Jo Dee Messina
Unmistakable
With the release of Unmistakable, Jo Dee Messina steps firmly into the front ranks of
country singers. An album that displays both her songwriting prowess and her abilities as a
co-producer, Unmistakable is above all a showcase for one of the genre's most remarkable
and distinctive--but often overlooked--voices.
"She is a great singer," says Chris Ferren, one of four co-producers who worked with Jo
Dee on the project, "but I guess I didn't know how great until I worked with her." It was a
sentiment echoed across the board. Dann Huff, who co-produced several cuts along with
Jay Demarcus of Rascal Flatts, calls her "obviously, a great singer" as well, and Jerry
Flowers terms her "the best vocalist I've ever worked with. No matter what you ask her to
do, she can do it, and do it better than what you wanted. She sings from her heart and it's
just amazing every single time."
As always, Jo Dee's passion and believability are front and center on the project, which
catalogs in song a progression from a disappointing relationship through a painful but
liberating break-up into real and fulfilling love. "You can pretty much feel it that there was a
shift in my life during the process of the album," says Jo Dee, who became engaged in the
months before the album's release.
The album displays all the range, versatility and exuberance that have long made Jo Dee a
fan favorite and have brought her so much success both on record and on stage. What's
more, it is a project for which she had complete artistic freedom.
"It was a relief," she says. "They really wanted to hear what I have to say on this record,
and it made the creative process extremely enjoyable."
Unmistakable is the 6th album in a career that has brought the Massachusetts-born singer
to the heights of the genre she has loved since she was a little girl. She has sold five million
albums, had 9 #1 singles, earned two Grammy nominations in addition to awards by the
CMA and ACM, and seen her albums go platinum (Burn) and double platinum (I'm Alright).
The latter made history, as three consecutive singles reached the #1 spot for multiple
weeks on the Billboard singles chart, making her the first female artist ever to earn that
distinction.
Unmistakable follows on the heels of Delicious Surprise, a project Jo Dee found especially
satisfying in terms of artistic achievement.
"Delicious Surprise was great for me because for the first time the label said, 'Just be
yourself,'" she says. "People were saying, 'It's amazing. You've reinvented yourself,' and I
said, 'No, I just went back to who I was.' And that growth has continued through this album."
Jo Dee's writing talents, long relegated to a back burner, are fully evident in the five songs
she co-wrote for the project.
"I guess people were critical of my writing early on," she says, "so for years I was afraid to
bring it out. And then as this project got underway, Jerry was saying, 'Come on! Let's write
something. I'll help you.' The first day we got together it was--boom--done. They just came."
Her contributions include "I'm Done," a classic kiss-off that came out of a conversation with
Flowers about a relationship gone wrong, "Think About Us," a missing-you song with a
powerfully passionate chorus, and "One Day Closer," about re-gaining strength in the wake
of a failed relationship. Other album highlights include "Unmistakable," a lovely and sensual
waltz about the joys of being certain of love, and "Just Drive," a look at a woman's bid to
maintain her courage as she leaves a relationship.
Together, they represent one of country's true talents at the top of her game. Jo Dee's
contributions as co-producer and her one-of-a-kind voice insure that the record, for all its
varied takes on love, has a real unity. What's more, she says, "All the producers know each
other and they're all great guys, and everybody kind of knew what was going on sound-wise
with everybody else, so it is very consistent from beginning to end."
Jo Dee brings world-class pipes, an unbreakable spirit and a unique musical and personal
style all to bear on the project.
"I think what makes it all work," she says, "is the fact that I'm so real and so relatable to the
listener. When you hit that sincere groove, range, melody and topic, it rings true for people,
and I think this album has all of that stuff on it. 'I'm Done' is not something you would hear
every day, but you find yourself tapping your foot and going, 'That is so Jo Dee.'"
