Jo Dee Messina

(JO DEE MESSINA talks about important life lessons.)

JO DEE MESSINA- I did learn a lot of important lessons about life and love and this business during the making of the record.

There was a point where I didn’t even know if the record was going to get done. I experienced a lot of frustration looking for the right material to record. It was like,’Oh no,. There’s just not much happened!’ So there was a time when it was really dark. I’m a religious person, so I think the Lord provided me with strength, knowledge and patience. In addition, I have two close friends my tour manager and my best friend, who say me through personal and professional heartache. I mean no matter if we had a hit single out there or not, we were still working. So my tour manager was forced to work with me on a daily basis.

A part of his nature is to encourage me and my best girlfriend. They were wonderful to me. Somebody said to me the other day,’ Have you taken the time to stop and smell the roses?’ And I said,’No,because I’m still planting the garden.’ I mean just because I’ve had this Number one hit recently, doesn’t mean I’m about to take some time off to stop and smell the roses. I’m still trying to work on my songwriting.Since I’ve done it once, now I’ve got to do it again. That doesn’t mean life is a breeze, I’m still working (she laughs). I mean I’m still meeting the folks at radio, I’m still touring and I’m still running every day to keep in shape. I’ll be playing a lot of fairs and festivals and some radio appreciation shows. In addition we’re doing some small venues on our own with us headlining or being part of a day package. In this atmosphere, I have more of an opportunity to meet the people who are the fans and that’s really important to me. The fans golly, their support has been incredible. They love you on your best day and on your worst day.

(JO DEE MESSINA talks about her strong work ethic.)

JO DEE MESSINA-Like my father (Vincent) taught me, even though you’ve won one this week, you’ve still got another game next week. So you’ve got to go out there and still keep working. I was brought up with hard work being a priority. You need to work hard if you want anything out of life. My dad really motivates people. I mean he coined the term motivation (she laughs) I can’t tell you how happy I am to have a Number One record, I cried when I heard the news. The support from radio and the fans has overwhelmed me. I mean there’s 50 other people at the record company and my management, who are working there butt off to make that happen for me and I’m so grateful to them. It takes so many people to make this happen and I appreciate all they’ve done for me. I don’t have quitting in me, I wasn’t just going to go out and die. I wanted this and I worked towards it. You know something that I learned from Charlie Daniels while touring with him last year is this. It’s not how many times you get knocked down. It’s how many times you get back up that matters. Those are the words he told me.

(JO DEE MESSINA talks about her personal strength.)

JO DEE MESSINA-You know right during the making of my album, I had one of the worst relationships I’ve ever had. Somebody made themselves out to be someone who they weren’t and it was like they pulled the rug out from under me. Things are much better now. I walk around with a big smile on my face all the time. My day is filled with a big smile.

(JO DEE MESSINA talks about her music.)

JO DEE MESSINA-I want songs that I can relate to I’ve got to sing them so I want to feel them. And I can’t do that unless I’ve lived it. So,I pick those songs that I’m attracted to. Not knowing when my next album was coming out really bothered me. Because, while I was making this record, I was seeing all the incredible talent that was coming out. I didn’t know when the record would be completed and I didn’t have a date for it to be turned in by. There was no definite. Everything was up in the air and meanwhile, you had many extremely talented acts coming forward onto the scene. It was a terrifying place to be because you’re not knowing what’s going to happen next. So you do your best.

(JO DEE MESSINA talks about working with Tim McGraw.)

JO DEE MESSINA-At the time all this was happening, I went to Tim McGraw and said to him,’Look, you’re an artist, you know you have to be out there performing. You have to have hit singles on the radio and a good record out.’ Tim said to me,’Yeah I’m also an artist and from the artists standpoint, I also know it has to be in the songs. You can draw ten songs for your next album that are OK. Or you can draw ten songs that you really believe in. I want to draw ten songs for your album that we really believe in. Because even if this doesn’t work, I don’t want us to say that we didn’t do our best.’ So that’s where Tim’s advice came in and he really helped me by explaining that to me. People always ask me about Tim (McGraw) and I tell them,’Well, he’s shy. He’s still shy and he’s still humble and he still listens to people. He surrounds himself with people who know what they’re doing and he listens to their advice and makes decisions based on that. He doesn’t have a big head and run around saying, ‘I know everything.’ He does not do that, Tim’s wonderful.