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With 'Sorry Is Gone,' Jessica Lea Mayfield Is Taking Back Her Life

Jessica Lea Mayfield is taking back her life. "Sorry Is Gone," the title track to her next album, is a song of empowerment that finds the singer moving past a difficult period in her life. "I spent the majority of my life around people who treated me like I wasn't important," she says in an email, "leaving me with the feeling of needing to constantly apologize. This song represents my last apology, an apology for no longer being sorry."

Jessica Lea Mayfield wrote "Sorry Is Gone" while separating from her husband and co-producer. Despite the weight of that, the song feels breezy, flowing and freeing.

A new video for the track shows Jessica Lea Mayfield driving away, singing about leaving a space where she feels she doesn't belong. There's a game of musical chairs that takes place in a barren landscape while she contemplates being alone.

Sorry Is Gone is Jessica Lea Mayfield's followup to her 2014 album Make My Head Sing, which was co-produced with her husband. It was her heaviest sounding record, at times a nod to grunge and her musical hero Dave Grohl. Sorry Is Gone was produced by John Agnello who's mixed records by Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth and Kurt Vile. Seth Avett plays keys and backing vocals. He and Jessica Lea Mayfield did a record of Elliott Smith covers together a couple of years ago.

Sorry Is Gone is now available for pre-order and will be released on Sep. 29 on ATO Records. Her tour is also about to be announced so keep an eye here.

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In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.