Who Is Jessica Willis Fisher? The Story Behind Her Journey to Country Music

The Beginning:

In our weekly spotlight series, we carefully choose artists for this segment that we believe have all the talent and a story to tell. Today’s artist, Jessica Willis Fisher definitely has both. While you may recognize her name by her television notoriety, Fisher is more than meets the eye. The talented singer-songwriter and author opened up to us about her journey thus far and where she is headed.

“Music was a huge part of my childhood. I was born in Chicago, the Southside of Chicago and first music was introduced through church,” began the songstress. “I was about 7, 8, 9, when my parents got me into Irish dance […] We were home-schooled, so we were looking for something that was artistic. […] We fell in love with that, and as an extension of that, we found music.”

As the oldest of twelve kids, Fisher always looked for ways to connect through music. “I started playing the fiddle when I was about eight,” she shared, adding later, “Music was a therapy and a way to connect with others and the things I was going through.”

After a tragedy in her life, her family moved to Nashville; however, it was not necessarily to perform music. “We moved to the Nashville area, and because we were homeschooled, a lot of our dreaming and hoping came off the radar of music city.” The city helped transform her love of Irish music into a love for Bluegrass music too. She recalls loving artists like The Corrs and Alis0n Krauss.

Back in April 2022, Fisher released her debut album called Brand New Day. The ten song project marked the first time that the singer-songwriter had stepped out into the limelight as her own artist. Writing all but two songs on the record, it was important to Fisher that she share her truth with the world, no matter who heard it.

“‘Brand New Day’ is the name of my album and my understanding of that is that every day gets to be a brand new day. […] We get to navigate life through hope and possibility, the energy that can be in every day while navigating sometimes, quite a complex road.”

Similarly, her memoir was the first time she truly got to shed her trauma and let the world see her for who she really is. “I feel both the music and the book if no one ever heard them, it is still a victory for me […] These are songs that I needed to hear and/or write. The book was born directly out of doing the actual work of trying to make sense as a human being of what I went through,” she shared.