Jessie Veeder

Artist Information

Biography

The The High Plains Reader of Fargo, ND calls 26 year-old Jessie “A siren of the first order. A gorgeous voice that pulls you under and refuses to let you go.” With unique and interestingly beautiful vocals, Jessie’s lyrics and music swell with references to her own experiences growing up, moving on and returning to the ranch she calls home in Western North Dakota. “My music is often quite personal, but I have found that from Chicago to Houston, twenty-somethings and fifty-somethings alike can relate to what I write…the push and pull between the comfort of home and the concern about how we fit in the big, wide world out there.”

Jessie has been traveling solo nationwide, touring colleges, universities and coffeehouses around the country since signing with W2, a booking agency out of Nashville, TN four years ago. She has also been busy promoting music from her two albums “This Road” and “A Place to Belong.” This winter tour took her from North Dakota to Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri.

Jessie began her musical career singing alongside her father, and at the age of 12, she began penning original compositions with a sound that has been described as progressive, alternative and folk. “The isolation of growing up on a working ranch in Western North Dakota allowed me the freedom and space to develop creatively,” Jessie says of her songwriting. At sixteen Jessie recorded her first original album, “This Road” and at a young age proved herself not only as an accomplished and talented performer, but as a gifted poet and songwriter as well. Audiences were captivated by her honest compositions about the ranching lifestyle and her midwestern surroundings. Her first release quickly sold over 1500 copies.

In 2001, one year after the release of “This Road,” Jessie went across the state to attend college at the University of North Dakota and was offered the chance to tour and perform music nationally with W2, a college booking agency out of Nashville, TN. Jessie toured with W2 while finishing her degree from the UND and in 2005 signed with Barking Dog Records, a label founded to identify outstanding artists from the Upper Midwest. Her latest album, “A Place to Belong” was released in the spring of 2005 and has received rave reviews.

Jessie traveled full time for W2 and was on the road two or three weeks a month. In 2007 she recored a live CD with her hometown band “Lonesome Willy," which is now available on i-Tunes. The release of two original albums and her crowd-pleasing performances have taken Jessie across the country, touring major colleges and coffeehouse venues from Idaho to Massachusetts. With a blend of story telling and crowd interaction, original compositions and music from a variety of artists and songwriters such as Patti Griffin, Lyle Lovett, Jewel, Bruce Springstein, and even Elvis, Jessie reaches out to audience members allowing them to get to know her on a personal level.

Although education and music have taken her away from the buttes of the badlands and the close-knit community of home, Jessie has not forgotten where she came from, and her music continues to reveal this. Whether in a small coffeehouse setting or a jam with a full band, Jessie’s performances deliver honest, personal experiences. Listeners leave her show knowing exactly who Jessie is--and love her for it.

Jessie has shared the stage with, Bobby Vee, Dan Seals, Keri Noble, The Wilkensons, Chuck Suchy among others.


Information on Jessie’s latest release “A Place to Belong”
With unique and beautiful vocals backed by simplistic acoustic instrumentation, Jessie’s lyrics swell with references to her own experiences growing up on a ranch in Western North Dakota and uprooting from the familiar. From rootsy instrumental textures including harmonica, pedal steel, slide and dobro guitar to quirky touches like vibes, cello, accordion and oboe, Jessie’s music on “A Place to Belong” are grounded by her acoustic guitar work and an outstanding rhythm section. Sometimes angry, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes hopeful and often melancholy, her music is rooted in relatable, personal situations. It represents the push and pull of a twenty-something trying to find happiness and a place to belong in a world that often seems too big for a girl from the sticks.

Instrumentation

Jessie Veeder-Guitar and Vocals

Discography

"Sundown" on the Chillout Compilation CD.

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter

Audio

• Hey Romeo
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• Movies
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• Winter Nights
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• Sundown
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• Frozen
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• Heroes Proved
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Lyrics

• Hey Romeo
• Movies
• Winter Nights
• Sundown

Video

Jessie Veeder

Photo Gallery

Press

• July Reviews [+ Show ]
  

  July Reviews Jessie Veeder & Brooks West By Chris Rausch Associate Music Editor Jess...
  
