Growing up in Jackson, Tennessee and spending summers with her father in Memphis, Alexander’s musical heritage drew from the sultry mood of the Delta mixed with the best renderings of traditional and contemporary country music. The Band, Bonnie Raitt, Bobbie Gentry, Jackson Browne, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and others shaped the way Jessi came to know and love music.
After moving to Nashville, Alexander’s career took off when she won the local GRAMMY “Best Unsigned Artist Contest” in 2001. She signed to Columbia Records and released her debut album Honeysuckle Sweet. The album features 11 tunes that she wrote or co-wrote with some of Nashville’s top songwriters.
Many of Alexander’s songs have been cut by a wide range of artists including Miley Cyrus who recorded “The Climb” which went on to No. 1 for 15 weeks on Billboard’s AC chart and No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other cuts include Reba McEntire with "When Love Gets A Hold Of You", Blake Shelton’s two-week No. 1 ”Drink On It” as well as Shelton’s three-week No. 1 “Mine Would Be You”, Lee Brice’s No. 1 smash “I Drive Your Truck”, and Eric Paslay’s current single “Song About A Girl”.
Brice’s “I Drive Your Truck” has earned Alexander the Country Music Association Award for “Song Of The Year” and the Nashville Songwriter Association International Award for “Song Of The Year” in 2013, as well as the Academy of Country Music Award for “Song Of The Year” in 2014 and was nominated for 2014’s GRAMMY “Country Song of the Year” alongside Shelton’s “Mine Would Be You”.
Alexander recently had her song “Didn’t Know Love” recorded by Celine Dion, and signed a new worldwide creative deal with Kobalt Music Group.