Singer-songwriter-ukulele folkstress Jessica Malone has been enlisted to perform in April outside the front entrance of UC Davis’ Mondavi Center, where concertgoers will be arriving to see folk legend Arlo Guthrie perform on the inside stage.
“It still counts [as an opening gig for Arlo Guthrie],” she chuckles.
While Malone says her brand of folk isn’t as “politically-charged,” its intention is similar. “Music brings people together,” she says. “I write a lot about love, feeling good and being true to yourself – my music is authentic and it can spread love and joy.”
Malone’s full-length debut Miles Left to Walk comes out Feb. 22. It’s raw rootsy Americana, with elements of rock, jazz and pop, and electric guitar, fiddle, trumpet and even a Hammond organ.
“I remember writing these songs in my apartment on ukulele and now they’re gigantic,” Malone says. “There’s a simplicity to the album, but it’s much bigger than I could have ever dreamt.”
The autobiographical “The Waltz of the Trobairitz” is embossed with modernist Leonard Cohen folk whimsy that casts impressionistic shadows that could outline an ocean – with the rhythm of upright bass and bass drum representing the deepest shifts of the sea. An unexpected trumpet solo adds depth.
“This album has an overall feel of moving forward and being ready for whatever comes next,” Malone explains. “Get to the top, the miles left to walk, stretch out like the sea… I am very connected to all of the songs.”
Fellow singer-songwriter/touring buddy Caitlin Jemma is more attracted to the spontaneity that comes with being a working musician. “A 9-5 [job] is too bland for me and I get pretty unhappy when I’m doing that,” Jemma explains. “That’s why music is so good because it really puts you in the present moment, even though it’s a really crazy lifestyle.”
Her goal is to perform at least 150 gigs per year, a feat that most of the players in her regular band, The Goodness, cannot commit to due to “normal” life. So Jemma has been filling in the gaps as a solo act.
Remnants of her native Virginia City, Nevada, a small mining town outside of Reno where Mark Twain once resided, are woven throughout her three LPs. Though she currently calls Eugene, Oregon home, Jemma lovingly describes her hometown as frozen in time, peppered with Gold Rush saloons and ghost tours. The banjo-fueled “Ballad of Tom Hazel” is a mix of everything that runs through her: dusty country-western ballads, ’60s folk rock and old-timey Appalachian music.
JESSICA MALONE and CAITLIN JEMMA 8:30pm Friday, Feb. 17. Cooper’s Pub & Restaurant, 653 Cannery Row, Monterey. Free. 373-1353, www.cooperspubmonterey.com