{"id":344353,"date":"2026-06-02T01:40:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T20:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=344353"},"modified":"2026-06-02T01:40:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T20:10:49","slug":"jo-dee-messina-breaks-down-her-1st-recent-album-in-12-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/02\/jo-dee-messina-breaks-down-her-1st-recent-album-in-12-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Jo Dee Messina Breaks Down Her 1st Recent Album in 12 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Any country music fan price their salt has known all of the words to Jo Dee Messina<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cHeads Carolina, Tails California\u201d because it debuted in 1996 \u2014 and in addition wondering where exactly she\u2019s been for the last decade or so.<\/p>\n

Messina hasn\u2019t exactly been hiding \u2014 she\u2019s toured continually and made occasional appearances at events just like the CMA Awards \u2014 however it\u2019s been 12 years since she released her last album, 2014\u2019s Me<\/em>. Now, she\u2019s back with Bridges<\/em>, a set of songs inspired by the whole lot she\u2019s been through these days. And that, because it seems, is so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cI became a single parent. I lost my mother, after which recently, I lost my father, after which I handled cancer,\u201d Messina explained in an exclusive interview with Us Weekly<\/em>. \u201cAnd so there\u2019s been loads of shake-up in the traditional day-to-day, right? And oh, did I mention I actually have two kids? So, raising men and looking out on the world through their eyes and attempting to guide them \u2014 that\u2019s a full-time gig.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dreambound Records<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In spite of everything that upheaval, it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if Bridges veered into melancholy, however it never does. As an alternative, Messina focuses on hope, love and the importance of living each day without regrets. Within the song \u201cDays You Don\u2019t Get Back,\u201d for instance, Messina imagines telling her 17-year-old self to \u201ctap the brakes and lose that fake ID.\u201d She says it\u2019s considered one of the primary songs she wrote when she decided to get back within the studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat one I\u2019m like, \u2018I would like to write down a song from where I’m immediately,\u2019\u201d she recalled of the track, which she cowrote with Florida Georgia Line\u2019s Tyler Hubbard<\/strong>. \u201cDon\u2019t wish away the times you don\u2019t get back. You mostly want what\u2019s next. You wish your license. Then you need to be 21, then you need to be 25, then you definitely desire a family. You\u2019re all the time in search of the following thing, but you could have to learn to like where you\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Related: <\/span>Why Margo Price Went Country Again After \u2018Left Turn\u2019 on Last Album<\/span>
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\n\t\t\tMargo Price has lived in Nashville for greater than 20 years, but she\u2019s never recorded a full album there, despite its abundant supply of legendary studios. For her fifth LP, Hard Headed Woman, she decided to vary that. \u201cIt was simply because I all the time felt like such an outsider in Nashville,\u201d Price, 42, exclusively told [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Messina became a household name through the late \u201990s when female country stars like Martina McBride<\/strong>, Faith Hill<\/strong> and Shania Twain<\/strong> dominated the radio, but younger fans may know her from Cole Swindell<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cShe Had Me at Heads Carolina,\u201d which references Messina\u2019s biggest hit, or last yr\u2019s \u201cLesson in Leavin\u2019\u201d cover by Sierra Ferrell<\/strong> and Nikki Lane<\/strong>. (Messina\u2019s version of the latter song was also a canopy; the unique appeared on Dottie West<\/strong>\u2019s 1979 album Special Delivery<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Messina is flattered by the love, but she\u2019s also not able to see herself as an elder stateswoman of the industry.<\/p>\n

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\n Jo Dee Messina and Ella Langley speak in Nashville on March 19, 2026.<\/span> Jason Kempin\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI still feel like I\u2019m considered one of them,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe see one another and do stuff together, functions and whatever. And I\u2019m hanging with them \u2014 I don\u2019t remove myself in that aspect. And I just like to be a component of the get-together.\u201d<\/p>\n

She does, nevertheless, feel a bit of nostalgia for the era when she was first starting out. Because whilst country music reaches ever more impressive heights, the industry itself \u2014 at the least in Nashville \u2014 can feel a bit of hollowed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss living in Nashville, going to Music Row, and there being houses of songwriters, one after the opposite one after the opposite one,\u201d she told Us<\/em>. \u201cNow we\u2019ve got these big buildings, however it was once, \u2018Hey, walk down the road. That\u2019s where so-and-so writes, that\u2019s where so-and-so writes, oh, that\u2019s where so-and-so records.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easier than ever to place your music out into the world, but Messina thinks \u201cthe accessibility of a relationship with people within the industry\u201d was a bit of bit higher back then. \u201cLike, to get someone to select up a phone today is like wrestling an alligator,\u201d she joked. \u201cThere was once phone calls on a regular basis. I used to call my manager three or 4 times a day!\u201d<\/p>\n

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