Now this is the FCB Podcast Network. This is Spacci's Pass. Hi everybody, and welcome into another episode of Backstage Pass. It's your host here, Victoria Elizabeth, and I am here with the one the only, Jesse Landers. He is the frontman, the creator, the lead singer of Yes Ma'am the band. Jesse. How are you? I'm good, Victoria, how are you doing good? Good? I'm doing great. Listen. Thank you so much for taking time to talk to us. I feel like this interview has been a little while coming for those of you who keep up with all of my other channels. Jesse just had me on his podcast, The Georgia's Songbirds. He does an excellent job with that and interviews so many people from Grammy Award winners to everything in between. Now, Jesse, take us back to the start, because you do so much in music. How did this all begin for you? Wow? Well, when I was If you go back to the start, it's probably when I was fourteen. That was when my grandfather taught me how to play guitar. Before he died. He taught me the basic chords. The GCD, which any country arts to tell you that's all the chords you need is those three chords. In the Truth, Yeah, and that's where it started. And then but I wrote poems before that, and as I got older, I wanted to learn how to put the poems to the music. So as I learned the chords and I would play as best I could, I would eventually write more and more. And because I'm not big on theory, I don't know theory. What I would always. Do is the Eagles is probably my favorite band of all time, and so I would take there. Now, you got like guitar tabs and stuff, but at that time and they didn't have guitar tabs or YouTube, they had the actual books. So I would take the books. The tab sheets, and I would copy their chord progression when I would write my songs because they knew theory, so I didn't need to know it. I would just use theirs and then I would learn by additions. So the more I did it, the better I'd learn. And eventually i'd start getting like books for chord different chord progressions, or I'd find something new just by accident, and I would sit down and write songs to it. Nice. Now, tell us what is your What was your main inspiration behind writing songs. Was it just you know, you love poetry and just wanted to write. Were you writing about things that you experienced? And in your opinion, what is the anatomy of just a really good song. Well, let's start with the song anatomy first, because to me, when I tell all my guests to come on the show, I believe everybody has that hit song in them. You just got to find They say there's formulas, but it's really it's going to depend on the listener because once you put that song out there, it's no longer your song, it's their song. So you got to find something that resonates with everybody. And for me, it's always the first thing you're gonna hear in a song. Is the production, So you gotta have some good music. You gotta have something that catches their ear. The second thing is gonna be the tone of the singer, so you gotta like the way they sound. And third, you gotta have a hook. You gotta have something that somebody can remember the song, because how many pop songs and popular songs that you can sing. You only can sing the hook. You do only sing the chorus. You don't know the words. I think if you get all that together, then. They start listening to the words part of it. And that's where I've always enjoyed is doing stories of songs. And honestly, I found that I was good at poetry by mistake. I had a project to do for my eighth grade lit class and we had to write a five hundred word essay. I hated writing essays. I could not figure out how many more words to put in there. I just wanted to use and and uh and with and. So I decided to write a poem called freedom Speech about the Bill Rights and pronown to me my mother. You know, parents love their kids. They have beer goggles on sometimes. But she she took it and to the local radio station and she had them play it on the station. So I got to come on and read it out loud, which. At that time, you know this, but the this restored I had a speech impediment, so I did not like talking. So I was very self conscious of what I was doing. But I went on to the thing because I mean, how many times you get the opportunity to go be on a radio station as a kid, or even as you get older. So I go and I read the poetry, and I read the poem out loud and I'm like, okay, great. I got the little tape recording of it. It was cute. Thought that was it. Well, my mom and her wisdom decided to give the tape to my English teacher, and my English. Teacher went and played it for every class well I had, or like last period of the day. So on like seventh period, I'm walking in. A buddy of mine's telling me, hey, I like your poem. Good job, and I'm like, what are you talking about. Well, that's when I found out my mom gave the poem to her. Wow, And that's where that's kind of where that's where it started. I've always been good a word because I was with sports and football and weight training. You couldn't really be a poet if you're doing all these sports at that time when. I was growing up. Sure, that is what That's really interesting, Jesse. You know one thing that kind of going back to, you know, you had a speech impediment growing up. I've heard a lot of people. You know, melt Hillis and many others who maybe singing perform did that call Did you still struggle when you were singing publicly with the speech impediment or do you feel like music was therapeutic to you in that. Way at all. I didn't really struggle. That was the funny thing about it. You mentioned mel tell Us. He was a big inspiration for me because he stuttered, but when he sang, that stuttered on the