Stacking The Deck with Jessie Wagner
Stacking The Deck is a feature exclusive to Adam’s World where I bring packs of 1991 Pro Set Superstars MusiCards to artists, and we discuss who they find in each pack.
Jessie Wagner is ready for war.
Whether she’s battling the challenges of being in a new phase of life, or simply battling a bad case of writer’s block, she’s addressing all of those battles, and more, on her just released LP, War Within.
“War Within is another collection of my thoughts, my fears, my aspirations, just in the same way as Shoes Dropping was,” Wagner says of the album, “Shoes Dropping was maybe a little bit more singular. I had more songs about one particular event. Whereas War Within is not necessarily one particular event, but thoughts of different events that have happened in my life.”
One of those events is the process of reaching the next phase of life, as she explains the song “Watching the Petals Fall” is about getting older. “I still feel and see myself as this young woman,” she says, “but I’m not necessarily a young woman. I’m not an old woman, but I’m caught between worlds in a way. That song is very personal in that way.”
This isn’t the first time she’s addressed this in a song. She notes, “The Unknown,” which was the b-side to her recent single “I Just Can’t Today,” “Is actually about the regret of possibly never having kids … I may never know what that feels like to have that in my life.”
The a-side of that single, on the other hand, is a bouncy tune about having writer’s block, and just deciding to put the world on pause for a bit.
Another recent single, the blues rock “Up Against The Wall,” is a sultry affair about … well, a sultry affair!
“We all have those emotions, too,” she says with a laugh, “I’m a woman, a woman has needs.”
In addition to her own work, Wagner also tours as a backup singer for a litany of artists across a wide breadth of musical genres, including everyone from Chic, to Duran Duran, to Lenny Kravitz, to Kid Rock.
With War Within having just been released, and a show at the legendary NYC venue The Bitter End coming up at the end of the month, I caught up with Wagner to open up some packs of MusiCards, and the artists we found sparked conversations about performing with Nile Rodgers at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Lenny Kravitz’s epic cheat day, and an embarrassing VHS tape from her youth she wishes she could find.
You have a Jimmy Page story.
It’s more Jimmy Page adjacent.
OK, I did get to hang out with him backstage, but he really didn’t say anything. He was super duper shy.
Really?
Yes. He was just kind of in the corner.
I was with Kid Rock, and we were doing some kind of event, so it might have been like the Grammys, or something. I can’t even remember. I just know he was there, hanging out backstage.
But the Jimmy Page adjacent story is that I actually did perform with Robert Plant, which was really, really cool, but he wouldn’t do any Led Zeppelin songs. He would only do Honeydrippers stuff, and people were in the audience yelling, “Black Dog! Give me it!” and he was like, nope, not going to have it.
Was there a reason?
The show we were doing, it was the Montreux Jazz Festival. It was a bunch of different artists, and it was a tribute show to Ahmet Ertegun.
He was like, if it can’t be the whole band, he’s not doing any Zeppelin stuff. So I think that’s why he was sticking with the Honeydrippers stuff, which was still cool, but he didn't want to rehearse, because it was during the World Cup.
So we were rehearsing, and he was like, “Nope, that sounds good.” I was with Nile Rodgers at the time, and Nile was like, “No, let’s go over this again,” and he was like, “No, we got it, we got it, we got it,” so he could run out, and go watch the World Cup.
The night of the show he came in with the wrong key, and he was like, “Oh, I guess we should have gone over that.”
Did Nile shoot him a look like, I told you?
No. Nile was so awesome. He just laughs whenever you mess up.
At the Montreux Jazz Festival, the first time I was there (note: she’s performed there four times), we had this medley of songs that he’s written, one of them being “We Are Family,” then we do this whole a cappella thing where the band drops out. Sylver (Logan Sharp) is like egging the crowd on, “Come on, come on, come on, come on,” and she does it for a really long time. The crowd’s going crazy.
By the time it’s time for us to come back in, we’re not sure where our notes are. So they come in like {makes awkward sound}. Nile busts out laughing on the other side of the stage.
He’s one of those people that if you do mess up, you know you’re not going to lose your job. Whereas some other performers that I’ve worked with, I’d be really scared if I had a major screw-up like that.
Getting back to Robert Plant, he’s super cool. He was super nice.
I was walking down the street (with Nile). He was hanging out at an outdoor cafe, drinking some coffee. We waved, and he was like, “Hey, come on over.” He waved us over to talk and everything. So I adore him.
So, when I was younger, in Atlanta, you know how you could go make one of those VHS videos where you're dancing to the song?
Yes … oh no.
Yeah, so me, my sister, and my best friend all got together because we were huge Bell Biv DeVoe fans, and we were like, we’re going to do the video for “Poison.”
Of course, there’s terrible graphics in the background, and we’re just doing the running man.
And is your mother in possession of this tape?
No, it’s lost. It’s lost somewhere in a garbage heap somewhere, probably.
If we could find that tape, that would be the best present I could ever get.
You would have to use it for a music video.
I would, yes. Because it's 14-year-old Jessie dancing to “Poison.”
But yeah, whenever I think of Bell Biv DeVoe, I think of my childhood, because of moments like that. They were always on the radio. We were always watching the videos, and they were just the coolest thing.
Steve Winwood was on the same show as Robert Plant as one of the Atlantic artists. There was also Chaka Khan, Stevie Nicks, Ben E. King, Solomon Burke.
