Erika Jo

Erika Jo | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 14, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Universal South
• ASIN: B0009NCPT2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,020 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

In the course of just a few weeks this spring, new Universal South recording artist Erika Jo put the finishing touches on her debut album, filmed her first video, released her first single, made her Grand Ole Opry debut and sat for dozens of interviews, including the "Today" show, following her April 26 win of the USA Network’s "Nashville Star" talent-competition series.

She also managed to squeeze in her senior prom and her high school graduation.

With her debut single, the spunky, country-rockin’ "I Break Things", already creating a buzz at radio, this petite 18-year-old, class of 2005 graduate of Wilson County High School (just east of downtown Nashville) now prepares to whip up the whirlwind even more by hitting the road in support of her brand-new self-titled Universal South album. She’ll be headlining the 2005 Nashville Star Tour with three of her former co-finalists, Jody Evans, Jason Meadows and Jayron Weaver.

Erika Jo is the first female to ever win the top "Nashville Star" prize in the history of the show and its youngest contestant ever. In its third season, the show featuring Erika Jo’s big win enjoyed the highest ratings to date. Her prize package included a recording deal with Universal South, plus several other impressive stocking stuffers--like a supercharged Chevy Silverado pickup that had a bit too much muscle for an 18-year-old to handle!

"I didn’t get the one they showed on the show, the black one, because I’m actually uninsurable on it," she explains. "I’ve never gotten a ticket or had a traffic accident. It had a Corvette engine, plus it was a four-by-four"– two powerhouse components frowned on by Erika Jo’s insurance company. So she worked out a trade for another Silverado that swapped some of the hoss under the hood for a few more goodies inside the crew cab.

"XM satellite radio with a Bose speaker system – I’m all over that – Onstar navigation, sunroof, leather upholstery with seat warmers...," she says enthusiastically, reeling off the details. "It’s loaded!"

Loaded – just like her calendar for the coming months. But Erika Jo is no stranger to a full schedule. She’s been performing for over a decade.

Born Erika Jo Heriges on November 2, 1986, in Angleton, Texas, she moved to the Nashville area with dad, Bo, and mom, Paige, when she was only 18-months-old. At age four she started singing with her father’s country cover band and she was soon juggling homework with weekend performances all over the South, Midwest and East. It didn’t take long before the solo spotlight gravitated to Erika Jo and her amazing vocal abilities.

By the time she auditioned for "Nashville Star" in November of 2004, five days after her 18th birthday, she already had thousands of road miles and countless hours of performance experience under her belt. But still, she says, she tried out in one of the initial 25 cattle-call "Nashville Star" auditions without a thought of actually winning. She never imagined she’d eventually be the one contestant standing after thousands of hopefuls had been eliminated, including the last rounds of ten "survivor" finalists, winnowed down one-by-one each week by TV-audience voting.

"I went there thinking, ‘I just really want to hear what these people have to say,’" she says. She was hungry for the feedback from the live-audition judges, receptive to any constructive criticism they might have had to offer. "If I made the show or not, I really just wanted someone’s professional opinion."

Even after she advanced to the regional "Nashville Star" competition, she continued to make plans for high school graduation and college. She even applied for admission to the prestigious school of music at Nashville’s Belmont University. Just a few weeks before she was named as one of the finalists for the televised portion of the competition, she found out she’d been accepted.

"I honestly didn’t think I’d ever win the show, or that anything, really, would come out of it," she says. "College was always ‘plan A’, and music was ‘plan B’." Now those plans are reversed, at least temporarily. But she notes, "College is always there–I fully intend to go." She smiles. "But maybe not this year."

In the meantime, Erika Jo is getting a bit of an education in the heady ways of country stardom, like when she attended the Academy of Country Music Awards in May. She was seated, smack in the middle of the front row that included Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Reba McEntire and Kenny Chesney. She excitedly reports how Faith passed her a Tic Tac, Kenny gave her the guitar pick he’d just used in his performance and Reba–her idol–told Erika Jo how she’d been rooting for her all along to win "Nashville Star." When Brad Paisley got up to accept his award for Video of the Year, the television cameras caught the moment as he paused to shake Erika Jo’s hand and congratulate her on her win.

"It was so hard to believe that I was really there," confessed Erika Jo. "But seeing me in the front row on camera was an even bigger thrill for my parents."