way and whatever reason. I mean, I don't know why it does that, but I'm like, okay, well, then I'm going to sing and maybe it'd go away. And the way I would sing is when you first start. A lot of songwriters, a lot of artists, they got to find their voice. I was the same way. Mine was more I was afraid to say certain words, but I would always emulate artists like I would do Elvis. I was when I was a kid. I could I could sound like Elvis, and I used to do them all the time. My mom would have me do karaoke to the day she died of Elvis because I could hit the dat his voice and it was George Strait. Because I got in the country and I like, I love his sound. I didn't even let George Strait and then eventually I found my own voice, and it's just it went from there and I'm like, okay, well, it gets me out of my comfort zone to sing in front of crowds and to do the podcast. And that's why I do it, because I'm like, I've got to get used to it. I've got to make myself comfortable, or at least to the point where even I'm not comfortable, I can do it over and over and not be afraid to do it, because I'm very big on like, no crutches for stuff. I just I want to fight through it and make sure that I do it. I do it, of course, of course, just do it. You know. Sometimes that's the little Nike symbol. You just have to tell yourself that time and time again. Now, Jesse, you do you're somewhat of a renaissance man when it comes to music. You have so many different things going on, and we'll be sharing these links by the way, if you want to check out his podcast and just all the amazing things that he's doing. But you have your band, yes, ma'am, so tell us. First, I'm really curious when did the band start? You know, what inspired you to kick off this band? And then yes, ma'am, where does that come from the title. Well, yes, ma'am. If you when you're looking it up, it's yes, and then you spell ma'amm dot A dot M. It stands for middle aged men. I love it. I love it. It started because again when I'm playing out, it was very nerve wracking to play out in front of a lot of people. Yeah, so that more people on stage with you better. So I have a buddy, Jordan, who was a friend of mine. I met him when I met my wife. He was friends with her and we became best friends. And so he played bass and saxophone. So I said, this is gonna start a band. Let's just play, and so we did. We went out, started playing me and him, and that was in twenty seventeen, and it kind of grew from there. It's been through. If anybody has been in a band, you know the struggles the bands have, finding drummers, finding singers, finding guitarists. It took until this year to actually get a version of Yes, ma'am that is putting out music and actually getting to play. That's wow. Well, so anybody out there discouraged because music is you know, working in fashion and the different areas of media, I've been able to see myself just it is very very difficult. So let me let me kind of just footnote on that. Did you ever get to a point Jesse? You know you started in twenty seventeen. Just now in twenty twenty six, you're kind of feeling like you've got the momentum consistency. Did you ever have. A moment that you just felt like, man, I just want to this isn't worth it. I want to give up. Did you ever kind of get to that point? Oh? Absolutely. It's funny you asked that because we did a Battle of the Bands here in Woodstock, Georgia, close to where I live, and we won, and it's not a little bit older iteration of the band we won. It was like twenty twenty yeah, twenty twenty three. Okay, Well, the day after we won, I was like, okay, let's keep the momentum going. We couldn't do any more practice. As the guys kind of went there on separate ways. They had job because we all middle eight men, so we all have responsible theason work, and it's just something that we couldn't really help, So we all kind of went our separate ways. And I'm like, well, twenty twenty five. Rose around and I'm like, all right, I've got the podcast I'll just focus on doing the podcast. I really don't have time for it anyway, No big deal. Well, Mike, who's my guitarist now, he was my last lead guitarist, and yes, ma'am. In twenty twenty three, him and his dad played in the band. They had a band that had fallen apart and they needed a singer. And he called me and he said, do you suggested, do you want to come to the band? We'll do their songs. You can sing and. This. You know, people ask me to, but I prefer writing the music. Said yeah, I'll do it, we'll play and that that took off to what it is now. And I said, we just headlined our first show. We're starting to get more and more playing time out there, so it's it was funny. Yeah, I would Actually I was actually walking away that point when they called me. I was just gonna focus on the podcast, sure, and focus on, you know, helping other people, you. Know, And and sometimes it's like that, you can call it a sign from from God, a sign from the universe that you know, just keep pushing, uh, And sometimes you really need just that little something to keep you pushing for it. And and Jesse, I'm so glad you did, because you do so much, and you do so much for other people, you know, other songwriters and things like that. So, but we're gonna talk a little bit more about the Georgia's Songbirds because I want to make sure we have you know, a lot of people in music that listen. I want want to make sure they get connected with you. But a few more things about yes, ma'am, So I see some of the music you have. This ain't that song Pretty in the Dark? Now are these all songs that you have exclusively written or was it more of a team effort? Uh, They're all written by me. But when we get to the band, they