More to the Story: Abigail Jerri
Taylor Harrington 3/1/2021 1:47pm ET
Pittsburgh native and current Nashville resident, singer-songwriter Abigail Jerri recently released her single, “Mind”, which will undoubtedly get you singing and pressing the replay button.
We sat down with Abigail, via zoom, for an intimate conversation where we learn a little bit more about her background, where she is headed, and the power of manifesting and working to make your dreams come true. It was an absolute honor to get to know Abi’s story, and we can’t wait for the world to hear her voice.
Abigail, you recently released your single, “Mind”, what can you tell us about that song? It’s such a bop!
I’m proud of all of my songs, but that’s the first song that I’m like, I don’t even have any shame to say, yes, I love the song, and it’s mine. I love it so much and I’m so happy that I released it.
What is your writing process? Do you write all the music yourself?
Pretty much every song has a different writing process. I do co-writes but specifically for “Mind”, I just had a hook in my head on the way to the studio. I knew that my producer and I were going to write a song that day to release next, and I just came up with this hook in my head. It just came to me and we went from there. We came up with a little bit of a beat you know? It wasn’t the full production yet, and we just we wrote to that hook.
It came out wonderfully and I love that it has the cell phone beep in there!
I have an amazing producer too who helps out a lot, and I was downstairs because at his old studio I would record downstairs and he would be upstairs. So I was downstairs recording and his phone went off at that exact time in the song, and I was like, come on, but then I realized I actually like that. It works.
The lyrics say, “With no days off”, and then his phone beeped and it was picked up in the recording and I was like, we should try it. We tried one beep and then he’s like, Okay, this might be kind of crazy, but here it is, then it was like ding ding ding ding. Him getting a call in that moment was a happy accident.
Do you have a favorite place that when you’re back in your hometown of Pittsburgh that you enjoy playing?
I used to play at this spot, called The Beehive. It’s not The Beehive anymore, but right off the top of my head I’d say that was my favorite. I used to be a shot girl at Rowdy Bucks next door to it.
What’s the transition been like going from the Pittsburgh music scene to now being in Nashville?
In Pittsburgh, there’s a little bit of everything like blues, hip-hop, and jazz, but in Nashville it is mostly country. Being a pop artist, it’s like you have to find your people too. In Nashville, I think the biggest transition really is just that when you go out to a restaurant, the person in front of you, the person behind you, the person beside you, they’re all talking about their releases and their tour dates and obviously it’s not really like that in Pittsburgh. When I visit back home it’s so weird that not everybody around me is talking about music. Pittsburgh is a nice little break.
Do you play the guitar for yourself?
I have played on and off for a while, probably eight years. I need to get more on that but I do like to play for myself.
Who would you say your musical influences were growing up?
Well, one of the first would be Cyndi Lauper. Cyndi’s “Time After Time”, I would listen to that song over and over and I would watch the music video over and over. I showed my dad again, and again, and again in our living room in Germany when I was in preschool. I was also four when I did “Cryin” by Aerosmith for my preschool show and tell.
If you could pick one current musician to call and be like, Hey, we’re doing a show tonight. Who would you call?
Man, that’s tough, but off the top of my head, Gabby Barrett is from Pittsburgh too and she’s pretty big now, so that would be fun if we could get Pittsburgh girls on stage together and fill up Heinz Stadium.
When you’re writing your lyrics and you’re putting your thoughts into these songs is it your own voice or your personal feelings coming out, or are you singing and writing for others voices and emotions?
I think both? I think it also depends on the song, you know? Some songs are really personal, but for other songs, I know that I really want to help people feel better or feel connected.
I write about my friends and about my brothers and family, you know, what they’re going through. It depends on the song, sometimes it’s actually not even about me, it’s about somebody else in my life, but it affects me emotionally. So, yeah, I’d say I write for myself and for others.
Do you ever get stage fright and how do you get amped up before you go on stage?
I used to never get stage fright. I was in musicals when I was younger and I went to high school for musical theater. Later in life, I did start getting stage fright. I performed at The Exit here in Nashville not too long after I moved here and the night before, I was getting ready and everything hit me. I mean, with The Exit it’s just, it’s so exciting. I just breathe and warm up backstage and talk to my guitar player, and just breathe some more. Once you get on stage all the fear really goes away. It was an amazing feeling performing there.
Five years from now where do you see yourself? What are some of your goals?
It used to be to get signed to a record label, but I don’t think that’s necessarily needed anymore. If I got a really good contract, I would still do it. So I mean, I want to say to get signed, but it would just have to be the right label. My other goals are just to inspire as many people as possible and reach as many people as possible with my music. Collaborating with people that have inspired me for years, and definitely, a few tours in the next five years would be amazing. I have definitely always dreamed of touring and I haven’t done that yet. I’ve done a little traveling and playing but not an actual tour, so that would be a big goal that I’m super excited about.
Abigail, how can people find you to follow and get all of your music?
I’m Abigail Jerri, with an “I” at the end, and you can find me on Spotify, iTunes, Instagram, and SoundCloud.
I don’t know if you’re into manifesting at all, but I was in Pittsburgh over the summer and I was watching a couple of YouTube videos on manifesting and how journaling can help. So I’m just journaling and writing things down as if I already have them like, I’m so grateful that I went on this tour.
As I continued manifesting through journaling, I wrote down I’m so grateful that I have my tour bus and it has a pink stripe on it. Later that day I went with my dad to go somewhere, and we see a pink Mustang convertible, and I’m like, I want that, and my Dad and I talked about manifesting and he’s like, well manifest it. So I tell him, Oh, I mean, I want a pink car, but I’d rather have a tour bus with a pink stripe. So I wrote that down and I said it again to my dad, and then 10 minutes later, I see a van. It’s not a tour bus, but it’s a large SUV and it has two hot pink stripes from the front to the back.
I just thought that was so crazy, so I took a picture. I mean, obviously, that wasn’t my tour bus or anything but it’s certainly showing me if you’re putting it out there, you can get it back.
I’m born on the 21st, and age 21 is supposed to be your golden year. I always thought when I was 21 years old, that that was going to be my golden year, but I think it’s actually going to be the year 2021.
Numbers have always meant a lot to me, like I always want the car volume on 27 because that number feels good. I’ll be 27 in a week, and I didn’t even realize I was going to be 27 in 2021. Yeah, age 27 feels like it’s gonna be good.
Another crazy number story is the time when my best friend since kindergarten, Liz, came down to Nashville for my 25th birthday. I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw an ad for a concert that caught my eye and it just so happened that the concert was on my birthday and it was for an album called Room 25. On my 25th birthday, Room 25, my best friend is here, I’m like, Okay, everybody, this is what we’re doing. Liz was talking about how we should get matching tattoos a couple of days before that because we’ve known each other forever. We didn’t know what we were going to get, and at the concert Liz was like, we should get “25” matching tattoos, right? It gets better. Just wait. We got our favorite colors, hers is blue and mine is pink, behind the 25. We were in my car driving to wherever else after we got the tattoos, and she was like, I might have been a little nervous because this was only my second tattoo, and then I was like, Yeah, I guess that makes sense because I do have a few more tattoos. I have 1,2,3,4… This is my FIFTH tattoo. I was like, WAIT, it’s your SECOND and my FIFTH tattoo, and we just got a matching two & five. I didn’t see any of that coming.
Make sure that you’re following Abigail Jerri on Instagram, Spotify, SoundCloud, and everywhere music is available. It’s Jerri with an “I”, and follow Confessional Magazine. We were so happy to have Abigail on, and we wish her the best of luck and we can’t wait to see her on tour!
