Entertainment, Music - Marine Corps Times

Singer feels back home on base

When Jessie James was overseas on the Tour for the Troops trip, her hosts on Air Force bases proudly gave her a tour of each facility when she arrived.

They probably didn’t need to: James already knows her way around a base.

These days, the singer/songwriter’s at home on big stages and at the cover of slick magazines, but base life is in her blood. Born on Ghedi Air Base in Vicenza, Italy, the 21-year-old spent her formative years as a military daughter, moving from place to place as her stepfather was stationed at numerous bases.

“Some places I lived, people liked hip-hop,” she said. “Some places they liked country. I heard a lot.”

James’ self-titled debut album plays out like a road map (with which almost any active-duty service member can identify), pulling something from each neighborhood, school and installation in her past and weaving her experiences together to create something entirely different.

Equal parts Shania Twain and Katy Perry, James isn’t so much a cut-and-paste country/pop hybrid but rather a glimpse into a sound where both elements are woven together so tightly, it’s easy to forget that there’s usually an unbridgeable chasm that separates the two.

Listeners haven’t had too much trouble connecting with James’ brand of American music. She cracked the Billboard Top 40 chart, and her best-performing single to date, “Wanted,” found traction in the Hot 100 charts upon its August release.

James brought her military-daughter aesthetic full circle in December as part of the Tour for the Troops, joining Kid Rock and comedian Carlos Mencia on a tour of bases in Turkey, Iraq, Germany and the United Kingdom.

“I’ve been on the road and I’ve been touring for the last year and a half now, and I have to say I enjoyed this more than any tour I’ve ever done,” she said. “You could tell that they wanted it and appreciated it.”

James’ military exposure on the Tour for the Troops wasn’t limited to her audiences. She left her regular backing band in the States and tapped the Band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve to back her up.

“At first, it was a little scary,” she admitted. “They learned all the songs. They sounded amazing! I was so happy with how it turned out. Those guys were great.”

Even as James is finding her footing in chic Hollywood restaurants and rubbing shoulders with the entertainment industry’s A-list, her Air Force upbringing is never far from the surface. She’s not about to forget it, either, she said.

“It’s a big part of who I am.”