ROCKER TWINS
REVIEW
"The keeper of the flame...is the girl on the side of the stage."
~Cameron Crowe
JESSIE MAPES - The Original Urban Cowgirl
By The Rocker Twins
The Rocker Twins get a chance to talk with Jessie Mapes of the URBAN COWBOY. We talk about what it was like to be part of a huge movie and catch up with her now to see where the music takes her.
*Post date July 29th, 2015*
There are things in your life that act as a type of security blanket. A song, a smell, a person, or a movie. For us, our "security blanket" movie is URBAN COWBOY. I know you might be thinking, "WHAT?...you're The Rocker Twins." Well you're right, we are rockers, but URBAN COWBOY is one of the best MUSIC movies around. We call it our "security blanket" movie because we grew up on it. Being from a very small town there is one thing that lets you escape it's confinements and for our mother, that escape was the movies, or better yet...the drive-in.
I still remember her telling us that one magical month the drive-in had a double feature of URBAN COWBOY and COAL MINERS DAUGHTER. Being a young mother she took her twins with her when she went. Of course we aren't old enough to remember our first screening of the movie but subconsciously it must have seeped deep into our psyche. To this day we couldn't tell you how many times we've seen it; but we can recite you line for line the script from start to finish. Yeah, we've seen it that much. Some movies can't hold up to the test of time. It still makes me cry when Bud puts Sissy's license plate in the back window, Sissy asking Bud if he wants to prove he can two step, Uncle Bob, Jessie, Wes and the music. The Music is a whole other character to the movie, which is, I'm SURE what producer Irving Azoff was
going for. You could watch the movie for the music alone. Charlie Daniels doing his most famous, "Devil Went Down To Georgia" is the perfect song for Wes' bad ass theme. Bonnie Raitt with her signature guitar, Mickey Gilley as the master of ceremonies for the world famous club "GILLEY'S" which of course is another character itself. And if you really stop the movie before you hear the entirety of Johnny Lee's "Lookin' For Love", well then something is wrong with you. It still makes my heart hurt, in a good way, to hear it.
So one night we turn on CMT and see that they're doing an anniversay show for URBAN COWBOY, well of course we HAVE TO WATCH it. Everyone talks about it and we actually see the REAL Bud and Sissy and get to see the whole sorid details of what went down before, during and after the movie hit Pasadena, Texas. There's all the
characters and Sissy's bad ass friend Jessie looks and sounds just as bad ass as she appeared on screen, so we thought what the hell. Lets see if we can find her on FB and see if what she's up to. To our pure delight she accepted a friend requested and accepted our invitation to an interview. Just as charming and fun as she seemed on screen she captured our hearts while talking to her. We got to hear stories from the set, and got to catch up on what she's doing now. We were so excited to hear that she is embarking on a musical career of her own. With the release of her first album "The Original Urban Cowgirl", she is bringing back old country. Songs you want to listen to by candle light and a bottle of whiskey in your hand. Just signing to a reality series we'll get to catch up on where this part of her career takes her, and
later this week she hits the stage live with an URBAN COWBOY reunion show. To tell you it was a joy to talk with Jessie and her husband Charlie is an understatement. I mean come on we got to talk to the lady that has the "last line" in URBAN COWBOY..."don't worry about it Sissy". Had such a fun time, hope you all enjoy it! Sometimes
a ROCKER TWIN can be an URBAN COWGIRL!
RT: Hi Jessie, this is Mandy with The Rocker Twins. How are you?
JM: I'm good sweetie, how are you?
RT: Oh we're good! We're so excited to be talking to you.
JM: Oh I am too. I was telling a friend of mine last night, "I got these ROCKER TWINS that want to interview me?! That's pretty cool!
RT: Well, right on. We're so flattered.
JM: Okay before we get started I wanted to tell you we're in the car and my husband is here, so Charlie say hi to Mandy.
CM: Hi Mandy! How are you today?
RT: We're good, and yourself?
CM: Oh I'm just peachy. (ALL LAUGHING)
RT: Sounds good. So are you guys ready for us?
JM: We're ready. We're just heading over to my uncle's bar. He's having a grand opening tonight.
RT: Awesome, are you going to be singing for him?
JM: Possibly. Knowin my Uncle, yeah I'll be singing.
RT: So lets dive into this. We're just gonna put this out there. We're obsessed with URBAN COWBOY. This interview is huge to us. Seriously, you have no idea. (ALL
LAUGHING) But first we wanted to talk to you about your music. Your album is officially released now right?
