Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jesse Chapman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jesse, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

The journey to being a songwriter has been basically a life journey for me.I began playing music young but didn’t write a song until college. I’d record voice memos on my phone and write lyrics in my Notes app. Nothing ever saw the light of day, everything lived in a little folder in my pocket. Even still I see a fledgling version of myself in that old me. I was pouring emotion into every song. About the girl I loved who didn’t love me back, about the lonely moments I’d have, any experience that drew strong feelings out of me.

But I remember when I first felt like I’d actually found my true voice. I wrote Overstayed as a demo after buying a little Lofi Piano VST – one of the first VSTs I ever bought. Ryan and I sat in the living room and took turns putting on the headphones and adding a layer. After getting it all down and sitting on it for a few days I came back and was blown away by the work we’d done. I immediately sent it to my friend who texted back that it was the best thing he’d ever heard me write. I started showing anyone I could and was blown away at the response. It was the first time I’d felt like I’d finally mastered the craft of songwriting.

Over time I’ve molded myself into what I want to be as an artist. At the root of it all is the ever-present desire to simply create music that expresses who I am. A big piece of how I do that is try and try again. I’ve always found that persistence is the key and learning to be a songwriter is the same way. Just keep trying, you can always get better.

Jesse, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a songwriter. I write and sing for Echo Area. I got into this basically as a child. My dad was a musician and filled the house with music. I saw him play gigs with his friends all over the place, he got on stage to play cello at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame awards. He gigged with Cat Power. To see him do such awesome things was very inspirational to me and I wanted to be just like him.

I picked up bass and guitar in highschool, learned a bunch of classic rock and would perform to myself in my living room imagining I was Slash. Eventually I started singing at open mic nights with my acoustic guitar while in college. I got a standing ovation singing Bartender Song and that rush was when I knew I really wanted to be a singer on stage.

After college I moved in with a musician friend of mine (Ryan Laukhuf) and we started Echo Area. It really began as a project where we learned Ableton together and started recording songs for fun. We spent hours each night trying new ideas, recording, mixing, experimenting. We had the time of our lives doing it.

After releasing a few tracks we caught attention of MoreDopeMusic and Echo Area became a more serious project. We brought on our friend Matt Boone to play guitar with us. We’ve been gigging steadily since 2020 and are working to release a bunch of newer tracks in 2024!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being a creative is taking experiences and making them into art.

Each song usually starts as the influences of what’s happening with me during that time. Maybe I’ve been into a new artist a lot recently, or I’m super happy or sad about something. Maybe I’ve just fallen in love with something new in my life, or have fallen back in love with something forgotten.

Then I sit down at my desk. The process for me is usually the same a lot of the time: I’ll play around with synths until I fall in love with a sound, then I’ll write chords I love with that particular sound, and record them. I’ll embellish, adding other synths or drums or weird sounds. I sit with that song for hours until it’s all I can do to not hear it looping in my head as I try to fall asleep.

Each song is that moment in time captured; that feeling I’ve been having turned into a sound. I sing about that feeling. I like to paint a picture and get the listener to come on the ride with me. We all experience the same emotions, and I love the notion that when someone listens to a piece of my music they see the familiarity and attach their own experience to that song. The way music can convey emotions to complex for mere words is incredible to me.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I don’t know if non-creative folk understand the vulnerability of being an artist. My art is who I am. Each time I make a song I’m putting a piece of myself on display for others to look at and consume. And I worry. about that I worry that others will dislike it, or will find it silly. People will just feel the way they will about your art, and it’s hard to let go of that sometimes. But in the end art is a subjective medium. There are no facts or absolutes in art. If the observer likes it, it’s good. So no matter what you make it will always be good.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.echoareamusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/echoareamusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EchoAreaMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@echoareamusic
• Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@echoareamusic