"I have a real problem with being honest... I can't not be! I was raised in a very connected community, where everyone was approachable and friendly. Everyone was honest -- so I have a difficult time with things that aren't real. That's just the way I was raised, and it's who I am."
When it came time to record I'm Alright, Jo Dee Messina's already platinum sophomore album, she had a lot of ground to cover. With her breakthrough "Heads Carolina, Tails California" and follow-up Top 5 smash "We're Not In Kansas Anymore," the copper-haired firebrand soared into the role of next superstar; but the dissolution of her management company and other circumstances conspired to undermine the ground she'd gained and Messina eventually found herself teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.
"It's all life -- and you can't take anything for granted," Messina says philosophically. "All you can do is keep working, keep believing and be grateful that you can use those trials to put back into the music."
Working closely with her good friends and co-producers Byron Gallimore and Tim McGraw, Messina spent nearly two years seeking out songs that reflected her will to live and thrive, to be true to oneself -- and the faith and commitment required to see one's dreams through.
"These songs are very survival-oriented," says the two-time CMA Award nominee and winner of the Horizon Award in 1999, addressing the ten songs on I'm Alright. "As I sing 'em and as people hear 'em, it's a strength thing that you hear in my music. When I hear these songs, they actually change my mood -- when I'm down, I listen to 'I'm Alright' and the energy just lifts me up, then the lyric carries me along.
"To me, the songs have to say something I can relate to or would actually say. I have to be able to represent it and I have to be able to feel it. Otherwise, I'm not doing myself or the song any justice."
Messina knows what she speaks of. Her energy, passion and joy for living infuse songs she sings with a power and an infectiousness that's undeniable. When people hear her full-throttle commitment to the music she makes, they can't help but respond. As a result she's spent over 10% of the past year sitting at #1 on the charts with I'm Alright's first two singles: two weeks with "Bye, Bye," then three weeks with "I'm Alright." And those two chart-toppers are merely the surface of an album that's both complex and comforting. Whether it's the resigned heartbreak - into - action - into - healing of Messina's own "No Time For Tears," or freewheeling on Grammy-winner Marc Cohn's paean to automotive nirvana "Silver Thunderbird" or the hushed real life commentary of "Even God Must Get The Blues," Messina weaves the conversational intimacy normally reserved for old friends.
"Hey, I like people," she laughs. "My character is to give... It's not about being a success in the music business, it's about doing for others and giving of one's self. When I'm out there and people say my songs touch them, help them, maybe change their life, that's why I do it! It gives the music a purpose and me a reason for doing this.
"My Mom's the same way. So you could say I get it from her."
Raised largely by a single mother in Holliston, Massachusetts, Messina learned early about working hard as a means to making one's way in the world. When she was 12, Messina discovered country music -- Alabama, the Judds, Janie Fricke, Deborah Allen, Reba -- through some kids at school and her course was set.
"I've always been a very passionate emotional person," she concedes, "and that's what country music was. I could relate a lot better to 'Leavin' On Your Mind' than I could to 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot,' because it was more about how people live their lives.
"To me, that's what it's about; getting out there and living life."
Once music resonated inside Messina, there was no looking back. She put together a band as a teenager and began playing around. Ever the aggressive businesswoman, she tackled all the support duties: booking, managing, publicizing, everything except driving to the gigs, something even the most industrious 14-year-old can't do.
When she graduated from high school, Nashville was a foregone conclusion. Messina struck out for Music City, knowing no one and determined to make her mark on country music. Like so many hopefuls, initial success was elusive, so Messina took to looking for breaks and picking up money singing in the various talent contests that draw the aspiring and the delusional.
"I was hanging out at the Pink Elephant, where they had these talent contests where you could win money -- and I needed money," Messina recalls fondly. "So, I won the Grand Prize and part of the deal was getting to sing on this live radio show broadcast from Kentucky."
"I went up there and did pretty well, so they made me a regular. I was singing on the show one night, when they told me I had a phone call. This guy says he's a producer and he wants to get together. It's December 19th and I'm going home the next day, because I'd missed Christmas with my family the year before and it about killed me, so I really wasn't in the mood for the runaround again."
"I was thinking, 'Oh, great, now I gotta go meet with this guy!' He starts in with 'You got a little Dolly in your voice, and a little Reba.' He's running down all his plans: make a demo, shop it to a couple labels, maybe do a showcase. Finally, I said, 'Hey! That's great... but I don't have any money,' figuring that would be the end of it, because it's always about that."
"He looked at me like I was nuts! He said, 'I don't want your money...' and we went down in the basement of this publishing company he was with and actually put some stuff on tape."
That producer was Byron Gallimore, who was also developing a young maverick named Tim McGraw. Though Jo Dee was the first one Gallimore got signed, her initial recording de-railed during a management shift at the label.
"Just about every label in Nashville offered us a deal," Messina recounts, "but by the time my deal fell apart, they'd all signed women and the slot was full."
While Messina struggled to recover her equilibrium, McGraw's star took off. At the height of his initial explosion, Messina went to Fan Fair as her dear friend's guest -- and met Curb A&R exec Phil Gernhard backstage. "I was thinking y'all need a redhead on your label," she announced cheekily.
The folks at Curb agreed. Before long, Messina was in the studio with Gallimore and McGraw co-producing her debut album. It came out of the chute hotter than Georgia asphalt -- and a star was seemingly born.
Though circumstances conspired against her, a few things remained constant. Not only was Messina's love of music an anchoring passion, her sense of self maintained her during the dark months that lay between the end of supporting Jo Dee Messina and the release of "Bye, Bye."
