Jessi Zazu with Adia Victoria, Tiffany Minton, Caitlin Rose and Tristen at The Basment East, 1/29/2016
Jessi Zazu’s death on Sept. 12 at age 28 was heartbreaking for friends, fans and acquaintances far and wide. The musician and artist had made her cervical cancer diagnosis public 10 months earlier, and throughout that span of time, she poured her energy into creating work for two different art shows, recording songs for a forthcoming album with her longtime Those Darlins bandmate Linwood Regensburg, and being a vocal advocate for women and people of color. Because of how hard she worked at living the fullest possible life — both before and after her diagnosis — her death came as a bitter disappointment. Those closest to her also found themselves contending with her sudden absence.
“We count on friends in so many different ways, and then when they’re not there, it’s just fucking tough,” says Regensburg. “Somebody that you created memories with for a decade or whatever — you can’t share those things. There’s literally a void of, ‘This is the person that I text every day about this particular thing.’ Or silly shit like a photo of something that she would [find funny] because it pertained to something that we did in 2012.”
Facing the same situation, Jessi’s brothers Emmett and Oakley Wariner and their mother, Kathy Sams Wariner, found a constructive way to cope. The day after the memorial service, they set to work outlining a nonprofit called Jessi Zazu Inc., which intends to honor her memory by supporting causes she championed: awareness of women’s health issues and access to care, aiding peaceful campaigns for social justice, and providing opportunities for youth to participate in arts and humanities activities. Educating people about the powerful effects their artistic expressions can have was especially important to Jessi, whose career in music was jump-started by a trip to the first Southern Girls Rock Camp in 2003.
“Art and music can say so much more than standing around talking,” says Emmett. “She went to rock camp, and she took those classes and learned how her voice mattered. And that if you stand up and say something in the right way, people will listen.”
Though Emmett says he and his family are determined not to grow the organization too quickly, they are excited about possible long-term goals, like opening a community center focused on arts education and women’s health. Before that might come after-school arts programs and sponsored health screenings. The first step, however, is to raise money for causes like the Ain’t Afraid Scholarship at the rock camp, which covers tuition for a student who has found strength and courage through music.
That’s where Thursday night’s tribute show at Mercy Lounge comes in: It’s the first fundraiser organized on behalf of Jessi Zazu Inc. Regensburg and ace drummer Jerry Pentecost are organizing the show, and they’ll also play in the house band alongside Those Darlins co-founder Kelley Anderson, who left the band in 2012, and Music Band bassist Duncan Shea, who performed on tour with the Darlins.
While Pentecost often moved in the same circles and played at the same festivals as Those Darlins — his tenure as one of Nashville’s busiest sidemen began about the time the Darlins took off, and currently includes gigs with Amanda Shires and My So-Called Band — he didn’t get a chance to meet Jessi until a chance encounter at Pangaea last summer. When he heard she’d died, he came up with the idea of organizing a show as a way for some of the dozens of talented musicians who were close to or inspired by Jessi to contribute to her legacy.
“When somebody passes away that young, it gets you thinking,” says Pentecost. “Life is rugged. All you can do is do your best. I think she did more than that, and that’s why I feel like she deserves this honor. It’s not about what I think, but it’s why I’m there.”
Regensburg suggested they focus the show on songs from Those Darlins’ catalog, and the response was overwhelming. The stacked roster of guest vocalists for the show includes rockers like Bully’s Alicia Bognanno, Deer Tick’s John McCauley, Low Cut Connie’s Adam Weiner, and Thelma and the Sleaze’s Lauren “LG” Gilbert; country-folksters like Caitlin Rose and Becca Mancari; and stylistically fluid MVPs like Larissa Maestro and Jasmin Kaset.
The enormous range of singers is no surprise, considering the depth and breadth of the impact made by Jessi and the band. During the late Aughts, when Nashville rock ’n’ roll began to attract serious national attention, Those Darlins kept a consistently high bar for performance and songwriting. Jessi wrote or co-wrote a substantial amount of their material, like “Be Your Bro,” a perennial fan favorite that pushes back at boys who value sex over camaraderie, and “Ain’t Afraid,” a song she’d written to boost her confidence following an earlier health scare that became her rallying cry after her cancer diagnosis. The phenomenal guitar skills she cultivated might barely be overshadowed by her ferocious, infectiously energetic stage presence. Both of those are dwarfed by the passion she had for making art that shares a vision for making the world a more welcoming place — something that deserves to be cherished and honored in any scene.
