Smoking is bad.
For her first-grade talent show, singer-songwriter and Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alum Caitlyn Hessell performed one of her first original songs on the piano that would rival even the most creative Truth anti-smoking campaigns.
These days, 21-year-old Hessel (still not a smoker) channels more mature subject matter when searching for musical inspiration. Hessell’s smoky voice now echoes notes of love lost instead of cigarettes.
“I guess my main influences are just ordinary experiences that everyone goes through, such as bad relationships, death of a loved one and feeling lonely,” Hessell said. “I write what I feel, and I’m pretty sure that I feel the same emotions that everyone else does.”
Though her songwriting career started early with original tunes banged out on the piano, it wasn’t until seventh grade that she first picked up the guitar.
“I only started playing the guitar after my parents took me to a Jonny Lang concert,” Hessell said. “I remember just sitting in the crowd mesmerized by his guitar playing and thinking, ‘I have no idea what he’s doing, but whatever it is, I want to do it.'”
And play she did. The Fairfield, Conn., native started in local coffee houses and worked her way up to the Boston circuit. Though she has performed at Paradise Rock Club and the like, she maintains that her favorite performances are mid-party, in apartment basements, usually at the request of a few drunken friends.
“You know your friends aren’t there out of an obligation, that they didn’t have to pay ten bucks to see you perform,” Hessell said.
Although her sound is currently acoustic and soulful a la Norah Jones, she wants to move away from that genre, possibly to collaborate with different types of musicians-techno DJ’s, trip-hop artists and even rappers.
“The songs I write on acoustic guitar are not meant to be acoustic songs,” Hessell said. “There is just so much more out there and I want to try it all.”
After graduating in May, Hessell faced the challenge of juggling her fledgling music career with a nine-to-five, high-heels-mandatory job at a Boston consulting firm. Not that it’s any different from the balancing she did as a full-time English major.
“I didn’t go to school for music, so juggling a full-time job with my music doesn’t really feel any different than how it was in college, where my music was constantly competing with non-musical classes, exams and thesis papers,” Hessell said.
Though sometimes frustrating, she characterizes her non-musical major and BU experience as a “blessing in disguise.” Her songwriting remained true and unchanged throughout her college career. So maybe her chord progressions are off. Maybe her song structure isn’t right. And maybe she’s doing it all wrong. But frankly, she doesn’t care and her growing fan base doesn’t care either.
As for Hessell’s long-term plans, she just wants to write songs until she can’t anymore, like many of the artists she admires.
“I guess my favorite artists are the ones who you know write songs not because of the money, but because they couldn’t survive or function in the real world without it,” she said. “Just look at Paul McCartney. He could live off royalties alone, but he just released another album. That’s insane.”