Creator Spotlight with Singer/Songwriter Jaimee Harris
Photographer: Brandon Aguilar
This week we’d like to introduce you to singer/songwriter Jaimee Harris. Her most popular music video, “Good Morning, My Love” has garnered more than 112k views. After you read her spotlight blog, follow her on Instagram, and check out her music on YouTube and Spotify.
What was the inspiration behind becoming a creator? What do you enjoy most about the creative process?
When I was five years old, I could not stop listening to a Christmas song recorded by Emmylou Harris called “Light of the Stable.” I was totally mesmerized by the recording. I later found out the backing vocals are Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, and Dolly Parton. My little mind was absorbing four of the most powerful voices on the planet at once and it rearranged my DNA. I got my first guitar that Christmas.
I was very heavy as a kid and just as unusual then as I am now. I hadn’t yet learned how to embrace my unusual qualities or how to alchemize my weirdness in art. I did figure out early on that playing guitar and singing provided a layer of social protection for me I desperately needed. It was something most kids at my school couldn’t do at that age. In elementary school, three of the most popular girls wanted to sing “Wide Open Spaces” for the talent show but couldn’t find a track. I offered to play guitar for them because I had played the song hundreds of times in my bedroom on my Baby Taylor. After the talent show, the bullying slowed down. I had found a way to survive.
Once I started writing songs at the age of fourteen, I began to experience the power of alchemy that songwriting provides. I was not conscious of what I was doing as a songwriter or what was happening to me until I got sober at the age of 23. Now that I’ve intellectualized my process a little bit, one of the greatest joys I experience as a songwriter is fully trusting the mystery of the process.
It’s now been my experience that if I surrender my will and follow the song to wherever it wants to take me it will often grow into something much bigger than me and my ego. By allowing the song to grow into what it wants to become it can often be a vehicle for service that connects me to others in a way I likely wouldn’t be able to without the work.
Can you talk through your creative process? How long does it take? Does everything you produce make money?
One of my favorite things about songwriting is that my process has been different for each song I’ve helped midwife. Overall, I am a very slow artist. I used to not be that way, but as I’ve refined my editing process I have found myself taking longer to complete songs. It’s often been my experience that songs are born before I have the life experience to finish them. I have to hang in there, live a little longer, and then circle back when I’m able to bring them over the finish line. The songs are always ahead of me.
I’m this way, when it comes to albums, too. I still love the album format and believe in a sonically and thematically cohesive piece of artwork. Until my gut fully clicks in on how I should proceed, I won’t move forward. It’s possible that’s been a detriment to me and something I need to revisit but for now that is how I work.
After I released my first record, Red Rescue, I did notice I started putting more pressure on myself as a writer. In a strange way, I can be intimidated by my own body of work.
I’ve had to work to get back into writing for the sake of writing. Not writing thinking “this song will be recorded” or “this song will be played on stage.” I have to tell the editor “please go sit in the corner for a while” so I can keep the playfulness of creation alive. If I create with the intention of everything being heard by someone else it limits my creative output. I’ve learned some songs need to be written and not heard by anyone else so I can move forward as a person and create room for the next creative expression.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about your line of work?
I’m not sure if it’s the biggest, but the misconception I often face is that every song written by a troubadour in my genre is autobiographical. We are writers! Each song is being sung from the perspective of a narrator that may or may not be me. The song I’m most proud of, “Boomerang Town,” is written from the perspective of a seventeen year old boy.
Knowing that also helps dissolve the misconception that an artist must be tortured in some way in order to create. I have been sober for over ten years and in a wonderfully fulfilling, joyful romantic relationship for six years.
What is the best piece of advice that you would give other creators in your field about copyright and how to protect themselves?
Even if you are not currently monetizing your creative efforts, it’s always wise to protect your work by registering them for copyright.
How has AI technology impacted your works and career?
It’s difficult to measure the impact of AI in my life as it’s so insidious. I do hope the law can catch up quickly to the unprecedented rapid changes in technology. Perhaps it’s naive, but am holding on to the hope that there will always be a place on this planet for the troubadour.
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