If you aren’t yet familiar with the name Jill Andrews then now is the time to get familiar! In fact, if you are a country music fan then you probably already know some of her work, especially if you watched the TV shows Nashville, Grey’s Anatomy, This Is Us and Wynonna Earp.

Andrews work is sensational! The beauty and serenity in both the lyrics and melodies are breathtakingly easy to listen to.

Her new Album Modern Age is out now and available everywhere through Vulture Vulture/Tone Tree Music.

Modern Age stands at the intersection of memory lane and tomorrow; a stunning reflection on childhood and changing times, and the complexities of simultaneously looking back and moving forward. Stream or purchase Modern Age HERE.

Produced by Lucas Morton at 4115 Studios, Modern Age features thoughtful and brilliant performances by an all-star cast of musicians including Tyler Chester (Sara Bareilles, Jackson Brown, Madison Cunningham), Juan Solorzano (Becca Mancari, Mary Gauthier, Michaela Anne), Graham Bechler (Erin Rae, Allen Stone), Anthony Da Costa (Sunny War, Molly Tuttle, Yola), and special guests Ben Cramer (Old Sea Brigade) and Becca Mancari on backing vocals.

We caught up with Jill at The Long Road Festival to discuss her time there, her album Modern Age and more! An amazing career, Jill has so much to share and is one of those artists that we could have easily sat down and talked with all day!

How are you? How has your day been so far?

It’s been really fun!

How was your set?

I played at 12.45 it was very fun, it was a great turnout, played a bunch of songs from my new record!

Yes, we love that album! Tell us about the album Modern Age!

So Modern Age, I wrote it over the course of a few years and kind of the impetus for it was travelling back to my hometown in East Tennessee. One of my friends had actually passed away and I went to sing at her memorial service so I got to go up there by myself.

As a mum, it’s hard to have time yourself and the brain space that comes with it. So I was up there and I was able to just really like take it all in you know? Drive around my old neighbourhood, walk around, drive by old high school and just really remember a lot of my growing up!

I don’t think about the past much, I think about the present and I think about the future. That’s kind of where my brain lies most of the time. That space really allowed me to sit with those memories a little bit. Some of them were so beautiful! Such beautiful memories coming back like rollerblading in the parking lot with one of my old boyfriends. We used to have the sweetest, most innocent relationship and I used to always ask him to pretend like we were figure skaters haha! It’s in one of my songs, I write about this but I would like go in circles and he would spin me around and I would jump into his arms haha! Such silly, silly stuff but the silly stuff makes the best memories. I thought about all of that kind of stuff.

So I was writing it from my perspective now and kind of comparing it to now! There’s a little bit of comparing it to my kids childhood which is vastly different from mine. Mourning the loss of things before I Phones were in our pockets and things like that!

That’s interesting because I have those conversations with my kids as I am sure you do, about the days before IPhones and how easily attainable things are these days! Appreciating going to Blockbuster video and such!

Yes! I know! You had to go out of your and be entertained!

Yes, and to buy a CD!!

Yeah! You had to really want it! You had to really want to listen to it! You had to be invested in the artist, to take a chance on it!

That’s quite nice now for artists I guess more so now than back then. If someone buys a physical copy of an album now, it probably means a bit more!

Yeah, it does carry more weight when people come up and buy a vinyl or cd because they want to take it home and have it, they want to keep it! They want to see the liner notes and all that!

You have a song called 80’s baby! As an 80’s baby myself it’s very reminiscent to my childhood. What springs to mind as soon as I say 80’s?

The 80’s brings to mind freedom and exploration. I think about riding my bike to all of my friend’s houses to see who could hang out. I think about playing kick the can with neighborhood kids on summer nights. I remember listening to Elton John and Micheal Jackson in my room with the lyrics of the cassette tape spread out on my floor. I remember writing short stories about outlandish dramatic fictional scenes in my three ring binder.

What childhood toys did you have? What music were you listening to? What bad or good fashion were you wearing?

For toys I had all the standard 80’s gear like Popples, Polly Pockets, a Pogo Ball (did everything start with a P in the 80’s??) The music I listened to was eclectic. I loved John Denver, Kenny Rogers, Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Emmylou Harris. As far as fashion was concerned, I didn’t do anything too crazy but I had Keds, I wore scrunchies in my hair, I wore a good bit of spandex.

What is your favourite 80’s movie?

My favorite 80’s movie was Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. I remember there was a period of time if you bought a value meal at McDonalds, you would get a free vhs tape of one of the Indiana Jones’ movies. It was brilliant. I had the whole collection. I also loved Back to the Future and Die Hard.

Can we ask about Lisa who is mentioned in the song? (80’s Baby)

Yes, Lisa was my best friend in elementary school. She lived just up the hill from me. We played on the same basketball team together. Her parents let her watch MTV, which mine didn’t, so naturally, I would devour it when I was at her house. She also had a Super Nintendo which was more advanced than my O.G. version which I basically only played Duck Hunt on. Lisa was a really great friend. I haven’t talked to her in years but I hear she is doing well.

How do songs in TV show come to be selected? You released Tell That Devil yourself which Hayden Panettiere sings in the show! What did you make of that version as on the show, it’s aimed at a pop country audience but I loved how dark it was in comparison to what else the character performed.

