7/31/01 courtesy of    dayday3@gte.net   from jdmfans@yahoogroups.com
JO DEE MESSINA

Singing in the rain...Jo Dee Messina has not had an outdoor concert canceled due to rain for more than six years and it hasn't always been easy. Yesterday's concert at the Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia, presented new challenges but found Messina rising to the occasion.

By 8:00 AM organizers decided to cancel the 6:00 PM concert due to torrential rains that showed no signs of letting up. Messina immediately took action, meeting with the promoter and agreeing to perform at the US Navel Amphibious Base in nearby Norfolk, Virginia. She sent her crew to set up at the base's theater, about an hour from the speedway. The inclement weather did nothing to deter the singer's fans as the theatre quickly filled beyond capacity, forcing the fire marshall to declare the venue full and turn the overflow away. Hearing that fans were lined up in the lobby, Messina requested that the fire marshall leave the doors open so that the fans could at least hear the show they'd come to see. When she found out that additionally, a line had snaked outside, around the building she went one step further and proceeded to walk the line outside in the rain to greet those who could not get inside. Now the singer/songwriter/musician and platinum recording artist can also add "trooper" to her resume.

7/26/01 courtesy of  "Katie" kateling@hotmail.com   from jdmfans@yahoogroups.com
Jo Dee Messina Carefully Considering Expanding Career

(7/24/01, 7 a.m. ET) -- Jo Dee Messina is relishing the success of her first headlining tour. The singer's performances have drawn rave reviews from fans and critics around the country and have prompted some to ask the singer about considering bigger venues, such as Broadway. Messina says she is in no hurry to take that challenge on, at least at the moment. "Broadway is a tough market, I mean there are only a few people who can do
that and Reba [McEntire] is one of them. She is tough shoes to fill,"  Messina says with a laugh. "I'd never try to fill them that is for sure."

Acting is a possibility, however, but she says that she plans to pursue that  slowly and carefully wait for the right circumstances. "We have gotten a lot of scripts in but usually the character is like, mid-thirties bartender in  like, a western town and just kind of removed from who I was," she says. "If  I were to do anything acting-wise I would like for the first couple of roles  to reflect a little bit of who I am and keep consistent with my fans so they  wouldn't go, 'Oh she's into acting and now she is someone different.' I  would like to grow into something like that eventually with acting. But for  right now I am mainly concentrating on my music because that is who I am.  That is what I am about and what I love the most."

Messina's Burn tour, featuring Rascal Flatts, will run throughout the  summer, wrapping up on September 22 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Messina's  current single, "Downtime," holds the Number Eight spot on the Billboard Hot  Country Singles & Tracks chart.

-- Jennifer Gerlock and Margy Holland, Nashville

7/17/01 courtesy of  "Jason" andersonj@pop.belmont.edu    from jdmfans@yahoogroups.com
Messina comes home to deserved accolades
By Steve Morse, Globe Staff, 7/14/2001
eprinted from late editions of yesterday's Globe.

Jo Dee Messina, the small-town girl with the big Nashville dreams, came home triumphantly Thursday night. She repeatedly paid tribute to her roots in Holliston - the town 25 miles west of Boston, with a population of 15,000 - and was visibly moved by the warmth of this homecoming show.

''I don't know what to say. I love my town,'' Messina said after she received a proclamation from Holliston Selectman Carl Damigella, declaring ''Jo Dee Messina Day.'' This came right after state Representative Paul Loscocco, whose district includes Holliston, read an official resolution commending her success. ''You don't need to be from south of the Mason-Dixon Line to be one of the best in country music,'' he said.

Messina proved she deserved the accolades. She excited a sing-  along crowd of 3,300 fans with her numerous Top 10 country hits, plus the hot ''Burn,'' a hit on the adult contemporary charts. It's also the title of her latest album.

Messina formed her first band in Holliston at age 16. Thursday night, she named the local clubs where she had played (most of them now defunct), such as Sacco's in Watertown, the Adelphia in Dorchester, the Blue Star in Saugus, the OK Corral in Peabody, and Rawhide in North Dartmouth.

The fun part of Thursday night's show was Messina's medley of songs that influenced her as a child, from Tammy Wynette's country classic ''Stand by Your Man'' to such rock tunes as Journey's ''Don't Stop Believin','' Robert Palmer's ''Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor),'' and AC/DC's ''Back in Black.''

Messina has a pronounced rock feel in her music, evidenced by the opening song, ''Downtime,'' which she belted out with abandon, while looking very punk-contemporary in a sleeveless white T-shirt, blue jeans, zebra-striped hat, and silver-studded belt buckle. She followed it with ''That's the Way,'' as four dancers joined her for some flashy choreography (shades of Reba McEntire's high-energy shows) and confetti cannons went off overhead.

Messina has a heart of gold, but also a no-nonsense side reflected in ''Lesson in Leavin','' about wanting to be around when an ex-boyfriend gets dumped by his new love. And songs like ''Bye Bye'' and ''Heads Carolina, Tails California'' showed that this buoyant hometown product is set to hit the highway at a moment's notice.

She exuded confidence throughout, layering the show with her effervescent personality and a charisma that made you understand why she took Nashville by storm. She is also rounding into excellent physical shape (she has hired Janet Jackson's personal trainer) and is engaged to be married to her tour manager, Don Musquiz. Life is coming up roses for this fearless Holliston native.

Boston comedian Mike McDonald opened the show with crisp, interactive comedy and stories about parasailing in Mexico.

This story ran on page 1 of the Boston Globe on 7/14/2001.