had a band. The band kind of helped. Up with melodies and stuff on a lot of it. Just traighten it out, this Ain't that song? Because I have I have a songwriter profile, and I have the s man profile. Yeah, I write generally one hundred percent of all the songs. Yeah. But this this iteration of the band is probably one of the most talented I've ever been around, because every one of them not only are musicians, but they're songwriters. Wow. And so it's fun. To get involved with this big group of musicians to share music and kind of bounce ideas off of it. Yeah, so yeah, I mean I can write words and music, but sometimes there's licks and there's drum beats or something. It's more collaborative now at this point, I take them what I have and they. Just make it better. So these songs that you you know, this ain't That song, Pretty in the Darken and you have a great catalog of music. Are these all do you write based on personal experiences, things that you've gone through, or do you maybe get random inspiration and write from that. What does that process look like for you? Well, each one's different, So we'll we'll go with the two songs that you mentioned first off of this Ain't That song. I wanted to write a song. I was just sitting there wanting to play write a sad song. I was like, let me write a sad song that's kind of got a Nashville twist to it. And for me, it was about songwriters write about. Other people's lives and that's how they kind of communicate their own stories to other people to help somebody learn. So I'm like, well, who writes a story for the songwriter because they're on the stage telling stories. But what happens about their personal lives and their stories, and so the song is saying that song is telling you. It kind of goes it brings you up to tell you about a story about his love song, and you know, people cry, but it ain't the song right, And it jove my wife crazy because she said you would bring me up and then you would bring me back down. And I'm like, well, that's kind of the point of the song. But it is one of my favorites. It turned out so great song. Thank you. It actually is kicking off the I want to do an album call the Greatest Hits You've Never Heard, And I've did kind of like an audiover you of it, which is kind of like demos and guitar tracks stuff like that. So we all know as musicians that people don't listen to streams don't count a lot, and so we know nobody really listens. That's why I named it the Greatest it You've Never Heard? That that that's that's gonna kick that one off. The Pretty and the Pretty in the Dark actually has a funnier story. It actually started with my cousin years ago before I met my wife. I was going through divorce and we were sitting outside on the porch and uh, we were a little contacted. I don't know how much you can say on your show. You open book, Okay. Uh. He was high and I was contacted aside him, I was sitting there and I wrote two songs that night. I wrote Cotton Candy Weed. I can't remember. I can't remember a word of it, but at the time is great that I wrote Pretty in the Dark and Pretty in the Dark. It was different than it is now, but I always liked that title and that's a good that's such a good hook. Yeah, And so that's where Pretty the Dark came in from. So it's it's the story itself is dark, but when people listen to it because the music is so fast. That's the good thing about rock is people get lost in the music before they listen to the words, but the music gets to move them, gets some dancing. The story itself, though, is about I took it as a as somebody who's trying to find love but is fooling themselves because they're not in love with themselves. But to them, everybody's pretty in the dark. So you don't have to be anything book, which you will imagine, but that's not how it works. Oh okay, I love that. I kind of picked that up a little bit from here, but it's it's interesting to hear like the story behind it, and it's those are just I mean, they're all great songs. Those two in particular really really stood out a lot, and it's I always love to hear the storyline, the inspiration behind the song. Now for everyone listening, we're going to share all of these links, the songwriter profile, Spotify, all of that, so you can check out all of the music because it's really some great original stuff on there. Now, Jesse, you not. Only are a musician a songwriter, but you like to pay it forward because you do a lot to promote other songwriters, musicians and whatnot as well through The Georgia Songbirds. So that is your podcast. Tell us when did you start the podcast and why the. Song The Georgia Songbird started in twenty nineteen and I started. That basically said pay it for it. I wanted to network and kind of help other songwriters in the local community here in Georgia. I thought, Okay, I don't know if ibody's going to talk to me, but we'll give a shot. Podcasts or taken off. Let's do it. Yeah, Well, I started twenty nineteen and it just started taking off because I knew a lot of writers from Nashville from my time in Nashville playing and writing, and I knew, of course the local scene that I play at. And it just grew and grew and grew. And then covid hit and guests stopped coming to the house, which I understood. I had a mother who was sick. I didn't want her around it. They didn't want to be around her. So we started. I started reaching out and doing more digital. I learned how to do zoom and all that stuff, and so it just opened up more and more people that I could talk to. I've talked to people in Australia, I've talked to people in Canada, UK, I mean all over the world, and I've met a lot of them, became friends with a lot of them, played with a lot of them out