My songs are pitched by my sync company to shows like Nashville and Grey’s Anatomy. Sometimes I also write songs specifically for shows but that is more rare for me. I loved the version on Nashville. I thought it was very cool to have a song that could be used like a huge pop song. Because most of my catalog is more low key.

Modern Age was written over a few years- what song was the biggest challenge to write and what was the quickest?

Boundless Love took years because it sat on a shelf unfinished until I felt like it was time to work on it again.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time was the quickest song. I wrote it in about an hour.

What song was last to be written for the album?

Boundless Love almost didn’t make it on the album. I had written it years earlier with my friend Trent Dabbs. We hadn’t finished it but it always lived in the back of my head cause I loved it. I brought the voice memo to my producer Lucas Morton and he told me I had to finish it and it had to go on the record. It felt like the perfect last song. My love for nature is encapsulated in this song and this love was very much developed in my childhood, spending so much time outdoors exploring.

Were there any songs that didn’t quite make the album that you wish did and will perhaps be released in the future?

There were a few, there always are. There is a song called Maze that hasn’t made the last two records. I love it but it hasn’t really fit the themes I was going for. Maybe I’ll release it as a single in the future. We will see.

How do you choose what producer to work with?

Oh! The producer I worked with, his name is Lucas Morton and he produced my last full record which is called Thirties. I loved it so much! He is one of my really good friends. He is an amazingly talented musician – he is a multi instrumentalist so he plays keys and guitar and bass and he sings. He is just incredible. He plays with me live a lot as well. It was kind of a no brainer! I played some of the songs to him and he was really into it and really loving the songs!

Did any of the songs sound completely different from the writers room to full production?

Oh for sure! A lot of the songs that I write just start out on piano or guitar. That’s why I work with a producer because they can really see the song at a grand scale that I can sometimes do but often I can’t. My brain doesn’t work like that!

It must be amazing to be able to turn a song into something even more creative!

Oh it’s an incredible skill for sure!

You have a couple of songs that are in TV shows. I was particularly interested in which songs were in Nashville?

I have had several in Nashville! Sanctuary, Tell That Devil! I don’t know if I am going to remember them all but there were like seven songs. A lot of them were sung by the young girls (Lennon and Maisy).

What song of yours is your children’s favourite?

Ha! I don’t know, that’s a great question! You know it’s funny! My daughter loves music! She really does, I would love for you to ask her that. She does listen to my music quite a bit. I don’t know what her favourite song of mine is, she kind of listens to the whole album equally! It’s sweet, she also has a lot of musical talent, you can just tell. My son really could care less! Honestly I think if he was here right now he’d be like “I don’t know” haha because he is 14. Even when he was 7, he is an awesome kid but I don’t think he is really into music. I think one day he will be, I don’t know if it will ever be mine but I am sure he respects it! He is very smart!

You are back in October! Well September/October…

Yes! I am starting out in late September in Northern Ireland. Then I am going to be meeting up with my band and playing over in England, Wales and Scotland.

Have you been to all those places before?

I have never been to Ireland!

Thank you so much for chatting today

Thank you, I appreciate it!

UK/European Tour Dates:

27 August – The Long Road Festival – Interstate Stage @ 12:45pm
29 September – Derry, Northern Ireland, UK @ St. Augustine’s Church (w/ Rosborough)
30 September – Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK @ Black Box (w/ Paul Casey)
2 October – Manchester, UK @ Band on the Wall
3 October – Cardiff, UK @ Acapela
4 October – London, UK @ Green Note
5 October – Southampton, UK @ The 1865
6 October – Bangor, UK @ Blue Sky Café
7 October – Glasgow, Scotland, UK @ Classic Grand Social Lounge
8 October – Liverpool, UK @ Liverpool Philharmonic (w/ St. Catherine’s Child)

ABOUT JILL ANDREWS:
From her years as a founding member of the celebrated Alt-Country band The Everybodyfields, to her critically acclaimed solo career, to her latest collaboration, Hush Kids, which she co-founded with Nashville songwriter and producer, Peter Groenwald, Andrews has delivered irresistibly melodic, genre-bending music for nearly two decades spanning three full-length albums, four EP’s, and countless singles. Her music has garnered over 200 million streams across DSPs with a following of nearly 700,000 monthly listeners. She’s collaborated with artists such as Seth Avett, Buddy Miller, and Langhorne Slim, as well as toured and shared the stage with The Avett Brothers, The Secret Sisters, Drew Holcomb, Watchhouse, Joan Osborne, and Willie Nelson among others. Anchored by frank songwriting but continuously and unapologetically evolving, Andrews’ tape deck hosts a range of influences from Joni Mitchell to Diana Ross to Wilco to contemporaries, Brandi Carlile and Phoebe Bridgers. The result is bold, infectious, introspective music that NPR Music called “transfixing” and Rolling Stone hailed as “gorgeous, gentle” while American Songwriter praised her “expertly crafted songs.” Her music has also served as the backdrop to some of America’s most beloved television series including Grey’s Anatomy, This Is Us, Nashville, and Wynnona Earp, to which she composed the theme.