Oh wow!
Yeah. It was an epic show, and it was just cool, because I got to hear him sing, and be a part of that history, because Ahmet Ertegun was right there. He even came up to the stage, and was telling us what to do at one point.
Was he one of the more intimidating people you’ve worked with?
Well, yeah, but back to that show, this story is Steve Winwood adjacent. I’m going to go to Chaka Khan, because that’s who we were singing background for at the time.
She flew in from … I think she had just done the BET Awards, so she flew all the way from, I guess it was in L.A., to Montreux, Switzerland, where the festival was being held. So she had no sleep. She’s zonked out of her mind, and for some reason, she’s doing Aretha Franklin songs. Atlantic (Records).
So we did “Natural Woman,” which was incredible, because, again, Chaka Khan. Then we did “Respect,” and what’s the most iconic part of “Respect”?
Oh, no.
We get to the breakdown, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Chaka Khan turns around and goes {gives a questioning look}.
I thought you were going to say she spelled it wrong!
No, she didn’t even say it. She totally just blanked on R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
And I get it, because this woman has not had an ounce of sleep, and she’s going straight into this show, killing it. We didn’t even have a chance to rehearse it with her. So then we go back around, and Nile’s like, “OK, R-E-S-P-E-C-T.”
So even the all-time greats have their moments.
They have their moments, and she still killed it, because, again, Chaka Khan.
It’s hard to be singing backgrounds in that situation, and not just stop, and just want to listen. You have to be actively present, because you’re standing next to legends, and you're like – oh my God, how do I not just stop, and listen to them?
You were thrown into that type of atmosphere very quickly, because your first tour was with legends.
My first tour was with Nile Rodgers.
So you learned on the fly about that.
Oh, most definitely. Fortunately, the first tour we did was in Japan, and it was at Blue Note.
We did three shows a night at Blue Note, which was grueling, but it was a good crash course in learning stage presence, and mic technique. Sylver Logan Sharp, I credit her for teaching me a lot about what it’s like to be a performer.
That show was amazing.
You’ve been a part of a lot of amazing shows.
Stevie Nicks (at the Montreux Jazz Festival).
Stevie Nicks asked to turn me up in the monitor. I’ll never forget that, because I was like – oh my God, Stevie Nicks asked to turn me up. My vocal!
That’s gotta be a Top 10 moment.
Exactly. We’re singing “Dreams,” and she’s like, “I need her voice. Can you turn it up for me?”
I can’t screw this up now. I better get this harmony right.
You haven’t toured with Billy Idol, but you tour with rock artists. You tour with Lenny Kravitz. You tour with Kid Rock.
Yeah, and we’ve been on the same bill. We did a festival in Atlanta where Billy Idol went on after us, so I got to go and check him out, and he was phenomenal.
Have you found touring with rock artists significantly different than touring with artists of other genres?
Yes and no. I think it depends on the artist, and where they are in life.
When I first started with Kid Rock, things were a bit more adventurous, and I'll just leave it at that.
As the years went on, things leveled out more, but it was a bit more rowdy versus when I was with Nile. Nile at that point was very health conscious. It was a lot calmer. I think had I toured with Nile in the ‘70s it might have been very different.
Lenny was completely different. He’s a rock legend, but it was not rowdy. It was not a rowdy tour at all, unless food was involved.
Really?
We had very strict diets, because we were basically sewn into our outfits, and you couldn’t gain weight, but he’d have cheat days, and those were my favorite days, because Lenny would go nuts.
I remember we had midnight pancakes once, and they were gigantic. They took up the whole plate.
So Lenny Kravitz’s cheat day is a lot like The Rock’s cheat day? Everything on the diner menu?
Right. Basically. You look at him, and he obviously does not just eat willy nilly.
He pays attention to everything that goes into his body.
But on a cheat day …
We had a particularly long rehearsal, and they had cake, and we were all just sitting around the kitchen table eating cake.
And on cheat days he would talk about food, and he’d be so excited.
It was like seeing Lenny as a kid.
That’s awesome, and it’s good to know he has a cheat day.
I would love to go on tour with her. I mean … she influences everybody.
Her dancing, her stage presence … I remember being in the mirror, and trying to imitate “The Pleasure Principle,” trying to do all the moves.
So you’re saying there’s another VHS tape somewhere.
There is no tape of that. This is before this generation, where you tape everything. It was just in the mirror.
I wanted to be Janet Jackson at some point in my life, because she was just … she was the coolest one out there.
Whitney was great, but Whitney was very poised, and very proper with the appearance that she gave off in the videos, and things like that. Her persona was about this elegance. Janet Jackson was down and dirty and gritty. I was like, oh, I like that.
Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty.
That’s right.
I still will do a Janet Jackson dance every once in a while.
She also broke a lot of molds. She did a lot of different genres. I don’t think she really gets credit for doing neo soul with The Velvet Rope before neo soul was even really a thing.
She reinvented herself so many times. She doesn’t really get credit for that. You think of reinvention, you think of maybe Madonna, but Janet Jackson did the same thing. She had so many different vibes, and characters.
I guess, now that I think about it, I guess I do use that, because I feel like that’s me. I don’t have one vibe. I have lots of flavors, and characters that I pull from for my music, as well.
For more Jessie Wagner, check out jessiewagnerofficial.com, and to see her live, pick up a ticket to her May 29th show at the legendary NYC venue The Bitter End.
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