In 2020 Jamie found herself living in upper Ojai, California, on an airstream property. It was there she discovered Getz/Gilberto ’76, the live album by Stan Getz and João Gilberto. “It was a pandemic so I bought a bike and listened to that album every day while riding around with my dog Moxie and a JBL speaker in the basket. I knew those songs had gotten into my marrow when I met and wrote “It’s A New Life” with Rich Jacques. It’s the first song I’ve ever written that has a bossa feeling to it and I knew I would make my next album with him after that. The feeling of “It’s A New Life” was the world I wanted to live in musically.” In the fall of 2021 the two reconvened along with artist and multi-instrumentalist Austin Myles Grant to start working on New Girl. The trio was invited to record at a private residence set in the Santa Monica mountains, seeped in the purity and quiet of nature where they could fully unfurl and connect musically.
New Girl is also informed by Jamie’s discovery of ACA (Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families) which she credits for changing her life. Through that work and a trip she made to North Carolina to be near her family during the pandemic, Jamie has found herself healing old wounds. She shares, “Music’s always felt like a mysterious, second language to me. A melody will fall down from the sky when I’m driving or in the shower, and I’ll record a voice memo on my phone so I don’t forget it. Lyrics don’t come as easily to me but they’re always biographical. It’s difficult for me to have the desire to write a song if it’s not personal.”
For tour dates and more visit: jamiedrakemusic.com/