From an AG farm in Oklahoma is the epitome of country music - Jenna Paulette. She is named a CMT Next Women of Country and just released her debut album, The Girl I Was.
Paulette earns a well-deserved 137,918 monthly listeners on Spotify alone and has created a fan base of 104K followers on Instagram. Paulette is partnered with brands such as Ranch Water, Justin Boots, Oak and Eden Bourbon, and Boot Barn.
She is a real-deal cowgirl and it shines through in her music and her social media platforms.
(This interview was done before Jenna’s debut album The Girl I Was came out. It is now available on all streaming platforms.)
Courtesy of Jenna Paulette || Photography by Wes Walker
BC: When did you start with music?
JP: “I feel like I always knew that I wanted to do country music. I remember being in the back of my parents’ suburban singing along to the Dixie Chicks. My dad would hear me sing and turn the music down and turn the music back up and I was on time and pitch.” Jenna tells me. “I overheard him saying to my mom, ‘I think she can do this’. And that really stuck in my mind from a very young age. Everything in my life pointed toward singing. I kept at it and made a point to pursue country music with everything inside of me.” Jenna continues. “I went to an art school for college which felt random to me, I had never taken an art class in my life. But, I was there on a full scholarship and I prayed that I would get a full scholarship wherever I was meant to be. After taking art classes for a year, I discovered that Kenny Chesney had gotten a marketing degree. The only degree they had at my school that was business just as much as it was art-focused was a marketing degree. I went into all the classes and said, ‘I’m going to be a country singer, can I use this class to learn how to tell my story better?’ and they all said yes. (Music) was always there. It was always the end goal.”
BC: Was there anything else you wanted to pursue other than music?
JP: “There was never a backup plan but there was always an ‘and’ plan. Someone asked me, ‘If you could put your dream into one sentence what would it be?’ and I said, ‘to pull a George Strait on this town’.” Jenna explained. “To me, that means to run cattle, cowboy in a real way, but also to be able put out music and tour on a high level. I want to let out music that people like me want to sing because it’s what their life is about. I always wanted to be a cowgirl and cattle took my heart in the same way music did, at a young age. For me, it is to incorporate those two things and I think there’s a season where I’ll be able to ranch more down the road but right now it’s about touring and getting established as an artist.”
BC: What can you tell me about your most recent release, Anywhere The Wind Blows?
JP: “I was writing with Rhett Akins - (he is one of my favorite people in town.) Jebb Gibson, and Will Bundy. I had that title in my head. Will has such a good grip on who I am as an artist and what it sounds and feels like and Jebb has co-written 75-80% of this record. I had the title of the song already in my head, so I knew this idea was in very safe hands.” Jenna says. “I wanted the song to feel roots-driven and light. The lyrics just came together and it’s not the smartest witty turnaround of a commercial country song but everything about it felt true. I think sometimes that’s more important than being clever. The heart will always make people feel more than the head can.” Jenna tells me. “When I got the demo back I knew this was it. This was the direction. I love the way people have been responding to it. My goal has always been to make people feel the way that Wide Open Spaces made me feel in a pasture. (Anywhere The Wind Blows) It embraced what this whole journey has been for me.”
BC: Your debut album, The Girl I Was comes out soon, how does that make you feel? (Jenna’s debut album is out now, you can listen to it on any streaming platform.)
JP: “It feels like a long time coming and we don’t have enough time all at once.” Jenna laughs. “There’s just so much to do and make sure happens so the most people can get a hold of the music.” She says. “I absolutely love that this is my first record. It took me a minute to get to where I felt like I could release a record with fourteen songs, an intro, and an outro that represent who I am.” Jenna explains. “Previously, I was in a really bad relationship - one that almost completely stole my identity, confidence, and any solid ground that I was standing on. When I got out of it and got some hindsight on it, I was in my truck on a writing trip. We knew we wanted to put out a record but I couldn’t make sense of what the overarching theme would be. I needed to get a little bit of space to figure out what needed to be written so I went out to get pizza for everyone. My dog was with me and this picture of me as a little girl popped into my head. It’s one of those pictures that I came back to as I was growing up, looking at the picture and saying, ‘I love that girl’. When looking at that picture, it was like I could feel the essence of who I am. (About the picture) I had been selling cattle for my Uncle Hick with my grandad and I remember the air was warm, it was summer, my freckles were out, and my hair was in pigtails. I was sitting up on this fence drinking a hot orange Gatorade and I remember thinking, ‘I love this, this is who I am’ but not being able to mentally wrap my mind around that. Growing up and looking back on that picture, I knew what I was feeling at that moment and it’s always been who I am at the core.” Jenna shares. “When I was in the truck thinking about that picture I thought, ‘I’m just getting back to the girl I was’. I went back (to the co-writers) and said, ‘If we don’t write another song this weekend, this is the one we have to write.’ A few weeks later, we had written a song and I was thinking about what I would call a record if I did put one out. I got the demo back of the song we had written and knew the record would be called, The Girl I Was. This record is about who I am, where I came from, and the journey that it took to get me from the toxic relationship to myself again. It has the hopeful moments, and the dark moments but the triumph is getting back to the girl I was and being with the kind of people who know how to Friday night and who know how to work hard.”
Cover Art, Courtesy of Jenna Paulette
BC: Who was the first person to hear, Anywhere The Wind Blows outside of management?
JP: “I think I sent it to my family, they are my go to and they all freaked out. My mom said, ‘This is the best song you’ve ever written’. She’s said that about a couple of songs so I don’t know if I trust her.” Jenna laughs. “Because of the feel of the song it just felt like where I was headed and they all agreed.”