That irrepressible spirit has been in her DNA since her childhood in Holliston,
Massachusetts. She was first attracted to country in the music of Alabama and Hank Jr. as
well as Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire. She appeared in local plays and
musicals as a girl, and by 16 she had a band that included her sister on bass and her
brother on drums. She performed in clubs throughout the Northeast, booking shows and
hauling gear, with a work ethic she inherited from her single-parent mother. At 19, she
loaded a car and headed to Nashville, where she entered talent contests and got a regular
gig on Nashville's "Live at Libby's" radio show. Producer Byron Gallimore heard her and
began working with her, introducing her along the way to another struggling newcomer
named Tim McGraw. Jo Dee was signed, then dropped, by one major label before, at a
backstage meeting at Fan fair, she met and charmed a Curb Records executive and got a
record deal there.
Gallimore and McGraw produced her early albums, and Jo Dee gained attention with
"Heads Carolina, Tails California" and "You're Not In Kansas Anymore" from her first. The
second, I'm Alright, with its back-to-back-to-back chart-toppers "Bye Bye" (ASCAP's Song
of the Year), "I'm Alright" and "Stand Beside Me," made her a star. It went double platinum
and was nominated for Album of the Year by the Academy of Country Music. Jo Dee won
the ACM's Top New Female Vocalist award, the CMA Horizon award and the nod for Most
Played Country Female of 1999 from Billboard. The follow-up, Burn, entered the Country
Albums chart at #1, went platinum and earned two Grammy nominations. Hits like "Lesson
in Leavin'," "Because You Love Me," "Downtime," "Bring On The Rain," "That's The Way"
and "My Give A Damn's Busted" would cement her reputation as one of country's most
loved and enduring hit-makers. Along the way, Jo Dee earned a well-deserved reputation
as a great live performer, and she became one of the first women of country to mount a
major headlining tour.
Jo Dee's drive is evident in her personal life as well. A dedicated runner, she has completed
two marathons and is training for a third.
"On the road, I'll get up and run, and since my steel player is training with me we run
together," she says. "Then I go to the gym and lift weights, have lunch, do the sound check
and then my meet and greet, do the show and get to bed as early as I can. No staying up
late partying!'"
Her engagement is part of a life in which genuine comfort and happiness seem to be the
main order of business.
"My guard is kind of let down a little," she says. "I'm a little more vulnerable because I am in
a safe place. And it's not just my personal life, but me as a person. I've just grown. I've
realized that I can only be who I am."
For a woman who has long been known as a Type-A personality, it's a welcome change.
"I've been married to my career for ten years," she says. It came first. It came before
birthdays, it came before weddings and funerals, and it came before everything. Just in the
last year or so I've said, 'Wait a minute! This garden needs some tending. The most real
thing in my life is that relationship is being at home. It's something you bank on."
It's comfort that has been well-earned for a woman who has seen quite a few bumps in the
road, although Jo Dee is not one to dwell on the past.
"I haven't been through hellacious situations," she says. "I've just been through life. If you
start to dwell on those things, you became that, and then you can't move forward. Things
that happen to us are not who we are. They're just things that we go through and it's our
reaction that counts. My tactic is to learn and then move on--you know, get a few good
songs out of it and move right along."
In the recent past, Jo Dee has done a USO tour in Italy, played the White House, and kept
up an active schedule of charity work.
"She has a work ethic unparalleled in most people," says co-producer Huff. "She's like the
Energizer bunny."
For Jo Dee, that energy is dedicated to living life to the fullest.
"I think at this point in my life, the strong point I have is realizing I am a work in process,"
she says. "I am constantly learning. I'm constantly growing. You're always evolving and it
never ends. You're never, 'OK. I'm done. I've figured it all out.'"
That sense of exploration has always gone into her art, and it infuses Unmistakable.
"I believe in my heart this album is going to be the biggest yet," she says, "because so
much of my creativity is in it, and in the midst of your creativity is when you're most in tune
with God. There's so much of it on this record and it came so effortlessly. I can't wait to see
what people think."