Jesse Harris: The (Not So) Secrets of a Successful Singer/Songwriter

SOHO, MANHATTAN: Whether you know it or not, you’ve been listening to Jesse Harris a lot. For this NYC music man, the song — sung by him or somebody else — really is the thing, and his songs get around.

Jesse Harris: The right writer for artists across the musical spectrum.

It was Harris’ pen that produced one of the most enduring singles of the millennium in Norah Jones’ three-time GRAMMY-winning “Don’t Know Why”, from the 2002 album Come Away with Me. Not surprisingly, he’s been busy ever since with a body of work applied to film, theater, TV campaigns and an esteemed list of singers for his songs that include Smokey Robinson, Willie Nelson, Cat Power, Solomon Burke and Emmylou Harris.

While it seems Harris could simply wile away the hours churning out song ideas and checking in on his royalty statements, the fact is that he remains a prolific performer and solo artist in his own right. The end of the summer saw him releasing two albums with the nocturnally-themed Through the Night, his ninth full length, alongside of the instrumental Brazilian-folk-soul of Cosmo. He’s been touring globally in support of both of his latest babies, and two NYC shows are on the docket this week (December 10th at Zebulon playing Cosmo, followed by December 12th at Rockwood Music Hall’s Stage 2).

Unassuming about himself and his consistent success, our conversation with Harris provides a state-of-the-art update on top-tier songwriting careers. Do you have what it takes to get there? Before you make another sound yourself, listen up.

You’re wearing multiple hats with your activities. Do you identify yourself as a singer/songwriter? Producer? Performer? All of the above?
I’m all those things, although I usually say I’m a singer/songwriter, a producer, and a performer.

The term “singer/songwriter” is thrown around so often now that I think it’s worth taking another look. In your opinion, what does it actually mean today to be a singer/songwriter?
I think traditionally it connotes somebody who plays mostly acoustic guitar, and writes songs with lyrics that are in the folk rock traditions — and sings them in usually small clubs (laughs).

But a singer/songwriter these days can be into so many types of music. It’s not like the 1970’s where if someone said “singer/songwriter” you knew they were coming off of folk music like Bob Dylan, although there were a lot of them then who were influenced by jazz. Today Beck is a singer/songwriter and raps. Cat Power and Feist are singer/songwriters that are something else. There are a lot of different styles to a singer/songwriter now.

I think many people would see your career and say that you epitomize the possibilities of what a singer/songwriter can accomplish in the 21st Century. Where has being a singer/songwriter taken you, personally?
It’s taken me into a lot of different experiences — it’s taken me all over the world. But I think you mean in terms of having my songs performed by a lot of other artists, and that’s something I always wanted to do. In my first group (the duo Once Blue with Rebecca Martin) I wrote songs for the singer, and from early on I made that a criteria for my songs in writing them, that they would be flexible in that way.

Jesse Harris' "Through the Night"

Whether I epitomize something, I don’t know. It’s like anything else: certain things go well, other things are more difficult. I can’t say anything is perfectly ideal. A lot of songwriters write songs that only sound good when they sing them, but what I’m referring to is writing songs that can be covered, and have a life of their own.

How do you do accomplish that – create a song that you think might do well when it’s covered by someone else?
I think a lot is in the lyrics. But then it’s also in the melody — if there’s a concrete enough melody. There are a lot of people who are good enough singers, that write songs that don’t have a distinct melody, but they can pull them off because they’re good singers. A song that other people can sing has a melody that’s solid and discernable.

For example, on Through the Night, there’s one song that already has been covered. It’s a tune called “Way to Be,” a singer in Argentina translated it into Spanish. That’s a recent one in particular that I think can be sung by another person.

How were you approaching getting your songs covered when you got your publishing deal with Sony, in the 1990’s?
Nobody was really pitching my songs — I was pitching them myself to singers after Once Blue broke up. I met Norah Jones just on my own, we started a group together, and she started singing my songs in her group. That didn’t happen as a result of a business plan, and most of my songs that are sung by other people are from personal connections. That’s recently changed over the past year: More people know who I am, so they approach me and ask me.

And then you write something custom for them?
I’ve done that. But now people mostly want to co-write. In the ‘60’s, they’d call a writer and say, “Do you have a song for this artist?” Now people want to cowrite it. In order for me to say, “Yes”, I have to feel a connection to their music so we can do something good together. People want to co-write today because it’s so hard to make money – they want to have a co-share in the publishing.

What’s the business that goes up around a song once its been recorded, and becomes a hit or semi-hit?
It’s simple. You need someone to collect your publishing, and have your songs registered with BMI, ASCAP or SESAC. That’s about it. These days, people try to license songs off of commercials for films – it’s a good way to make money off songs, because record sales and mechanical royalties are down. You can make money if a song gets played on the radio, but only certain songs get played on the radio. You can also make revenue if your songs are played in live performances, but that’s only in certain circumstances.

The current Corona TV campaign features “The Secret Sun” from Jesse Harris’ Through the Night.

What are the big things that you’d say you’ve learned as your career has continued to evolve?
I don’t know, I figure it out as I go along. I really do. I take it as it comes.

In the past four years, I’ve been producing a lot more albums. It seemed kind of natural, since I always produced my own records. I’ve found myself in situations where artists asked me to produce records because if people get a sense they like working with me via songwriting, they might get a sense that they want me to produce their music.

You put out two albums together at the end of the summer – Through the Night and the instrumental Cosmo – both of which we really enjoyed. Why do a simultaneous release like that?
Again, I didn’t plan it that way. I was going to make “Through the Night”, and in the midst of that when John Zorn asked me to make an album on his Tzadik label, I figured I’d make it instrumental. As it happened, those came out at the same time. I thought, “What’s the difference? Just let them come out together.”

"Cosmo" is all-instrumental.

In retrospect, did it make a difference?
Actually, it has! It’s been interesting, because I’ve been dividing my time between instrumental music and playing the songs from “Through the Night”. I promoted them together and made a couple of videos myself for them.

You’ve stayed true to NYC, remaining based in Manhattan. Are you set up to record in your home?
I don’t have a personal studio. For a demo, I don’t need anything more than to sing it and play it on guitar. I only need Garageband. In NYC, I like to record at the Magic Shop in SoHo: It’s close to my house, it’s got a great-sounding Neve board, and it’s got a great vibe.

In a certain sense, the NYC music business is healthy right now. There’s more opportunities for people to get their music out there, but it’s harder to make money from music, and artists have to really tour a lot – more than ever. I think the business is narrowing and it’s difficult, but at the same time it still seems to be flourishing, and NYC is absolutely a good place to be based out of. There are so many musicians here, clubs to play and people to work with that there’s a lot going on in NYC, absolutely.

That’s good to hear. Circling back to where we began, what timely advice would you like to leave your fellow singer/songwriters with?
I think that anybody who wants to do music just has to be able to immerse themselves in it, and be open to possibilities: You end up going in directions you didn’t think you would go in. If young singer/songwriters really want to do it, they can do it – it’s a matter of dedicating.

See Jesse Harris live, December 10th at Zebulon performing Cosmo. He plays the songs from Through the Night December 12th at Rockwood Music Hall’s Stage 2.

— David Weiss

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