Bess’ “The People The Places” Named July “Best Song Of The Month”

Bess, a promising pop/soul/rock singer/songwriter who commutes between Atlanta & Los Angeles, has won the SongwriterUniverse ‘Best Song Of The Month’ Contest for July, for her song “The People The Places”. This song will be included on Bess’ upcoming EP The Real Thing, which she will release independently next January (2013).

‘The People The Places’ is a contemporary pop song which sounds ready for radio airplay. It has a pop/rock music arrangement which features surging electric guitars in thc chorus, yet retains a soulful feel (which is a bit reminiscent of Adele) due to Bess’ expressive, heartfelt vocal performance. This recording was expertly produced by Andrew Williams, who has worked with Five For Fighting, Jessica Simpson and the Old 97’s. On “The People The Places,” Bess played several of the guitar tracks, and Williams played piano, bass and programmed the drums.

Bess (whose last name is Beckmann) is only 19, and she mostly grew up in Atlanta and later in Los Angeles. Her main instrument is guitar, and she also learned to play piano. Bess was inspired by listening to such favorite artists as Stevie Nicks, Sam Cooke and Joan Jett. When she was 15, she recorded her first EP, which consisted of four songs which she wrote by herself.

It was in Los Angeles (during high school) that Bess began networking and met with several producers. She was pleased to meet Andrew Williams, who has become her main collaborator. “It’s been great working with Andrew–he saw my vision for ‘The People The Places,” and he’s now producing my whole EP,” said Bess. “The way we work, is that I write the songs in my home studio (in Atlanta), and then I send it to Andrew in Los Angeles. And then I’ll fly to Los Angeles to record the songs with him.”

Bess discussed how she wrote “The People The Places.” “The song is about a tough breakup I went through,” she said. “After the relationship ended, I would still wake up and think about this person. The verses are about how I’m still wanting to escape from this person. But in the bridge section, I can see myself moving on. When I wrote this song I was in a dark place, but I wanted to inspire people that one day you can move on.” Bess wrote this song at the beginning of the year (2012), and she recorded it with Williams in late April. There are also plans to add live drums on “The People The Places,” for the EP version

Currently, Bess is completing her EP, which will include other key cuts such as “The Real Thing” and “Better Off Without You.”  “I have high expectations for this EP–I believe it will show more maturity with my music,” she said. “I also want to play live more; I recently put a band together in Atlanta.”