We recently had the chance to connect with Jesse Eads and have shared our conversation below.
Jesse, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
For the past few years (but really since forever, in some form), I’ve developed an enthusiasm for tea; loose-leaf, usually from China and Japan, often called “boutique” or niche. It’s not extravagantly expensive and goes a long way but it’s become a fixture of my days as a sort of centering ritual, though it can do a lot of different things for me. I prepare with a general technique called gong-fu brewing, where you do many short steeps on the tea, and it can range from mindful, thoughtful sipping to gleeful chugging with friends and family. It’s a lot like music; everyone understands it, or can understand it, in their own way. No coincidence that all my tea buddies are music lovers too!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Jesse Blue Eads. I’m a 24-year-old musician in Tennessee. Like most full-time musicians, I play hundreds of shows a year to make a living and live my passion, My favorite person to play music with is my boundlessly wonderful wife, Willow Osborne, a certified banjo legend; I also love playing shows with my homies back home in LA, Water Tower, who happen to be punk bluegrass maestros and some of my best friends. I’ve got a new band of some buddies up in Boston that I’m excited about too, a super special jazz fusion band with banjo, fiddle, and tap dance, called Lotus Feet.
I’ve played bass for over a decade, but in the latter half of that decade I’ve found myself just as busy on the banjo, guitar, and singing. I play guitar, keyboards, mandolin, and anything else I can get my hands on. I love improvising, listening, studying, composing, and that’s led me down some unusual paths of jazz banjo, avant-garde and experimental stuff, and super mathematical prog fusion business on acoustic instruments. When I’m not at a gig I love spending time with my family and drinking tea!
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My wife has been the most influential person in my life since the time we met. Which ought to be a given! Truly, both through her inherent self and our relationship together, she has inspired me to realize responsibility and meaning in my life. Life with the woman I love has meant building the home we’ve always wanted, not just in the material sense but in the space we create for each other to be our most genuine, compassionate, and loving selves. From the beginning we have always tuned to each other, beckoned each other to share the things we love and challenged each other. She’s shown me how strong, reliable, sensitive, disciplined, and gentle I can truly be, and totally changed my life in doing so.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering is an odd subject for a career musician. It’s not like we are going out on stage miserable, resenting our job, milking our bodies and minds for labor and commerce. Actually, I can’t speak for everybody. I just mean there are certainly worse things to be spending our precious time on.
For me, the suffering–that is, the educational suffering, has been the inevitable uncertainty of a gigging life; the trauma of poverty and sense of being financially punished for your trade or talents; the stress upon your mind, body, and soul of a transient life on the road; the many situations when you feel like you are caricaturing this very thing you hold sacred; and the moral conflict from the sacrifices you make to try and turn your calling into bread for your family. Maybe even the occasional doubt that it’s all worth it.
These things have shown me true patience; faith that our undertaking makes the world a better place; compassion for the countless shades of these same struggles; integrity to be true to myself through adversity; gratitude for the moments that make it all worth it.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
I feel like I combat this on every level, fans and strangers and world-class musicians alike. Music is so bizarrely misunderstood by most. At heart, it’s not a sport; it’s not something you practice purely athletically, there is no real winner and loser and it’s not a contest, yet there are countless musicians who dedicate their whole self-worth to their musical sportsmanship rather than the love of the art. It’s also not a grand pageant and more complex than just a recital. Whether you’re good at it or not should have nothing to do with whether it’s worth doing.
Maybe the heart of all this is the meaning of the word “practice”, Practice is for the sake of itself; it’s not to “get better”, it’s not to “fix” my broken-ness, it’s just you doing the thing, I practice cooking my eggs in the morning. I practice brewing my tea. Conversations with people are a practice. I love to get better at all those things and that intention manifests a lot of ways, but none of those practices bear a terror of sucking at it, at least not at their best. When I get on stage and play, I’m practicing.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
I think it was my buddy Kenny Feinstein from Water Tower–who may have heard it from someone else–that told me music is decorating time the way a painter may decorate space. The notion of decorating time really draws me to the fleeting nature of music; it happens, and it’s gone when it’s done. And the contrast to space reminds me that it’s not something you can ever hold in your hand or touch.
My generation grew up with the power to record every moment of everything on our phones. We all seem to have internalized the phrase “pics or it didn’t happen”, But I’ve found that me believing that it happened is enough. Not even necessarily remembering, but believing just how extraordinary that musical moment was, even if I was the only beholder. Especially because a recording can never really bear that. So I absolutely strive for that magic, even if I’m the only one listening.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.willowandjesse.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesseblueeads/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JesseBlueEads/videos
Image Credits
Madison Brown
Tia Reman
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