  July Reviews
  Jessie Veeder & Brooks West
  
  By Chris Rausch
  Associate Music Editor
  
  
  
  Jessie Veeder
  A Place to Belong
  Barking Dog Records
  
  Jessie Veeder -- should we be so lucky -- will have a long, healthy career, and eventually succumb to an innate desire to record an album of torch songs, brimming with pain, seduction and candlelit lounges at 3 a.m. Because, underneath the prairie-swept atmosphere on "A Place to Belong," is a woman so smoky, it's a wonder the calm, icy landscape she sings about doesn't reject her on principle.
  Unless, of course, she rejects it first, which seems to be the point. For every countrified inflection, and every sad Dobro strum, is an urge for release and a struggle against escape. The voices in her songs yearn for more, dream of California, and wait for the cruelest of winter to pass, then turn around and realize that "the chill can't stay." If Veeder is the embodiment of young North Dakota, feverishly searching for the title of her album, it paints a haunting portrait of a generation in flux -- frostbitten and winking. When easy contentment is typified with, "I'm just dreaming safe for living's sake," and leaving is equated with a deep sense of hurt, and it all happens within the same three and a half minutes of pop music, the contrast is both impossible and utterly believable.
  Veeder is a siren of the first order - a gorgeous voice that, like the ice in "Winter Nights," pulls you under and refuses to let you go. "A Place to Belong" allows her a venue to put the goods on display but, like the characters in her lyrics, the record is nearly unable to hold her, and in its finest moments -- such as the day-dream antiquity "Movies" -- the seams appear ready to burst. She needn't worry too much, however; whether she stays or goes; it would be hard not to follow.
  
  © 2005 High Plains Reader
  July 28, 2005
  Vol 11, Iss. 45
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Weekend Watch [+ Show ]
  

  Add another name to the talented stable of young female singers who've emerged from Fargo's Barking ...Add another name to the talented stable of young female singers who've emerged from Fargo's Barking Dog Records. Jessie Veeder's debut, "A Place to Belong," crackles with the same earthy spirit as Brenda Weiler's first offering back in 1997. Veeder's Watford City voice doesn't carrry a country twang, but the songwriter gets a kick from producer Mike Coates, members of davis?, Debora Harris and other local musicians. Her subtle combo of contemporary country and pop should secure her some play on local radio.

• Coffeehouse Concert [+ Show ]
  

  Last week, darling North Dakota college student Jessie Veeder played in the SUB. To make the long dr...Last week, darling North Dakota college student Jessie Veeder played in the SUB. To make the long drive, she hitched a ride with her father, who looked on proudly from the small crowd throughout her set. “He’s the one who taught me. He’s my major influence,” the young Veeder said of her dad after her show. Additionally, he credits the remote, which sounds a lot like “remoot” when he says it with a slight North Dakotan accent, location of the Badlands in which she grew up for the development of Jessie’s unique sound. “Isolation helped develop her musical stylings,” he said.
  
  
  The 21-year-old singer/songwriter released her first album when she was 16, and her next release is due out in the coming weeks.
  
  During the show, Veeder played some amazing original acoustic material, and a few covers by the likes of Lyle Lovett, John Denver, and even Elvis. Her father smiled when he heard the Presley tune and said, “I’ve never heard her do an Elvis song before. That’s cool.”
  
  Veeder finishes college this semester and hopes in the coming years to be “keeping music in my life, hopefully doing it for a living,” just as long as she is “in a place in my musical career that I’m comfortable with.”
  
  Judging by how comfortable Jessie Veeder is with being on stage and interacting with her audiences, big things can be expected from this small-town girl.
  
  Come out tonight, please, and support the final show in the CoffeeHouse Concert Series. Student Activities works hard to set up events to keep the student population entertained. Attending a free St. Patrick’s Day musical set is a great way to say thanks and give them feedback for next year.
  
