Every song tells a story
Welland singer/ songwriter Jessica Wilson releasing debut album
Every song on Jessica Wilson’s debut album is about a different journey in her life.
“I want to share my stories with people who want to listen to my music. Every song is written from experience … there’s a person behind every story, every song.
“I don’t think they know it’s about them, but I do, and that’s what’s important to me,” says the 21-year-old Welland woman ahead of the release of her debut album.
Wilson, a recent graduate of St. Clair College’s music theatre performance program, says everything she writes is sincere, and that’s why she named her five-song album Sincerely.
“I don’t write to just write. I never force myself to write, I only write when I really want to. Writing is something I love to do and I never want it to be something I have to do. Everything comes 100 per cent from my heart.”
Sincerely came together over the past five years of her life, though music has been with her as far back as she can remember.
Her father, Bern Guglielmi, is a musician — he plays guitar — and there were always band practices at home. Guglielmi has played in many different bands, and is currently in one called Stone The Radio. Her mother, Nancy Wilson, was always playing albums from such bands as Fleetwood Mac, Heart and The Beatles.
“I was raised on it … we had a very musical household.”
At just four years old, Wilson started singing around the house. And she kept at it, until at 10 years old she started talking it seriously, and started to enter contests.
“My family was like, ‘Oh, you’re actually good, you could probably do this as a living,’” she says.
She started to perform in school musicals. At 16, she picked up a guitar for the first time and started to perform cover songs.
“I started gigging when I was 16, in bars that I wasn’t even allowed to be in at that age, but I was playing. As soon as I started to learn to play the guitar, I knew that I wanted to write an album. I started writing when I was 16 and didn’t stop. Now I finally have an album.”
She says the album is a break from musical theatre. It was put together at Strange Pumpkin Studio in St. Catharines. Production started last September, and then carried on during Christmas and March breaks while Wilson was home from college. Finishing touches were put on it this past May.
While at college, Wilson learned to play piano — she also plays bass, harmonica and ukulele — in a basic music course that also taught her theory.
“That came in handy in the studio, more than I thought it would.”
She plays guitar on the album, while her father has some guitar work on it. Strange Pumpkin’s Kyle Whittaker performs on the rest of the instruments.
Asked if the tracks were arranged in any specific order, Wilson said only the third track was placed in that specific location.
“I put the songs on shuffle and figured out where I liked them … and what sounded good running into each other. It was a lot of work.”
Wilson said she’ll work on a second album, but probably not for a while as she concentrates on getting Sincerely out to the public and performing her songs for audiences across Niagara.
“I’m really excited for everybody to hear my music,” she says.
“It’s a fun album, there’s something for everyone. There’s some sad music and some happy music, mostly happy.”
While Sincerely features all of her own work, Wilson said her performances have featured cover songs, everything from 1970s music to Top 40.
And though she loves older bands such as Fleetwood Mac, she also likes pop singers Katy Perry and Lady Gaga and describes her songs as falling in that genre.
Wilson has a busy July schedule, with only two days that she isn’t performing. August and September performing dates are also starting to fill up.
“I’m dedicating my life to this right now.,” she says.
“I do want to continue with the pop sound, but I want to explore indie and folk music.”
Wilson, who books all of her own gigs and does all of her own marketing, says Sincerely will be released on numerous music streaming services such as iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Tidal and Amazon.
On Thursday she holds an album release party at the Black Sheep Lounge at 64 Niagara St. in Welland. The release party gets underway at 7 p.m., and she’ll have CDs available for people that want a hard copy of her music.
“Lucas (Spinosa, owner of Black Sheep Lounge) and I are friends and he’s supported me since he opened. I was one of the first people to perform there … he’s always had my back. I love the atmosphere there, it’s quaint and quiet.”
For more information and to follow Wilson on her various social media sites, visit www.jessicawilson.ca.