Introducing… Jess And The Bandits

Jess And The Bandits
Jess And The Bandits

Jess And The Bandits

We meet Jessica Clemmons and discover how the Texan came to the UK, supported Boyzone and joined her Nashville Bandits

Names: Jessica Clemmons (vocals), Steven Reid Williams (keyboards/guitar), brothers Ricci (drums) and Louis Riccardi (guitar) and Dave Troke (bass)

Location: Nashville, USA

Style: American pop-rock

Look out for: Their brand new single My Name Is Trouble out now on Amazon, iTunes and Spotify.



Jess Clemmons

Jess minus The Bandits

efore forming a band with The Bandits, Jessica Clemmons was a solo singer-songwriter in her own right, and a successful one at that. Born into a musical family in Houston, Texas – her brothers all played instruments and were always singing together – it was no surprise that the young Jess followed suit and wrote her first song at the age of 10 years old. Although she didn’t follow through with songwriting at first, instead finding a creative outlet in writing journals and poetry, she returned to music in her late teens. As Jess explains, “I started collaborating with people and writing and learning the whole art of songwriting. And I realised I wasn’t as bad at it as I thought I was!”

With this new-found confidence, Jess took the opportunity to move to Denmark, worked with acclaimed songwriter John Gordon, and fell in love with writing songs. It was the positive experience of collaboration that encouraged her to keep seeking out songwriting partners, especially in the rich seam of Nashville, where Jess And The Bandits are based. “I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of the top A-list songwriters,” says Jess. “If you told me 10 years ago that I’d be writing with people who have cuts right now with Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry, and all these major artists’ albums, I would’ve thought you were crazy. Every time I work with these people, I feel like I learn something new. That’s the amazing thing about songwriting: you can never stop learning.”

Jess is clearly capable of writing a song on her own, but prefers to collaborate and take advantage of the top songwriting talent she’s found in Nashville. As she explains, it’s the sounding board for new ideas that is crucial: “I think that’s the great thing about working with people when you’re songwriting – having those people to bounce ideas off of. It’s such a fun experience because you start in a room together, telling stories back and forth and coming up with melodies. Before you know it, within three or four hours, you have a complete song from start to finish.”

Naturally, the Bandits have soon become collaborators for Jess, too. Before forming the band, the five musicians had found themselves playing regularly together for several years, so joining forces made absolute sense. “It’s fun for me to go from being completely solo to being with this group of people that I get to perform with every night,” explains Jess. “We’ve started doing some songwriting together and it’s great because they’re all so talented.”

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Despite being proud of her Texan roots, Jess has been performing regularly in the UK for several years, touring with pop heavyweights like the Overtones and Boyzone, which has developed a considerable fanbase this side of the Atlantic. “I’ve fallen in love with this country! It’s nice that we’re introducing some people in the UK to a new style of music that so many people are fans of, but really it’s not as mainstream as it is in the US.”


Jess And The Bandits’ new single My Name Is Trouble is out now (official video below), taken from the forthcoming album Here We Go Again which is due for release in January. For more information about the band, check out jessandthebandits.com




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