Country

Jessie Payo, the diminutive soul singer with a larger than life voice has come home to LA, but more important, she has arrived.  After more than a decade of recording, training, touring  and singing with superstars like Melissa Etheridge, Jessie has found her county sound, and she created country magic at the Hotel Café in Hollywood Friday night. It’s no wonder her twitter handle is @payoetemusic. She was booked to come on at 9 pm and while she was setting up the crowd poured in,  They were here for her. And she did not disappoint them.  For almost an hour, she rocked, seduced, mesmerized and united with a full house, demonstrating the  maturity and the self confidence of an experienced entertainer.  She brought us her own brand of gut-tightening, head bobbing  very personal country. Frankly, I had more fun listening to her at Hotel Café than I did at the Wynonna & the Big Noise concert at Century City. Jessie opened with her heart rending “ I will Die Alone”,  which sailed through the room [Read More]

Jessie Payo brings her high level blues talent to country and it works “arguably the best country EP by a woman available today”  By Patrick O’Heffernan Jessie Payo has literally grown up before my ears.  I first discovered her when she was fifteen through a blues site.  She was playing in small venues and recording CD’s which her mom would ship out from their house. I have every one of her albums – I bought them by mail as they came out and even talked with her mom on the phone once to see if I could catch her act in Northern California (no such luck). In the years since then, Jessie has been a very busy lady, going to Berklee College of Music in Boston, acting in films and television, joining the Jupiter Rising band and then leaving it to strike out on her own as a country singer.  She has been recording, touring and opening for or singing with artists like  Melissa Ethridge, The Black Eyed Peas, Jason Mraz, Lauryn Hill and  Etta [Read More]