  

• Veeder releases her first CD [+ Show ]
  

  Veeder Releases Her First CD New release a dream come true for young songwriter, singer There is...Veeder Releases Her First CD
  New release a dream come true for young songwriter, singer
  
  There is a voice on the prairie and if you listen closely it will carry you back to a youthful time and place we all find ourselves yearning for from time to time....... How did I grow to be so old when the past is still so near.... writes singer/song-writer Jessie Veeder of Watford City.
  
  Jessie is about to release her first CD titled "This Road.' An accomplishment at any age, but even more impressive for someone not yet graduated from high school.
  
  There are seven songs on the CD which will be available around the first of the new year. The songs included in "This Road' were all written by Jessie and best of all were written from the heart.
  
  
  "My father taught me to play guitar when I was 12 and has been behind me all the way. I started writing poetry when I was very young. By 15 I was putting poetry to music and some of these early works are on this CD," commented Jessie. "Growing up on a ranch in North Dakota will always be a big part of who I am, and many aspects of my prairie existence are reflected in my music."
  
  Jessie has performed for several major audiences in the Plains states. Last year she sang at the National High School Rodeo in Gillette, WY. Jessie recently opened for the Wilkinson's at the amphitheater in Medora. The Wilkinson's are a musical group that has been nominated has been nominated for the Country Music Association's Horizon Award.
  
  Jessie described her Medora experience as a magical setting for a North Dakota performer. "It was a beautiful evening and that view overlooking the Badlands is magnificent. I think the audience could feel this special aura too. I felt a connection to the audience that night and I think they felt it too."
  
  Jessie was accompanied by Tim Melby, Mike Enderud and her father who had this to say of the concert. "She really knows how to charm an audience. She connected with the Medora audience and they loved her. They gave her two standing ovations."
  
  Her father played a major role in the production of the 'This Road' as did local recording artist Tim Melby of Melby Studios in Watford City.. Melby arranged each piece of music for Jessie and also layered the instrumentals for the background music.
  
  "Gene was the executive director and took responsibility for the overall creative decisions," commented Melby. "His perspective and creative choices added tremendously to the final product."
  
  "During the course of creating the CD Jessie and Tim developed a sort of artistic familial relationship that was interesting to watch evolve," shared Gene. "We could have recorded this music anywhere, but the individual attention and artistic sensitivity Tim shared with Jessie would have been impossible to duplicate."
  
  'This Road' as described by Melby has an Alternative/Folk sound. "This is a very creative and entirely original album that evokes Jessie's deep sensitivity for life on the prairie. Because of this originality it was an intriguing project and working with Jessie and Gene made it a totally pleasurable experience."
  
  Though Jessie has yet to choose a college her plans include courses in writing and journalism. "I love writing, poetry and want to continue my writing and my music while in college. In the meantime I will continue to play at folk festivals and other musical events around the state."
  
  There is an artistic grace that is consistent throughout 'This Road.' Jessie shares an introspective honesty which she expresses through her provocative lyrics and soulful melodies.
  
  'This Road' is poetry set to music, prairie-born, and like a prairie wind is filled with the promise of greater things to come.
  
  
  
  
  

Setlist

A blend of original and others' music

Originals:
Dust
Storm
If I were a man
Hollywood
Hush
Secret
Movies
Heroes Proved
Fairytales
Hey Romeo
Frozen
November Song
Winter Nights
Driving
This Road
White Horses

Covers:

Stay-Lisa Loeb
You were meant for me-Jewel
Wild Horses-Rolling Stones
Morning-Iris Dement
You can sleep while I Drive-Trisha Yearwood
Scorpion-Lucy Kaplansky
Making Pies-Patty Griffin
Drunken Angel-Lucinda Williams
Side of the Road-Lucinda Williams
Comes from the heart-Guy Clark/Kathy Matea
Speed of the Sound-John Prine
Waltzing Fool-Lyle Lovett
Sensitive-Jewel
Wishing For you-Keven Welch
If I should fall-Bruce Springsteen
Fools Rush In-Elvis Presely
Jet Plane-John Denver
Promise Me-Lucy Kaplansky
My old friend the blues-Steve Earle
When You Say Nothing at All-Allison Krause

Basic Requirements

Calendar