Greetings from Los Angeles! I got home from my solo tour a couple days ago and have been getting settled in and calming down from the album cycle storm. I realized after my last show in Austin last Sunday that - this is really it. I don’t have more tour dates ahead. The Time Ain’t Accidental album cycle has officially come to a close. And now, it’s time to make my next record.
If you came to any of the shows on my solo tours you heard some of the new ones. That was a really fun part of it, for me. I loved debuting some of the new material and getting to hear people’s first impression of the new songs after the shows.
I have 10 songs demo’d out and ready to go, and probably 3ish that are super close to being finished, and then another handful that are almost there. I’d love to have 12 solid songs complete before I go into the studio and record. So, I’m close.
But there are a lot of ducks to get in a row before I’ll be totally ready. That’s my focus now - make the next album. My goal is to finish it this year and have it come out in 2026, and then hit the ground running on the next album cycle.
So here’s what’s crazy: It means I have free time…kind of. With no tours on the horizon, I am unusually free. It’s pretty cool. I want to root down in LA. Make the house feel more like home. Ive been so in and out of this place over all the years that I’ve lived here, I’m excited to actually spend some time making it feel nice. I bought a new couch, for example, and finally replaced the one I got on craigslist 8 years ago for $100 that had springs sticking out of the cushions.
I’m also thinking about planning some travel. For fun! Instead of on tour! I want to spend time in Texas. Explore more of California. And hopefully - get over to Greece again this summer.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep writing and figuring out next steps to make this album.
Here’s a piece of a new one that I played the other night at my friend Tessa’s house. It’s a song I also played on my solo tour. It’s called Goodbye To All That. A nod to the Joan Didion essay by the same name.
In other news, something cool happened at the coffee shop today.
For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you know that when Nana was alive she and I would always walk to the coffee shop down the street from my house and she would stand or sit by the treat jar and just stare at it the entire time. This usually worked in her favor, resulting in 3-5 treats per visit, from me and other people in the coffee shop. It was insanely cute. I could let her off the leash and walk all the way across the room and she wouldn’t leave the jar.
After she died, I couldn’t go to the coffee shop for months. The idea of walking in there and seeing that treat jar just made me way too sad. When I finally went back, there was a NEW treat jar. I couldn’t believe it. I asked the owner what happened and she told me a dog broke the jar. I was so happy. It felt right for some reason. It felt like that jar was really Nana’s, and now that she was gone, it needed to go too.
So today when I went to the coffee shop, a guy introduced himself. He told me he liked my music, and he introduced me to his dog Winston. Then, without skipping a beat he said - “Winston broke the treat jar” (!!!!!!).
It felt good to hear that on so many levels. I am so thankful for Winston!! I love him!! And also, I’d been beating my head against a wall all morning trying to finish a new song and feeling like a total failure, so it felt really nice to have someone tell me they like my music. That never gets old for me and never feels annoying. It usually makes me feel so good to hear from someone that they appreciate what I do. So thank you to my nice neighbor I got to meet today and double thank you to Winston. You rock.
That’s all for today! I’ll be dropping some film from tour off tomorrow and sharing that the next time you hear from me.
For my paid subscribers, I’ve got a cute little playlist of some stuff I’ve been listening to lately. New, old, pop, obscure, and in between. A little peek into my brain.
Thanks for being here - until next week!
Jess
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