What guilty pleasure do you have?
I love Boston Stoker coffee in the morning, and lots of it. A deep, robust cabernet sometimes at night. I love to get good wines at Dorothy Lane Market.
What do you do?
I am a songwriter. I perform many of the songs, so that would make me a singer-songwriter, they say.
How did you get into the business?
I started writing songs when I was 18. I wrote a lot during college and then shelved it all for a normal career in television after graduating from OSU. It wasn't until moving to Dayton and listening to WOXY 97X out of Oxford that I knew I needed to blow the dust off of my acoustic. I loved that station's format and it flung open some sort of mental door for me. I've been writing songs ever since. A real highlight for me early on was to hear many of my songs on 97X. My band and I won their tri-state competition and our songs were in good rotation on that station for a long time. That station doesn't exist anymore, but it was a career starter for me. WYSO was another station who was very supportive of my project back then. Currently WNKU (105.9 Middletown-Dayton) is super supportive, and has been for years.
What was the most challenging part about being in the business?
I had some issues the first year of being on the music scene. I was being unfairly asked by a certain person to add his name to the copyright of songs that I had written alone. I was being strong-armed to do so. People do crazy things when they think someone is going to make it big. I was a newbie and didn't know if these demands were reasonable or insane. I did a lot of research and hired a music attorney to help me navigate. The demands were nowhere near reasonable. It was a heart breaking situation for me. This person has since apologized.
How did you push through that challenge?
I pushed through that challenge by learning all about the business of music. I realized that if I was going to make wise decisions as I rolled along, then I needed to be totally informed. I would never again let someone even slightly attempt to strong arm-me again as I would know the waters in which we swim.
What's one word you think people use to describe you?
Deep.
What brought you to the Dayton area and why did you settle here?
I was raised here. I moved away to work in Lexington, Kentucky, then Columbus in television. I came back to Dayton to be with the man I married.
What is your favorite spot in Dayton?
Canal Street Tavern (now Canal Public House) has always been my favorite stage. I cut my teeth on that stage. Wiped off the egg from my face on the stage. Cried on that stage. Sold out the club from that stage. Saw the audience age with us and get smaller from that stage. A lot of history in that room for me.
What inspires you about Dayton?
The local songwriters inspire me. Their creativity and free spirits lift me up every time I get to do shows with them.
How do you see Dayton in 10 to 15 years?
I don't have a vision for Dayton's future, which is odd.
Want to see Jayne perform? Check out videos of her at Ghostlight Coffee (2013), the Fraze (2013), the Studio 89 Summer Concert Series (2007), 89.7 WNKU's Studio 89 (2007) and on Random Acts of Music (2007).
Know someone who should be our Daytonian of the Week? Drop us a line: contact@dayton.com.
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