“The Prairie Scholars’” Way: An Interview with Jessica Eppler

Jess: Because typically the woman sings higher… You know?

Faith: Yeah. Yeah…

Jess: Or for instance, Andy’s songs are a little easier going, and mine are a little darker and rock and roll-ey. I don’t wear revealing clothing. We dress similarly. Neither of us shows much boobage. [laughs]

I recall a conversation with a woman at one of our shows, she told me, “If you would just take off that trashy hat and put a dress on, you would go much farther and get a lot more attention.” I laugh at these kinds of comments because it proves the point. The whole point is that sexuality is distracting. My sexuality is not for sale. I’m selling my music. THAT’S what I want you paying attention to. And so we are purposeful and subtle about our attempts at gender equality. The way I dress, the way we sing.

Sometimes people give us a hard time with parts of the job like carrying equipment. They’ll make comments like, “Oh, Andy is making you carry all that stuff out,” but the truth is, I don’t want to be treated like a “woman.” I want to be treated like a person. So, I carry stuff, and he talks to people, I talk to people while he carries stuff. We treat each other as equals and we work together. We pick up the other person’s slack and neither of us is afraid to ask help of the other. We don’t want to be gender-specific. That’s one of our big focuses that we don’t necessarily talk publicly about. It’s not something we put on “Front Street,” but we have subtleties that are in our shows and in our music that if you’re really paying attention… You’ll see it.

Faith: I’m going to be listening for those harmonies now. Next time….

Jess: Yeah, man.

Faith: Thinking about yesterday, you two had a cute matching cap/sweater/t-shirt ensemble going on… [laughs]

Jess: Oh, did we? Boy… Yeah… We’ve always had a similar fashion. Even in college we’d show up to class and we’d have the same color palate on. Working with the same style jackets and such. It’s just how it’s always been since we’ve known each other.

Faith: Just how it rolls…

Jess: Yeah. We’re just supposed to be together. That’s what I like to read into it. [laughs]

Faith: Nice… Well, this kind of ties into my next question is, “What role does gender play in how you relate to music and to the music business?”

Jess: Ok, yeah. That’s an interesting question, too. It can be kind of a “boy’s game.” But what isn’t? You know? The truth is men tend to pick the trends.

Faith: Musically? Or?

Jess: I think in general. [laughs] I think in general but in music specifically, especially when I was younger it seemed this way. I feel like there were more male figures around that were singers. I dunno, maybe that’s just how it was at my house. I tend to enjoy male singing more than I do female singing. Maybe just because that’s what I listened to more as a kid.

I grew up with 2 brothers, and we were in a relatively religious household, so the woman is subservient to the man, the man is the head of the household kind of dynamic. And, so, I always felt a pressure to prove that I could manage myself. You know what I mean? To prove that I was strong enough. That I was smart enough, that I didn’t need my father or one of brothers to take care of me. It may have subconsciously given me a bit of self-hatred, a bit of irritation at being a woman. It felt like being a woman would hold me back in life.

Faith: Mmm. Ah.

Jess: Not that my family hated women, but it seemed like they weren’t as strong, and they were somehow annoying, that they were weak. I’ve never really had a lot of women friends until maybe the last 3 years. I’ve had more brother figures in my life. I think this gender favoring has influenced me in many ways, even my songwriting. Especially in the early years, I would write a song to completion and then go, “Ok, now I have these lyrics but the music is boring.” I need to make it more exciting because I don’t want to just sound like a “girl”.

Faith: Ah.

Jess: I never wanted to just be “the girl in the band.” In my young mind that was not “cool.” And so, I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy. I think mostly because I felt like I had something to prove. It may have inspired me to get better at my instrument, too so I wouldn’t just be the “girl singer” by default.

As I’ve grown up I’ve softened out a bit on that though. The Prairie Scholars has gained some momentum and the name is more recognizable, so I don’t have a hard time booking shows anymore. But in the beginning, it seemed like, and maybe everybody goes through this, but it seemed like it was hard to get certain people to reply. Then whenever Andy would email them, they would reply right away! [laughs] Maybe Andy just writes a better email, but it’s hard not to take it as a gender thing.

Faith: How interesting!

Jess: I think men just take men more seriously. You know? I’m not looking for special treatment, just equal treatment.

Faith: Yeah. And what a sad commentary it is on our society that women simply being treated equal could be understood by some people as receiving “special treatment.”

Jess: Yeah. I think that goes both ways though. Sometimes the pendulum swings too far to the feminist side. I’m not an “anti-feminist,” but I’m not a “feminist” either. I just want it to be equal. [laughs]

Faith: Egalitarian!

Jess: Yes! [laughs] Wait, what did you call it?

Faith: Egalitarian.

Jess: Egalitarian. I like that there’s “gal” right in that word.

Faith: [laughs] Yeah! It encompasses all…

Jess: [laughing] Equality is best. In my younger years when I would think about what kind of romantic relationship I wanted to have, I always wanted it to be 50/50. I never wanted to be financially dependent on a man, and I didn’t want him to be dependent on me, either. Andy’s always been that way, too and we treat each other as equals. We fit well in that way. It’s an equal partnership.

Faith: Yeah… So then, my last question is, “What advice would you give young girls who are just developing a relationship with music?” Like tweens or teenagers.

Jess: Hmm… I’d say the most important thing is that you derive joy from it. Joy is different from one person to the next, so whatever form that takes for each person is perfect.

Faith: Thank you.

Jess: Thank you.

Learn more about the various projects of The Prairie Scholars at their website, including where you can catch a live show. You can check out their recordings here.