even Nashville. And it's funny how it's worldwide that we're such a tight knit community. Absolutely, and so from there it just grew. So when covid hit, I started doing the countdown, which we have a weekly talked ten countdown. Anybody that's listening to as an artist songwriter, please reach out to me, come on a show that we have a conversation style. It go awhile I do talk, we do get into conversations, but we listen to your music and we listen to your story. And for me, as a songwriter, that's always what I cared about was stories. Of course, to pay it forward, I was like, Okay, let me do this. It's a good networking opportunity for me. It's a good way to get people's music heard. It's just a fun time for everybody. And it's it's music. I mean, it's not brain surgery. It should be shared. Cot it just it went from there, so I mean, that's kind of how it started. In twenty nineteen. I've got over five hundred episodes out. I released them usually every one every week. Holidays kind of mess it up sometimes, but and then I do the Countdown. I do a live show every Friday night at six now where we hear fifteen independent artists. I let them vote, and the way I set it up that way is. So that they can promote because and you know this, as an independent artist, nobody's going to promote you but you. That's true and. So the better you get at it, I think the more you grow. And I've had people actually tell me that their numbers on Spotify way up. They've got opportunities to play from being on a show, And to me, that just tooks me to death. I think it's great that they that model a show which people said. They heard it's got somebody attention. That's what it's for, absolutely, and I love that that's really what it's all about. And for those of you that when you listen to his show, it's so conversational, it's like having a cup of coffee with a friend. It's really easy, natural, and I just enjoyed it so much and have enjoyed listening in on the episode. So we're gonna post all of those links. Jesse. I know I've kept you. You're just you're so easy to talk to. I've I've kept us about twenty minutes. Now I'm gonna leave us with this, and then I'm gonna let you share your links, which we're also going to be sharing how people can connect with you and whatnot. But my last question for you is this, if you could have any dream guest at all, any singer, songwriter, musician on the Georgia Songbirds. Who would it be and why? Oh wow, that's such a load of question. I'm gonna I'm gonna go with someone who's still living, because i mean, I know a lot of people would love. Talked to be over the Elvis. George Jones because my papau or Katie Owsen because it's my parents' song. But I'm gonna go with Dolly Parton. Oh yeah, Dolly has I would love to get Dollie on my show, and I've said it on multiple episodes. And I've like had hashtag Dollie. And I know she may not take interviews anymore, maybe she will if she's listening, Dolly please come on. But it's she is such an inspiration not only for women's songwriters but for songwriters in general. And she does so such amazing work, and she's got her. Hand into everything, and just to pick her brain, just to be around her for an hour or so, right, would would be okay. It would just be so great to listen. And I've learned so much. I probably wouldn't talk as much because I'd probably be so starstruck just listening to Dolly. But she always kind of reminded me of my granny too. She's just one of those ladies that would tell you how it was, and she's honest, and it'd be damned who you know, if you like her, don't like her, you. Just how she is absolutely Dolly is. I mean, I've I've been fortunate enough to be friends with some of her family members, her nieces and the whole family. They just have this light about them. And Dolly, like you said, she's into everything. She just everything she touches turns to gold. So we're gonna put it out in the universe right now, Dolly pardon, if you hear this, you gotta get on the Georgia Songbirds because I know everybody would just be tickled to death to hear from you. Now, Jesse, if you could leave us with this, how do we connect with you? Social media handles, websites, anything like that. Yeah, thesiest way is, of course, there's the social media, the Georgia Songbirds on Instagram, Facebook, Georgiasombirds dot com. If you want to go to the website and see all the podcast for the band. It's Yes ma'am Music on Instagram and it's just why Yes m a M Music on Instagram. You can find us on Facebook. But the problem with Facebook is I didn't realize how many yes ma'am bands really okay. Yes, and they wouldn't let me put dots in it. So if you just do the yes and then mam capitalized together no dots, you should be able to find us. Well, we can go to Jesse Landers and that'll take you to take you everywhere. To Jesse James Landers on Facebook is my Facebook page for my songwriter and page, but I'm everywhere. If you google the Georgia Songbird, that's gonna be the fastest and easiest way to get to me because that's the first thing that pops up and it will take you. And I say that one more all the time. Anyway, wonderful. We're going to be sharing all of that so you can get connected with not only Yes ma'am the band, but also the Georgia's Songbirds. Jesse, thank you so much for taking time to join us today. Of course, thank you Victory for having me and for coming on the show the other day. And I hope everybody in your family is doing well. Thank you, thank you so much. I appreciate that. And to all of you listening, thank you so much for joining us, wishing you blessings for the rest of the twenty twenty six year. We will catch you next time on backstage pass. The existant people of Pas
