Jessie Baylin

Jessie Baylin first appeared toward the close of the 2000s, bringing a warm, rootsy approach that wove together folk, pop, country, and jazz while evoking the classic singer/songwriters of the 1970s. Across later releases, many produced by indie mainstay Richard Swift, her work grew more exploratory, as heard on the torchy Little Spark from 2012 and the psychedelically-touched Dark Place issued in 2015. After the 2018 children’s album Strawberry Wind and the passing of her collaborator Swift, Baylin stayed largely out of the spotlight until her fifth album, Jersey Girl, arrived in 2022.

Raised in Gillette, New Jersey, she began performing young by singing at her parents’ bar and restaurant, the Fire Sight Inn. Steeped in the work of Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell, Ella Fitzgerald, and Stevie Nicks, she did not begin writing her own material until years afterward, once she had finished high school and moved to Los Angeles. After refining her craft privately, she surfaced with a set of demos that fused her jazz, country, and pop/rock leanings. Those recordings, paired with regular appearances at L.A. venues such as the Mint and the Hotel Café, led to a contract with Verve Forecast, which issued her debut album, Firesight, in 2008. Cut alongside Norah Jones collaborator Jesse Harris and producer Robert Moutenot, the record established Baylin as a fresh talent distinguished by strong songwriting, a rootsy vocal style, and polished production. Around the same period she became engaged to Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill, relocated to Nashville, and married him the following year.

She departed Verve Forecast and, while pregnant, tracked her next project with producer Kevin Augunas. Little Spark came out in 2012 on her own Blonde Rat imprint and included arrangements by the future collaborator Richard Swift; the single “Hurry Hurry” also appeared in an episode of the CW series Ringer. After the birth of her daughter and an extended pause, Baylin resumed studio work with co-writer and producer Richard Swift. Her sound had shifted by then toward a blend of bluesy rock and psychedelic textures, prompting her to enlist Swift for the subsequent effort. Dark Place, released in 2015, intensified that direction through its moody, atmospheric mood and vintage-inspired palette. The partnership with Swift deepened on Strawberry Wind, the 2018 pseudo-children’s album that also contemplated motherhood and pregnancy. Following Swift’s sudden death later that year, Baylin entered a period of withdrawal and uncertainty about her path forward. A fresh group of associates, including producers Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, helped her begin writing again, this time drawing directly on her New Jersey background. The resulting fifth album, Jersey Girl, issued in 2022, proved both more intimate and more buoyant, pulling together threads from across her career into a renewed whole.