JM: Yes it is. We had a mini release party actually at the URBAN COWBOY Reunion about 3 weeks ago, and it was well received. Also Bright Sky Radio and Trip Coutry FM are playing it. So we have gotten a lot of air play on it.
RT: We loved it. Your voice kind of reminded us of KT Oslin. A sound amongst those lines. Who are you influences on this album?
JM: I love KT Oslin, but Patsy Cline is my lady.
RT: You can definitely hear a Patsy Cline influence. So what made you want to do an album?
JM: It's been a dream of mine my whole life. I used to have a band back in the 80's and got burned out on it. I've been out of the music scene for a long time. Then about 3 years ago I picked it up again. My husband is very supportive, and a friend of mine that's like my sister is my producer. She is the one telling me I can do this. So I decided to listen to them.
RT: So are you writing your own stuff or collaborating with someone?
JM: I've written some stuff, but we haven't released it yet. The one song, "Lately A Stranger" was written by a friend of mine, Keith Mc Coy.
RT: That song has great lyrics. Are you going to try to tour?
JM: Actually we are trying to do an URBAN COWGIRL tour. We're trying for a European run as well.
RT: That would be awesome. The film is HUGE world wide I'm sure a European crowd would love it. And hey, we promote concerts here in Colorado too. If you're interested hit us up.
JM: We will for sure.
RT: So you said the music was well recieved at the URBAN COWBOY reunion. Have any of the musicians from the movie reached out to you?
JM: JOHNNY LEE is very supportive; and MICKEY GILLEY I haven't seen in 35 years. But I will see whil on July 31st, Champion Edition is doing a show with Johnny and Mickey. They have invited me to come in and sell my CD's and sign autographs. It will be an interesting reunion. I saw Mickey's son Keith a few weeks ago and he loved the idea, so that was really cool.
RT: That sounds totally cool. Man we're hard core METAL chics, for us to say we wanna go to that show is out of the norm for us. URBAN COWBOY was such a part of our childhood, and that soundtrack still lives in us. Needless to say this is so cool to be talking to you. (ALL LAUGHING)...sorry had to get that out of the way. So moving
on...(ALL LAUGHING) Besides music we see that you also have a horse ranch called CJ Farms. Tell us a little more about that.
JM: Yes, we run quarter horses. We do the All American Derby out of Rio Dosa.
CM: And Arapahoe Park, out there in your neck of the woods.
RT: So that's your main gig, while you test out the music scene. How focused are you on making the music your main gig?
JM: We are really working on making this music a main gig. If I could do this full time I would LOVE IT! My friend Angie is working on a Christmas album, so I will be doing a few songs on that. Next year I will be concentrating on a 10-12 track release. But I would actually like to go back to the old school way of doing it. You know where
you could do an A side and a B side but I guess there's no way to do that these days. And it's a shame cause that was part of my passion for it.
RT: I think that's why we really liked your songs so much. It sort of take you back in time. I felt like I was in my grandma's living room listening to the radio with her. Your songs seem more emotional and today's country music seems to lean way towards POP instead of COUNTRY. Of course this is an opinion of some rock and roll girls. What do you think? Are there any current acts now that you can relate to or have influenced you in any way?
JM: Ummmm, well I really love Carrie Underwood. To me she's kinda like the Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline of her day. But there is never gonna be anyone better King George.
RT: (ALL LAUGHING) That's right! No one will ever beat THE POSSUM!
JM: Exactly, and if I had to think of anyone else who is current that I like it would be Keith Urban. He's my guy. (laughing)
RT: We'll agree with you on that. He's a cutie. So lets get into it. Now we get to the URBAN COWBOY. Let's dig in. (ALL LAUGHING) You had a very big part in the movie.
How were you picked to be Sissy's best friend out of all the other "Gilley Rats"?
JM: The movie (URBAN COWBOY) was actually based on real people, Betty Jones and Dew Westbrook, They were married and Betty was my best friend. It's how we
lived. We went to Gilley's every single night and hung out with all our friends. So when they came in and looked around they were gonna do a love story on the club,
Irving Azoff said, "you know what, let e see if I can find a love story amongst all of this". He found Betty and Dew and the rest is history.
RT: So how close to are you to your character? I mean, she was the little badass of the film. Did what she wanted and didn't take shit from no one.
JM: I am very independant and very, very protective of my family and friends. So yeah, my character was me. It wasn't a stretch at all.
RT: So were you all star struck when "HOLLYWOOD" showed up? When John Travolta got there was it like, "Oh my god, it's John Travolta!" Or did you have the attitude
that they didn't belong? So what was your reaction to him and Debra Winger?