With high school fresh behind her, Erika Jo easily recalls the good times she shared with her friends and favorite teachers, who remember her as a solid, hardworking, easy-to-like student. Despite her singing career now taking off like never before, in fact, she remains in many ways a typical teen who likes to eat pizza and hang with her friends, arrange and rearrange her collection of beloved stuffed animals in her Texas-motif bedroom, and random-play the growing list of tunes on her ever-present i-Pod. "The best invention ever," she says. "It’s like having a radio station that you’re in control of."

Still living at home with her parents and her younger sister, 14-year-old Shelby, she has no plans to move out on her own anytime soon – although she proudly notes she did just open her first checking account with her royalty advance check. She insists she gets no star treatment around the house just because she’s "the Nashville Star" with a single on the radio, a new album and a video. She’s still responsible for keeping her room clean and picked up, taking care of the family dog and other household duties, the same as every American teenager.

She dutifully kept up her senior-year school work, even when the "Nashville Star" schedule took her out of class – and away from home – for ten solid weeks. She returned to school only once during that time, just before the show concluded, for her senior prom – with one of her fellow contestants, Jody Evans, as her escort. "I think Jody and I only danced two or three times," she says with a laugh, "because all the girls were coming up and asking, ‘Can we dance with Jody?!’ But it was so great. We had so much fun."

Erika Jo’s full-fledged return to school to finish out the last weeks of the year, following her nationally televised "Nashville Star" coronation, was met with understandable hoopla in the hallways. "It was so strange," she says. "I had teachers coming up to me, asking ’Can you sign this?’, ’Can we take a picture with you?’ I’ve got one English teacher threatening to sell my old essays on eBay!"

Her old classmates and former teachers will likely be among the fans eager to snap up a copy of her new album, a powerful, attention-getting debut full of soaring romantic ballads, wrenching breakup tunes, positive girl-power affirmations and sweet love songs. Erika Jo worked with Universal South Senior Partner and producer Tim DuBois in picking material for the CD. She points out, just for clarification, that she hasn’t necessarily lived the dramatic storyline of each song.

"Some people will look at me being young and say, ‘How in the world can she sing about divorce, or seeing someone on the street with her -ex, when she’s only 18?’", she says. "If I can make you believe it, then whether I’ve lived it or not shouldn’t matter." Take, for instance, the saucy, sassy, I-warned-you heartbreaker in the album’s lead-off track, "I Break Things."

She may only be 18, she says, but she wants people to know she got her start long before her face started popping up weekly on television.

"I didn’t just wake up a year ago and say, ‘Hey! I want to sing!’ It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. It’s been a big focus in my life, even as a child. And I’ve been working at it for a number of years."

"When I was on the show, you didn’t know if you were going to be eliminated next week, much less beyond that," she says. "Now I know I have a record deal, I’m going on tour and I’ll go to the CMA Awards this year. Now that I’ve got these things for sure, it’s just a matter of keeping them and holding on."

"I want to show people that I can do this and that they did not vote for me in vain."

She pauses, and her face spreads into a big, bright grin – one of not just happiness, but also of determination.

"I want to prove them right."

Product Description

Nashville Star winner Erika Jo debut CD. Features Erika Jo's debut single, 'I Break Things', written by Nashville hit tunesmiths Wade Kirby (George Strait, Gretchen Wilson, Kenny Rogers, Faith Hill) and Monty Criswell (Tanya Tucker, Gretchen Wilson, Trace Adkins, John Michael Montgomery). Universal. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring, but she has a nice voice, September 29, 2005

By 

T. Snyder "AZMom" (Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Erika Jo (Audio CD)

I thought the album was boring. I didn't watch Nashville Star but I'm a big country music fan and I like to listen to new artists. I bought the cd and loved the catchy song "I Break Things". The other songs really didn't grab me, even after several listens. I was disappointed in her cover of "I'm Not Lisa"- although Erika Jo has a beautiful voice, I found the rendition lacking emotion. She's a good singer but I hope her next album has some better material.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You Can't Keep Me Down, October 15, 2008

By 

Clinton Ervin "maximus" (Murfreesboro, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Erika Jo (Audio CD)

The line I used for my title is from "Strong Tonight," one of several strong tracks on this 2005 release from this Nashville Star alumnus. This is a very good record which hit #5 on the country chart but did not translate into long-lasting fame for the teenaged Erika Jo. Just as talented as any, she joins a slew of young female country singers, much like the trend of the late-90s.

