The Shorthorn - Arlington’s Jessie Frye focuses on maintaining integrity, rather satisfying producers

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Arlington’s Jessie Frye focuses on maintaining integrity, rather satisfying producers

Written by Jason Boyd, The Shorthorn Scene editor

Wednesday, 10 March 2010 05:25 PM

Singer and songwriter Jessie Frye will be the only performer from Arlington at the South by Southwest event held in Austin. The event will be from March 12 -21, and will span music, movies, and other forms of media. (The Shorthorn: Will LaVoncher)

Last year, Arlington musician Jessie Frye applied to play during South by Southwest on a whim.

She was accepted before she even had a full band put together. Reviews of her SXSW show, which she said was about the third show she ever played, had only praise for the artist.

“Less than a year, how much more can you seriously ask for,” Frye said.

Now, with an EP in the works with Grammy-nominated producer John Congleton, she’s set to return to SXSW, first playing at North by 35 next week.

SXSW Shows

8 p.m. March 18 at The Hideout in Austin
7 p.m. March 19 at Holiday Inn Town Lake in Austin

Although Frye, a Fort Worth Weekly 2009 Music Awards best female vocalist nominee, said she’d love to be a raging success, but it’s not about the money or fame.

“My main goal is to connect with other human beings,” she said.

“Because that moment of expression when you’re watching someone perform – and you don’t even know them but you know you’re feeling the same thing – it’s such a beautiful, universal connection. So, I want to connect to as many people as possible.”

She’s turned down opportunities in order to retain her artistic integrity, she said. A California record executive saw a show of hers and asked her to send her a press kit. After spending $50 putting it together and mailing it off, the executive told her that if she tried to make her music more marketable, the label would talk about signing her.

She refused.

“I’m not doing this for the money or so I can get my boobs done or something, I’m really doing this because I love music,” she said. “And I think a lot of people forget that, with all the pressure of writing a good enough song or playing in front of a big enough crowd.”

When the EP releases, which Frye said she hopes will be finished this year, it will better illustrate the band as it is now. She describes her music as what would happen if Oscar Wilde crawled into a piano.

Frye’s first EP, The Delve, was recorded with a former collaborator and now she has a full rock band backing her. She said the newest stuff sounds more heavy and Led Zeppelin-ish at times, but also mellow and melodic.

North by 35 show

9 p.m. March 11 at Banter in Denton

“When you go to my MySpace, you’re not really hearing what we’re doing now,” she said.

She said that when the band plays the upcoming shows in Austin and Denton, with their new songs included, it’ll be a welcome change from the chaos of her 2009 SXSW show. She was still trying to figure out the small logistics at the time to really enjoy it.

“I was pretty overwhelmed over by just making sure we all got there,” she said. “I’ve never traveled to play music. OK, this is my third show, ever. I’m terrified. I was still getting used to the concept of playing live. I’m still getting used to that.”

A similar experience happened when Congleton contacted Frye on MySpace, expressing an interest in working with her, Frye said. At first, she didn’t believe he was a serious producer, not recognizing the name.

Then she researched him.

From engineering to producing, Congleton’s résumé includes work with The Polyphonic Spree, Modest Mouse, R. Kelly, St. Vincent, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Marilyn Manson and Black Tie Dynasty. She replied to his message.

“I was like, this could be good,” she said. “Hell yes. You can produce whatever you want.”

Whereas her career has taken long strides in the last year, Frye started being serious about music while young.

When she was 13, she asked her mother if she could be homeschooled so she could concentrate on music. She wanted to be a classical pianist and had started late in life, she said, at age 12. Her mother agreed and from there Frye got her studying done early enough to practice music into the night.

She said she wants her career to be about sharing her inner self, as an artist, with others.

“I want you to connect with me and I want you to be inspired by me, but at the same time I want you to feel like you’re my best friend when you listen to my music,” she said.

Frye doesn’t really have a backup plan if her music career doesn’t take off to the point of being financially sustaining, she said. She takes the advice that a family member told her, that if someone has a fallback plan, they usually end up falling back on it.

Not that there isn’t a degree of fear involved.

“But that’s kind of bad advice,” she said, “because what if you end up needing a fallback plan? You’re screwed.”