JM: Well we were pulled in for a trail ride in February to meet John (Travolta). And yeah, we were all like, "there's no way that this yankee is going to be able to play a
cowboy", but once we met him he was such a down to earth person. We had so much fun. He wanted to make us all feel welcomed. He was never standoffish. Debra
(Winger) and I hit it off immediately. We were best friends in the movie and it was like that even when we weren't filming. We would hang out, go to lunch, get drunk,
but you know after the movie we lost touch. But of course that's to be expected. I was a little girl from Pasadena and she's a movie star! (ALL LAUGHING)
RT: It happens, But I bet it was fun while it lasted!
JM: Exactly!
RT: Do you even know how big you are? Not to blow smoke but this movie was such a huge part of our lives. When I got an e-mail from you it was literally one of those
"MOMENTS" for us. Do you get that a lot? Or are we coming off as crazy? (laughing) I mean we would have recognized you on the street. We watch the movie like only 3 times a month. (lauhging)
JM: (laughing) For the longest time, and mind you this was 35 years ago and for the first 30 years I didn't tell people. I didn't brag about it, I didn't say, "Oh by the way, I'm so and so" you know. Cause it was just something to me that happened. But for the last 5 years my husband, who is my biggest fan, has been telling everyboyd. I didn't realize the depth of this movie, and it just amazes me. So now I am learning to embrace it, and I think, "Duh, business oppurtunity!". Okay so lets do an album and use the URBAN COWBOY as a marketing tool.
RT: Seriously. I can't tell you what a big deal it is to talk with you. I mean come on, you know John Travolta! Coolest picture I ever got in a press kit was the one of you and Travolta on the plane. What was the story behind that?
JM That was my 21st birthday present. I had never been on a plane before and he and he had bought a brand new one and and it parked out at the airport, he said "come on" and we went.
JM: One of the first times I met him he came and picked me up in a limo and took me for lunch. So here I am sitting in the back of this limo in Pasadena Texas and he says to me, "you want to call somebody?". Mind you this is in 79', no such thing as cell phones then, so he hands me the phone and I call my grandmother. She says, "Jessie, what're you doing?", I said, "driving around in a limosine with John Travolta.", She said to me, "don't you lie to me". So he gets on the phone and says, "hi grandma", so that was pretty cool. During filming I was pregnant, we started filming the first part of June and my son was born July 22nd. John would follow me around with a camera and knife and say, "okay, we're gonna film it, it'll be our next big movie. He was a lot of fun!
RT: Travolta of course we knew was gonna be awesome. How was the rest of the cast. Like Scott Glen? We were totally obsessed with WES. We heard he method acted it. Did that mean he wasn't approachable on set?
JM: He was a hell of a kisser!
RT: Oh I bet.
JM: The scene where she's (DEBRA WINGER/ "Sissy") leaning back on the bull and he's kissing her, well I had to play the stunt double for that while they were setting the lighting. He (SCOTT GLEN) was very, very sweet. Everybody was amazing to work with, the only one that was a little standoffish was Madolyn Smith.
RT: I knew it. (laughing)
JM: She played a rich bitch, really well. (laughing) Everyone else was amazing.
RT: So you were a Gilley Rat, did you know all the musical acts that were in the movie? Like Charlie Daniels or Bonnie Raitt?
JM: I got to meet Charlie and hang out on his bus but I never got to meet Bonnie. But being at Gilley's there were so many acts that I knew and loved over the years and so many that are gone now.
RT: I always wondered if the performers in the movie were picked because they were Gilley regulars or if there was a different casting for it?
JM: Irving Azoff was the producer so he totally had in mind what acts he wanted performing for the movie.
RT: Of course, who's gonna argue with him? (laughing) Did you ever consider covering some of the URBAN COWBOY songs. They're iconic in their own right.
JM: I do in some of my shows. I'll do the Bonnie Raitt song which is so much fun to do. If I do something with Johnny Lee, I mean that's HIS song. And Anne Murray, it's not my style of singing. Of course I did Gary Stewart's "Empty Glass" but I did it my way.
RT: We're so excited to see what else you do.
JM: It's been a dream that I've been looking forward to. I have a bucket list written down. Some of the things I've been able to check off. Making a CD is one of them. The other huge one would be singing on The Grand Ole Opry. I really want to do that one day.
You can find Jessie on-line at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessieMapesMusic?fref=ts
Reverb Nation: https://www.reverbnation.com/jessiemapes
Be sure to catch her on tour and check out her new album