BC: For those who haven’t heard your music before, is there a song you would want them to play first?
JP: “I think it would be Anywhere The Wind Blows. It would give them a scope to view everything else.”
BC: As an artist is there a goal you have always looked towards?
JP: “I’ve thought about this a lot lately. Success in Nashville has changed because of social media and the ability to build a fanbase that are real people that support what you do. Would it be cool to be up for a Grammy? Would that mean I was successful? Totally. But, I think I would consider myself more successful if I was filling rooms with people that are there to hear my music. People that choose to turn it on, play it for their kids, and sit out on a Friday night drinking beer to it and then show up on a Saturday night and know every word.” Jenna says. “That is success to me because that means it’s resonating with people and that’s the whole point. The awards are great, but to me what I do is about serving people and giving them something to listen to that is wholesome and good that speaks to the very vast span of human emotion and gives them an outlet for that.”
BC: Has your music changed from your first release to your most recent release?
JP: “Definitely. When I got to town (Nashville) I would say cowgirl to people and I knew real cowgirls and I knew people that would do the job. To me, I thought it was cool because I knew it in a very real sense. I would get sent these songs where I thought, ‘Really? This is what you got out of an hour-long meeting with me?’ It didn’t feel authentic, so I felt like I had to make it cool.” Jenna confesses. “I didn’t need to do that. I think it has changed in a good way where I trust myself. I trust what is inside of me and the fabric of how God made me, where He put me to grow up, and the people He put me around. I’m satisfied in knowing that it was good enough and cool enough in its own right and I don’t have to make it anything that it’s not.”
BC: What would a dream headlining tour look like for you?
JP: “I don’t think it’s a lot of pyro, fireworks, or glitter. I think it’s how we bring the reality of my world - the grass and wide open spaces, visually to people that might not have the opportunity to ride a horse for eighty miles a day and introduce them to the people I love through video.” Jenna says. “We’ve done that a few times and we’re doing it again for the Anywhere The Wind Blows lyric video. I really love the people I get to represent. They’re real. They run Feeder Operations which is feeding out cattle so that we can have a cheeseburger. For the Country In The Girl music video, I had a couple of my friends send videos of them doing what they actually do. I’d love to put them in the spotlight and find a beautiful way to bring the audience into my world - let them see prairie grass sway on the stage and have some really stripped-down versions of the songs where people can really hear the lyrics and connect to them better. That’s what it would look like for me.”
BC: What’s one thing you like and one thing you dislike about the industry?
JP: “Something I like is that the industry holds people to a really high standard - a high standard of writing songs, a high standard of artistry. It’s really inspiring to see people do things on such a high level and get exposed to Grammy-level work. Being the iron sharpens iron idea of things. You are seeing things being done through music videos and on stages that are so moving because they are done so well. Something I dislike is that even within the country music industry itself is that there are a lot of people that are so disconnected from the people they represent. That is really hard on me. There are a lot of people that know how to do business well but they might have lost the heart of country music or have a disconnect of what people are like that listen to country music. It makes me a little bit sad because I still work on ranches all the time and I love rural America. I would love to bridge that gap.”
BC: What are your thoughts on the influence social media has on the artists of this generation?
JP: “Oh mercy! I think in a lot of ways it’s a beautiful thing. Social media has the ability to reach people in the city and people in the boonies. In that way, it’s really amazing. In other ways, I think it puts out artists who are underdeveloped. I’m thankful that my career has taken a minute to get where I am and where I’m going. I think it’s developed character in me and given me the ability to chip away at a lane that is truly my own. In this microwave social media age we live in somebody has a hot moment and they don’t even know who they are yet.” Jenna says. “You can’t build a long career without knowing who you are and be able to do it over and over and over again. George Strait, for example, you know exactly what you’re going to get with him every single time. That’s because it took a long time for him to develop and figure out what kind of song is a George Strait song, knew how to find those songs, cut those songs, and perform those songs. It came because of experience and time. When you’re in this social media way of getting famous and people taking advantage of that moment to get money, which I get and understand, I think it creates underdeveloped artists that aren’t allowed to stick around as long because they had their moment and couldn’t do it again. They didn’t get the luxury of time to develop consistency in their career and figure out what they want to represent for the rest of their lives. In a lot of ways social media is a detriment to young artists but it can be used as a tool as well. I believe every artist should take the time to consider who they are and what that sounds like and what’s it going to be like when they’re sixty and still singing those songs.”
BC: People are always knocking down artists who don’t necessarily fit the image of traditional country music - what are your thoughts on that?
JP: “There’s a place for everything but I do think it should come from a genuine place and it’s okay if it’s not country music. If somebody didn’t get to grow up that way but they love country music, that’s great. But, their experiences and what they sing about need to line up with their life because that’s what makes music authentic. People should care more about authenticity than they do about genre-bending. If you grew up country, like Sam Hunt, who did and you’re singing country songs that sound very pop, I have nothing against that. I just think that the authenticity of it is where people should be focused. Authenticity will stand the test of time versus having a hot moment where your song may have gone number one on the radio but in ten years nobody is going to say, ‘That was so and so’ They are going to say, ‘Yeah I remembered that song’ not the artist. If you’re hopping on a trend that’s cool, it’s not truly who you are, that’s where it’s easy to get caught up in the trend rather than pushing through and finding who you are.”
BC: If you could say one thing to the world and the whole world would listen, what would you say?
JP: “Make sure you see sunrises and sunsets because it will always remind you that you are loved by God and that you have somebody much bigger than yourself looking out for you.”
Make sure to follow Jenna Paulette on her socials below. You can stream her debut album The Girl I Was HERE.