Jo Dee Messina recently made history with three consecutive No.1 hits. Now she's revisiting history with her new single, "Lesson in Leavin' " -- a 1980 No. 1 for superstar Dottie West.
"Dottie West's shoes are some tough shoes to fill," says Jo Dee of the flamboyant Opry member who died in 1991 of injuries from a car accident.
"I think the song itself -- the lyrical content -- is timeless," Jo Dee says. "People have gotten their hearts broken before, and then said to that person, 'One of these days it's going to happen to you.'
"They said it 20 years ago, they say it today. And people will say it 20 years from now.
"The song sounded like something that I'd say -- 'Somebody's gonna give you a lesson in leaving, buddy. It's like you to love 'em and leave 'em, just like you loved me and left me.'
"When I do the song onstage, I say, 'This is a song about being dumped and telling the person, "One day it's going to happen to you and I want to see it happen." '
"Who hasn't felt that before?" she says, laughing. "I was a kid back in 1980 and I don't know if I heard the song on the radio or if I had the record. But I knew it."
A light went off in Jo Dee's head when she watched the TV movie Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story 0a few years ago. She knew that song would be perfect for her and she brought it to her producers Tim McGraw and Byron Gallimore.
"They both loved the song too," she says. "Tim and I wanted to cut it for my first record, but we ruled it out because we didn't want to do any remakes on my first album. But when it came time to cut the second record, we still thought it would be a cool song to cut.
"We all admired Dottie West, but we didn't try to do it like her version. I didn't want anybody to think I was trying to copy hers -- because that's impossible. We actually listened to the original song in the studio and spent some time trying to change it a little bit.
"Tim had a lot of great ideas for the song, as far as the groove and the intro guitar lick. He definitely had a lot of input on that. We changed the instrumentation a little bit -- and just the 'feel' of the song to fit me."
With the song's supercharged intro guitar roar and passionate vocals, Jo Dee made the song her own. She still can't escape comparisons to the late, great Dottie West -- but she doesn't mind at all.
"People who knew her personally have said that we're similar in a lot of ways," Jo Dee says. "Some people say we have the same heart. At one point, somebody said to me, 'You'd give the farm away if you had the farm to give.' And Dottie would have done the same thing.
"I remember Dottie as a fighter. She fought for her dreams. She really worked hard. She had a very, very big heart. She gave a lot to folks emotionally and financially.
"She wanted to see the people around her happy. She was admirable because of that. She was always doing for other people.
"Professionally, she was one of the first women to cross over from country to pop. She was a super superstar. Everyone knew who Dottie West was."
Now everyone is learning who Jo Dee Messina is. Recently she's been honored by the ACMs for Top New Female Vocalist and by the Boston Music Awards for Act of the Year. She was also a part of this year's hugely successful George Strait Country Music Festival.
This week Jo Dee's excited about another honor. She's performing for a PBS special, Capitol Fourth, in Washington, D.C. on Independence Day.
"Is that going to be awesome, or what?" Jo Dee says with a scream. "Two years ago, I said that one of my dreams was to sing in Washington on the Fourth of July. And another one of my goals was to perform with a symphony.
"And here I am -- singing on the Fourth of July in Washington with a symphony. I can't wait!"
Jo Dee's also looking forward to her new summer tour. And this fall she's opening for one of her favorite performers -- Vince Gill.
"To be asked to do shows with him is an honor," Jo Dee says. "I have a song I wrote called 'Hero' that somebody actually said at one point, 'You should do this as a duet with Vince Gill.'
"Vince has got a copy of the tape now -- so I'll let you know how it turns out," she says, with a chuckle.
Songwriting is another talent Jo Dee wants to hone. "That way I can establish myself as a writer - and not have people say, 'Oh yeah, she's recording those songs because she wrote them.'
"I look at people like Steve Wariner - he's an artist/writer," she says. "Other artists have cut his songs -- and they recorded them for the song, not just because Steve Wariner wrote it."
Jo Dee's hoping some of her songs make it on her next album -- which she's already recording.
"We've got a few songs cut so far," she says. "We're trying to find just the right material, and it's taking time to do that. I want it to be something that I'm happy with. We're trying to keep the songs fresh, yet something that people would expect me to do." Jo Dee -- a self-described workaholic -- takes charge when it comes to keeping her show fresh.
"I do everything from picking the songs, to arranging the songs, to song order and instrumentation," she says. "Sometimes I'll take my steel player off the steel and have him play acoustic guitar.
"Other times I'll ask my acoustic player to do some percussion instead. I sat down with a set designer this year with ideas of what I wanted onstage. He took my little chicken scratch drawings and made it make sense.
"So I do everything -- from set design to what happens onstage."
And being onstage is Jo Dee's favorite part. "It's just the best thing," she says of performing. "I heard Pam Tillis say one time, 'They pay you to get to the show. They don't pay you to do the show.' It's a given that you'll do a great show if you love what you do. And I love all of it.
"The band gets a little tighter every time we get out onstage. Things run a little smoother. We're adding new songs. And soon I'm hoping to be adding songs from my next album.
"We've got different covers we throw in here and there, and perform different arrangements of the songs people already know of mine. But I don't want to give away too much.
"I don't want people coming to my shows knowing what to expect, saying, 'Oh yeah, this is the part where she lights her nose hairs on fire!' "
But Jo Dee doesn't have to light herself on fire to ignite the crowd -- her songs take care of that. "Lesson in Leavin'" is one of the fastest-moving songs on the charts. And by pure chance, Jo Dee's version was released to radio on April 26 -- the same day Dottie's went to No. 1 in 1980.
"That was totally coincidental," she says. "No one could have planned that. We set the release date of 'Lesson in Leavin'' according to how my previous song, 'Stand Beside Me,' was doing on the charts. It was kind of spooky. It gave me chills."
Jo Dee's thankful for the opportunity to record "Lesson in Leavin'."
"My album sales have increased because of this single," she says. "I'm really lucky. And I know I say this all the time, but to have a song played on the radio is such a blessing.
"Again, I have to credit radio and the fans. What keeps the momentum going? It's the fans. Their support has been phenomenal. I've been very lucky to have that."
Jo Dee hopes that Dottie's family and friends like her rendition.
"That would just break my heart if somebody said, 'Hey, wait a minute -- how can you do that song?' In my live show, I say that we do it more as a tribute to Dottie. She did so many incredible things. This is a woman who should not be forgotten."
Jo Dee's excited to introduce Dottie's music to new fans. "Both my male and female fans have so much fun with it at the shows. A lot of college and teenage girls come up to me and say, 'Man, I love that song 'Lesson in Leavin.'
"Unfortunately a lot of the younger folks aren't aware that it was Dottie's song -- until I tell them.
"But I let them know!"
