Published December 28, 2005

Music: Jocelyn Scofield
MSU graduate considers herself a road warrior

Christian Czerwinski | NOISE

Jocelyn Scofield redefines the term "road warrior." The singer-songwriter lives the life of a rock star - a life minus the money, swank hotels, rampant partying and Kabbalah water.

The 26-year-old Michigan State grad is in the middle of her first national tour, a tour she planned all by herself. She rarely gets paid for her gigs and the money she does make comes from the sales of her $10 CD, $2 of which goes toward the Habitat for Humanity's Operation Home Delivery.

When she's on the road, instead of staying in hotels, she stays with extended family, friends, or friends of friends.

"As far as touring goes, it's kind of risky," she said.

While she might be a touring novice, Scofield's soulful pipes, which share similarities to Fiona Apple's, can't be denied. On her album This Life, she explores emotional immaturity and relationships while wrapping her voice around funky and spiritual piano and drum loops.

Lyrically, the album offers not only shards of acid-bathed introspection, but a degree of honesty anyone can understand. Some of the songs document her experiences with relationships, but not in the "you cheated on me, I'm going to go" vein. Other songs were inspired by folks like her grandmother and her anger over losing her daughter to cancer.

"I have a lyric that goes 'This life is for the living. This life is for the ones you hold on to,'" Scofield said. "There's a lot of variety on the album."

Before she left and rented out her apartment in Los Angeles, Scofield started looking for places to stay while on the road. She had family in about a third of the places she was going. Once she had that covered, she asked people she knew if they knew anyone from the other cities along her tour. So far, in a couple of cities, she hasn't had a place to crash.

"I had two gigs in Omaha (Neb.), and I had no place to stay. My mom is a teacher and she asked if anyone in her school knew anyone in Omaha. She called me that afternoon and told me that a counselor at her school had a friend whose parents lived in Omaha. I got the number. I called on the road and (asked) if it was all right for me to stay," she said. "I was supposed to get in at like 11 (p.m.) but I played later."

When she got to the house, she found the downstairs unlocked and went to sleep. When she woke up the next day, the homeowner had already left for the day.

"I never actually met the person," she said.

Raised in Chicago, Scofield moved to Los Angeles a little under two years ago. She graduated from MSU with a degree in music education and could have been a teacher. But just like any fabled rags-to-riches music saga, she didn't want to lock herself into a professional gig, opting instead to work in a secretarial position in the music industry.

She started playing local gigs in the ultra-competitive scene and after getting fired from her job, she knew she had to make a record and tour. She figured out a way to live for three months (doing surveys and cleaning for cash).

She hosted a CD release party on Nov. 18 in Los Angeles and then launched her tour which comes to a close in mid-January.

"It is very like a one-woman kind of show. I haven't done this before, so it's a learning process," Scofield said. "Since I'm doing it myself, people (bookers) in the clubs and bars immediately view me as unprofessional."

Packing her piano and belongings into her small Saturn and traversing the country has its downfalls. For example, she was in Montana driving in between two mountains in the snow and she spun out. There were no cars on the road. She had no cell phone reception. Luckily, her fears of falling off the mountain and being found by hikers in the spring weren't realized.

Scofield knows there are thousands of musicians clawing their way to the top. She knows she could have gone back for a master's degree. But she also knows that for now, she's doing what she loves.

"I don't want to do anything else," she said. "My ideal life is being able to write, perform and travel. If I didn't think it was possible I wouldn't do it. There's just nothing else I want to do so here I am."