Jessica Lea Mayfield: “Oblivious” / Show
I haven’t really kept track of songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield over the past few years – I loved her melancholy-soaked country/folk debut With Blasphemy So Heartfelt but then, as so often happens, I lost track of her. Listening to tracks on her new record Make My Head Sing it appears that a lot has changed since 2008 (Mayfield also released Tell Me in 2011, a record that I similarly missed). Whereas I knew Mayfield as a master of the woebegone, regret-filled ballad, the leading tune off of her new album, “Oblivious,” is a raucous, distortion-filled, rocker. It is definitely a change, but I think it’s a good one – Mayfield’s evocative alto is as well suited to garage/grunge as it was to country and it’s a refreshing update to her sound. Mayfield will be performing at the Turf Club this Thursday night with Dylan LeBlanc (another talented artist I have admired but not kept very good track of). You can get tickets here or at the door.
— Jon
