Indie folk darling-turned-rocker Jessica Lea Mayfield shares new songs Saturday

When Jessica Lea Mayfield played the Double Door Inn a year ago, she was traveling solo and the show was particularly intimate.

“One thing I love about North Carolina music fans is it seems like they’re right there with you, hanging on every word you’re singing, and sometimes it throws you off when you’re by yourself,” she says. “All eyes are on me. They’re talking to me between songs. It felt like a big hang.”

For her show there on Saturday night, she’ll bring a four-piece band that includes husband Jesse Newport on bass, and she’ll be testing out material for her fourth album.

“What I really wanted to do was get out and play some of these songs with the band and see what direction they want to go in. A lot of times you record a song and when you tour the live version becomes different, which is cool,” she explains, from the “magic spot” in her yard North of Nashville where she gets cell reception. “Sometimes it gets more natural the more you play it.”

She hasn’t recorded anything yet, but has it written.

“It’s still a lot of grunge influences like the last record (2014’s “Make My Head Sing”). I can hear things from each record that I’ve done. I’m at a place where I can hear that it sounds like me where before I wasn’t aware of that,” she explains. “Some of them are almost folksy and tender, and some are a little gnarly. I need to see how they can go together.”

One thing that’s steered Mayfield’s progression from indie folk sweetheart with an angelically distinct voice and a memorable sing-songy originality to her songs is her mastery of electric guitar. For those who saw her open for the Avett Brothers early on, her ability to shred may come as a surprise.

“Until 2012, I only had one guitar, and it was this old acoustic that my dad bought at a pawn shop and proposed to my mom with,” she says.

As a kid playing in her parent’s bluegrass band with brother David Mayfield – a singer-songwriter and instrumentalist in his own right – she was discouraged from what was deemed a traditionally “male” instrument.

“I remember my dad and brother would talk about female musicians, ‘Oh she plays like a girl,’ ‘Women play the acoustic guitar.’ I had people telling me that I could only go so far,” she explains. “I realized at one point I really liked the guitar and one of my favorite things is guitar tones and sounds. I listen to a lot of guitar rock.”

She dove into an ocean of effects pedals and gadgets that gave “Make My Head Sing” a psychedelic swirl.

“I was having a lot of feelings around that time and I felt like I could express them through my guitar,” she says. “ ‘Make my Head Sing’ was me speaking through my guitar.”

She’s become quite the gearhead since.

“Once I broke the seal I couldn’t reseal it. I have a boatload of guitars now,” she says. “That’s what I love. My husband builds amps and pedals. He can alter my gear.”

He once surprised her with a pink glitter foot switch that he made. There was no turning back for the 27-year-old after that.

“I was like, this guy is amazing.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Indie folk darling-turned-rocker Jessica Lea Mayfield shares new songs Saturday."