As you figured your way around, is there a piece of helpful advice that someone gave you along the way?
Charlie Daniels! When my first record came out, you can go back and you can just look at the history and you’ll see it. You’ll see all these great lengths of time between records. So my second record was being held up for a while. It was supposed to come out shortly after “He’d Never Seen Julie Cry.” But the other record was pretty much in the can and ready to go. People were battling over songs. It was a whole different staff at the label at that point. I don’t even think there’s one person still there that was a matter of this incident. But it was just a struggle. A struggle. A struggle. I’m like, “What’s happening? We just came off of ‘Heads Carolina, Tails California’ and we need another record out. Come on. We’ve got to ride the momentum.”
I did a show with Charlie Daniels. He said, “Hey, kid, how you doing?” And I’m like, “Feeling beat up. Feeling pretty beat up.” Because I thought, you get a record deal. It’s all done. No, man. It just starts. It just starts. So, I’m like, “I feel pretty beat up and a little discouraged.” And he says, “Well, let me tell you one thing. It is not how many times you get knocked down that counts. It’s how many times you get back up that matters.” I always kind of hang on to that. Like I told you, last year, I was giving up on hope and letting myself go a little bit, and then boom. It’s like, “No.” December of last year I was like, “I’m not going to do this. I’m not going to do this. I need to get myself back in shape. Physically I need to get myself back in shape. Mentally. Spiritually.” I’ve got to be like, “All right, let’s go. We’re going to charge again. I’m given today. So I gotta make it count.”
For more information on Jo Dee Messina, visit her official website: http://www.jodeemessina.com/
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