Erika's clear, unadorned soprano highlights this CD, which includes radio-friendly material as well as traditional ballads. "I Break Things" is full of attitude, as is "Strong Tonight;" it is sassy and spunky, appropriate for an 18 year old. "Go" and "There are no Accidents" are enchanting. Her cover of "I'm Not Lisa," the 1975 ballad by Jessi Colter, was released as a single but didn't chart. That's too bad because its certainly a fervent rendition.

I wish Erika would get another chance to record because she's a better, more passionate singer than much of her competition. My only knock on this CD is that it doesn't do enough to distinguish her from the aforementioned current crop of young female country vocalists.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Erika Jo" Is a Proming Debut, July 15, 2005

By 

Timothy Yap "thy4568" (Sydney, NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Erika Jo (Audio CD)

Prime Cuts: There Are No Accidents, They Say Love Is Blind, I'm Not Lisa

Wasting no time, recent high school graduate Erika Jo releases her debut CD in less than a couple of months after she has been crowned 2005 Nashville idol. On this eponymous record, Jo ups the ante on contemporary pop-country with a state of the art production with an occasional nod to the ancient tones of rustic country. Save for the occasional fiddling and steel, stinging guitars and forceful percussions over bubbly pop tunes are the order of the day. Pride of place is also given to the chockablock lineup of songwriters on this record, this includes fellow artists such as Katrina Elam and Rachel Proctor plus tried and true hit writers Danny Mayo, Sunny Russ, Blair Daly, Stephony Smith, Dave Berg to name a few. Nevertheless, the spotlight is Jo's energized and spirited vocals: Jo has the vocal tenacity of LeAnn Rimes and the mellifluousness of a young Brenda Lee. Hence, it's no surprise Jo has been the darling of the million plus viewers of Nashville idol.

In the spirit of Nashville idol, where contestants tend to sing their heads off, Jo's full throated voice is on full display on the midtempo "Good Day for Goodbye." Refusing to take the mediocre as an excuse for a dying romance, "Good Day for Goodbye" finds a determined Jo finally calling it quits with her paramour. Such a strong-willed woman theme resurfaces again on the Sunny Russ' penned "Strong Enough." A popish anthem dedicated to stating over again, there's camaraderie that ought to identify with anyone who has had been emotionally sliced and diced. Written by Jim Collins and Stephony Smith, "Go" continues the theme of taking chances. "Go" has an inherent Tanya-Tucker bluesy grit that makes it quite an experience to be beheld.

However, Jo is even better in the album's slower and more subdued moments. From the first tinkling of the piano on Jessi Colter's "I'm Not Lisa" (which is also covered by Elizabeth Cook on her "Hey Y'all" and Faith Hill on her forthcoming "Homefires" CD lately) every note of this cheating ballad is mesmerized with an emotional intensity that wouldn't let go. The plangent "They Say Love is Blind" brings to mind Lorrie Morgan's "I Guess You Had to Be There," as Jo witnesses her former boyfriend kissing a new love on a romantic street. This is heart rending stuff at its best. On the other hand, "There Are No Accidents," is a gorgeous love ballad that finds Jo philosophizing on the epitome of her relationship. Listen especially to how her astringent voice imparts wisdom as she sings: "I used to talk about coincidence/And how true love is only found by chance/Now I look at you and I'm convinced/There are no accidents."

Nevertheless, there are a few tracks that veer on the contrived side. Lead single "I Break Things" has perhaps one of the most cliché and trite lyrics: "Rain is wet/The desert is dry/That's the way it'll always be/Fire is hot/It's dark at night/The sun comes up in the east." I am sure an eight year-old can come up with better lyrics than that. Perhaps befitting to Jo's age, "Love Is" is at best juvenile and it sounds out of place with the abovementioned gems. "Who You Are," one of those inspirational type uptempo numbers, about searching for one's identity is so blend that one gets lost straightaway as the first note strikes.

"Erika Jo" is a promising debut from a young lady who can sing and when she wants she is able to burn vocally with vivid passion that is hard to resist. Nevertheless, she's often let down by some of her songs. Perhaps, they were hastily chosen and if she has had more time, this CD would have had been even better. Jo is a name to match and with such a copious crowd of fans behind her, over a million can't be wrong