Jessica Mashburn, 34, music maker
My favorite kind of music is live music,” singer, songwriter and fabulous hat aficionado Jessica Mashburn says. “Anything that causes me to laugh or smile or have a good time.”
Jessica, 34, takes those feelings and tries to emulate them in her performances. “I generate it into something I can bring back to Greensboro with my own twist.”
At Greensboro’s own Proximity Hotel, you can catch her performing for a large crowd of regulars at the Print Works Bistro. After 5 years, everyone in the area knows you can find her there every Wednesday night.
She grew up in a family of musicians, and was writing songs by the time she was a teen.
Admittedly quirky, her lyrics use puns and alliterations to make them think, “but not too deep that it’s bringing people down.”
An ever-changing collection of silly hats, fascinators and other head gear are part of her fun stage persona. “I will just have a vision for something and there is nowhere that you can buy it, but I can create it. Anything that is not too heavy could potentially become a head piece,” she says. “Spectacle is a part of performance.”
Jessica genuinely wants her audience to have a good time. “People tell me to move to New York or a big city,” she says. “I like playing within my zip code and connecting with my audience. Any community needs music. They’re always going to need music.”
