticizing the lonely, dark, but magical world of a chimney sweep sort of feels like it could have been written about a traveling guitar picker, right?
And where do things go from here, and what does the immediate future look like for you?
Jacob Johnson: I’m out on the road some over the summer and fall; I’ve got an album ready to put out when I get a little more money together, hopefully around October or November. I also teach guitar at North Greenville University in SC, so that keeps me busy during the week. I’m also just finishing my first semester of Berklee online, so I’ve got a long road ahead of me!
Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me.
