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MP3 Jamie St. Claire - Jamie St. Claire
5 MP3 Songs in this album (17:46) !
Related styles: COUNTRY: Contemporary Country, COUNTRY: Traditional Country
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Once upon a time, in a sleepy little town in Pennsylvania, a little girl wanted to sing. Songs ran through her head, through her soul, begging to be let out. But the song was silenced by fear – the fear of being heard.
Then, out of the living room, came the solution in the form of a vacuum cleaner. As soon as one of her parents would start to clean, the little girl would sing as loud as she could. When the machine turned off, she became silent again. The routine went on for years.
Times have changed. The little girl has grown up, and Jamie St. Claire no longer hides her powerful voice behind the sounds of a vacuum. In fact, she has shared that voice with Presidents and opened for major Nashville acts. For most people, the stage before Presidents would be the high point of a career. For St. Claire, it’s just the beginning.
At the age of 16, St. Claire performed the national anthem at events honoring both former President George Bush and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, “The president moved to the wing of the stage and watched our performance. Right before the curtain went up, I felt the need to get myself noticed. So me, being the cheese ball I am, gave the former President of the United States the ‘thumbs-up.’ Guess what? He smiled at me and gave it back! What a cool little memory to have!”
After graduating from high school and obtaining her realtor’s license, the time came to pursue her musical career more seriously. After searching for a band, she landed a gig singing with a local group, Travelin’ Jones. It was quite the accomplishment for a novice singer, and St. Claire was excited to get a start on her career. Little did she know how quickly her start would come! After just one rehearsal, Travelin’ Jones was tapped to open for the brand new, but skyrocketing group, Rascal Flatts. In a sold-out auditorium, St. Claire took the stage and impressed the audience. Local writer Kristin Persing was in the crowd and comments about the performance, “When I found that it was her first concert, I was shocked! She was so in control of her voice and had such a polished sound – light years ahead of any other local singer I’ve seen.”
Besides Rascal Flatts, St. Claire has also opened for other Nashville acts like Andy Griggs, Emerson Drive, Darryl Worley and Blake Shelton. While gaining performing experience, she also quickly realized that it was necessary to start preparing music for an album. Without hesitation, St. Claire knew she wanted to perform her own songs. “The thing was – I found an outlet. It’s the stereotypical ‘I needed to get my feelings out’,” she laughs, “I was tired of singing other people’s songs. But here in Pennsylvania, where do you find people with original music? Covers are fine in the beginning, just to get you by, but I wanted my own stuff.”
St. Claire connected with songwriter Karl Gambler and started penning tunes to put on her recording. The process for the two varies, “Sometimes I have the lyrics – they always seem to come in the shower or an empty parking lot, which means I have to scramble to write them down. I take those to Karl, and maybe I’ll have a melody idea and I’ll give him that. Or maybe he has a melody already and he plays it, then we just start talking about life and relationships and something comes from that. It’s different every time.”
Through a producer friend, St. Claire was able to secure several members of Tim McGraw’s legendary road band, The DanceHall Doctors to play for her, including Darran Smith, John Marcus, Denny Hemmingson, and Bob Miner. “I was a little nervous. The session before us ran late, and the Doctors needed to eat. We (St. Claire and parents) just sat around and hung out a bit, and it was so normal, although I’m sure my eyes were huge.”
The session ran like any other recording session in Nashville, although the newbie found it a little overwhelming, “They listened to the rough recordings we had done of the songs and worked out the arrangements. Chris Carmichael (fiddle, mandolin) was shoved in this fat hallway, and Dennis Wage with his keyboard was in this lobbyish area, but it wasn’t really a lobby. Everyone else was spread out, and they put me in this tiny room in a corner. Darran was the only person I could see.”
Intimidating circumstances aside, St. Claire still knew that she wanted her music to reflect both her style and her strengths vocally, “The last song we did was “Touch Me,” and when they started playing it, I was sitting in the vocal booth thinking, ‘This isn’t the way I heard it..’ But we were near the end of the session, so I had to think of a quick way to get my point across. Finally, I stuck my head out the door and said, ‘Darran, cut the mushy stuff. Time to get down to business.’ Immediately, everyone cracked up laughing, and Mom and Dad both seemed a little shocked at my boldness. But it worked!”
The Doctors are not St. Claire’s only fans in Nashville. Renowned journalist/critic Beverly Keel says of St. Claire’s music, “I’m certain Jamie will have a great career in country music. She has a great voice, and her personality is such a delight. Her enthusiasm for life is reflected in her music.”
So how does someone from the North find a place in country music? St. Claire explains this way, “I like other kinds of music. I listen to classic rock, classical, alternative, r&b, bluegrass and everything in-between. . .”
“I love country music. There’s a real honesty about it. It’s diverse, whether people want to admit it or not. There’s something for everyone. Traditional, contemporary, drinkin’ songs, cheatin’ songs, love songs, havin’ a good time songs – it’s real life. And it’s all right there in country music.”
St. Claire smiles a little, “I listen to a wide variety of music. . . . and it all kinds of morphs into one brand – my brand. But no matter what I do, it ultimately comes out country in one way or another because that’s where my heart is.”
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