Inspiring Conversations with Jill Kettles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jill Kettles.

Hi Jill, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have rejection letters from Hallmark, American Greetings, Gibson Cards, and Disney… and then a Rolling Stone magazine letter for my submitted photos. I am a proud mama to two cats, too many shoes, and many coffee mugs. I can drink coffee at midnight and be asleep in 10 minutes.

My story… well, I have been in the music industry for over 25 years, and I have worked in many sections of it; publicity, radio, management, booking, labels, and more. I firmly believe that one needs to know something about everything to understand how the motor runs. It’s like a car, everything from the wheels to sparkplugs to the window crank.

I have always been interested in the music industry – I even wrote Grammy acceptance speeches when I was a teen. I am a former player, growing up playing piano and clarinet in the marching band – Falls Church High School Marching Band – a high-ranking one on the East Coast. It was like being in the Olympics AND the Army. So, I made a decision not to study music in college but to go to Art School. Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, where I studied painting and printmaking under some of the art world’s finest.

After working with one of the legends in the music business, Mark Pucci, in Atlanta for 18 years, I decided to try my hand at it, and in 2014 I opened up Miss Jill PR, and it’s been such a learning experience. I am a member of the Grammys, Americana Association, Folk Alliance International, and Blues Foundation. I sit on the board for SERFA, the South Eastern Region of Folk Alliance chapter, where we have our own spring conference and work closely with FAI to spread the southern music gospel throughout the region. I have artist placements from Billboard to Guitar Player to No Depression to AARP to NPR and many others in between. I love working with emerging to legendary players, for each has a story to tell and music to play. One of my highlights, personally and professionally, is that I traveled to Cuba and did a photo journal for No Depression back in 2017.

I am from the Northern Virginia area, have lived in Atlanta for 27 years, and have made Nashville my home for the past two years with a great view of the pool.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I started working in the music industry, I made 300 calls daily and maybe ten emails. NOW it’s flipped… I may have exaggerated the numbers, but the digital age has changed them for sure; however, at the core, my work is based on relationships with folks, and the better they are, the better your results will be.

All I can do is try.

I find that there is a lot of hurry-up in the world, and with a musical journey, you need to be able to tap the brakes a little bit to get the art to breathe. There’s a lot to be said for waiting 24 hours so it can air out. In the visual painting world, if you paint and don’t let the colors dry, it will turn to mud, meaning brown.

Our minds can only take so much.

I am constantly meditating, praying, writing down goals, and reading and listening to podcasts to grow… it’s hard to know if I am, but I think I am.

See? …Even I get restless.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Promoting music is an honorable thing to do for someone. The artist takes their art, gives it to you, and says, “please help…” I move fast, call people back, make mistakes, and score ten touchdowns in one morning, but I never promise anything for anyone, but what I do is try. This type of work requires trust, patience, and love.

After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1992 with BFA in Painting & Printmaking, I moved to Atlanta in 1993. After many jobs and apartments later, I finally landed a coveted position on May 1, 1996 – I went to work with Mark Pucci, The Capricorn Records Legend. I worked with him on everything from phone calls to press release writing and learned to connect with the music industry on levels I still practice today. I was the manager of everything in the office: mail, copy machine, filing, Holiday decorator, supplies, receptionist, and sometimes the office referee.

Around 2007, I started to look around the art world again, for that was why I moved to Atlanta. I took a part-time position as art director at the Defoor Centre, an events facility with original art on the wall providing a unique backdrop to weddings, church gatherings, and other events.

I had four group shows a year, with one big call in November called OFF THE WALL, where artists could sell at rock-bottom prices for some holiday sales. There, I was in charge: picking out the art, setting up the installations, and arranging the openings and sales within its 20,000 square feet of floors and walls. I have counted over the five years; I worked with 35 artists during the regular season and during the OTW event – probably 200 plus with an inventory count beginning at 300 pieces four times a year, not including the OTW event. Lots of nails and spackle.

I transferred my music publicity knowledge to the art world and made it much better for both sides of me. It was a great marriage between the two mediums. But I was still hungry. After a couple more years and lots of driving into the Atlanta sunset, I decided a change was needed. I even asked an old friend, “…do you think I could do this on my own….”

Finally, in 2014, after 18 years, I left Mark Pucci Media to create my own publicity, Miss Jill PR – because everyone from the doctors to the baristas calls me Miss Jill. I started with a label and a few other artists to get me started, along with a trip to Nashville for AmericanaFest to plant my seeds. I have had many opportunities and successes over the past eight years, from songwriter Angie Aparo being on the cover of Stroke Smart to Cyril Neville at Folk Alliance International in New Orleans as a guest speaker to arranging the late great David Olney to write essays for No Depression. The list keeps growing, for sure. Most recently, the most thrilling as of late was overseeing one of the last shows at Exit/In with my client, legendary country/rocker Jason Ringenberg, Government Cheese, and Kristi Rose & Fats Kaplin on November 11, 2022.

As I said earlier, I have a pile of rejection letters, so I understand the feeling of being let down. I have had my painting canvas slashed with white paint and told to redo the horizon line that was slightly off. So, I think I have an insight into understanding the ups and downs of the creative minds that I work with. Still, I also respect the complexity of the music business and how it operates, which at the end of the day, is harsh, mean, and inviting at the same time.

As for money, yeah, it costs some money to have a publicist, but like everything else in life, promoting albums and artists is a journey. It doesn’t happen overnight, and there are no limits to what you can do.

There are no rules in what I do, only to check your grammar and spelling. Keep up your relationships with the media solid, call them if you must, or better yet, drive over and deliver cookies if need be.

Any big plans?
Oh my gosh, this sounds like my dad…

I want to travel to Italy – go to the beach – take a 24- hour nap and direct another video. I have done a lot in my life, and while I have many miles to go, I am still learning my way around. Then some days, I just want to pack it up and move to an island.

My plans go in stages, daily to weekly to monthly to yearly – so just getting through those is good enough for me. Yes, and saving money for those rainy days…

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.missjillpr.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jillkettles/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/missjillpr
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/missjillpr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCin48uR4fDR-FCnzrumo6Pg
• Other: http://www.tiktok.com/missjillpr

Image Credits
Photo by me – Jill Kettles