Ages 0-3: Carole King's Tapestry and the soundtrack to "Godspell";
Ages 4-7: Purchased my first 45s: The Theme to "Laverne and Shirley" and The Spinners' "Games People Play"; Also listening to "Free to Be You and Me" and "Godspell" alot on LP;
Ages 8-11: Discovered Top 40 radio and start using my little portable tape recorder to tape songs and bring them to school. Favorite group and first concert: Hall 'n' Oats.
Age 12: Our cable company gets MTV and I become obsessed with music videos. Start buying my first LPs: Styx Paradise Theater, Loverboy Get Lucky, The Police Ghost in the Machine, Duran Duran Rio.
Ages 13-16: Delve into alternative music informed by MTV - favorite groups The Cure and The Smiths. Start wearing lots of black.
Age 17: Hear Joni Mitchell's 'Help Me' on AM oldies station, buy 'Court and Spark' and life changes for good. Start digging through Dad's record collection and discover CSN and James Taylor.
Ages 18-21: In college and out of touch with the rest of the world. Stumble upon Jethro Tull and listen to lots of Stephen Sondheim.
Ages 22-23: Grad school and no TV, start listening to public radio and hear Shawn Colvin, John Gorka, Patti Larkin, etc. Spend the next few years listening to folk and acoustic music.
Age 24: Hear Bruce Cockburn's "Sunwheel Dance" while visiting the California Redwoods. Life changes again. Buy all his records. Soon after, discover Cindy Kallet.
Ages 25-29: Still listening to acoustic music. Take a loan out and buy a piano and take lessons - discover Chopin and Erik Satie
Ages 30+: Hear Ben Folds and wonder why I never listened to him before - buy all his records. Finally get Joni Mitchell's "Hissing of Summer Lawns" and "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" and listen to them almost exclusively for a year. Also listen to lots of Rufus Wainwright and Badly Drawn Boy.
Recent Highlights ~Winner, Ourstage.com Americana/Alt-Country Channel out of 410 entries and third place overall out of 41 different genres competing
~Winner, Portland Songwriters Association Songwriting Contest, Folk/Acoustic Category
~Finalist, Boston Folk Festival Songwriting Contest
~Finalist, Rose Garden Coffeehouse Songwriter Contest
~Showcase Finalist, Plowshares Coffee House Songwriting Contest
~Finalist, Solarfest Songwriter Showcase
~Finalist, Susquehanna Music and Arts Festival Songwriting Contest
~Under the Ash Tree added to over 100 folk/AAA stations in 31 states
~No. 12 debut on the Roots Music Report Folk Top 50
~No. 4 peak on the WUMB (Boston) airplay chart
"Jenny Goodspeed is just folk enough to sound authentic and just pop enough to keep the attention of the ever-shuffling iPod crowd."
--Fairfield County Weekly (CT)
"This is a sparkling folk-pop album guaranteed to brighten your day...her wry comments about relationships seem personal but universal enough that you'll find yourself nodding your head and thinking, "How did she slip into my life?
-- Minor 7th Reviews
ABOUT THE RECORD:
It's not often a new artist emerges with a debut record completely formed and beautifully produced, full of tender and concise language, all executed in a gorgeous, mature voice. Singer-songwriter Jenny Goodspeed has achieved just that rare feat on her debut CD Under the Ash Tree - a sparkling fusion of folk, pop, and Americana drawing on influences from 70s era singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Bruce Cockburn, and Laura Nyro. Well-crafted lyrics, exquisite vocals, and heart-breaking melodies abound as Goodspeed explores the intricacies of love and longing, all definitively steeped in her beloved New England landscape.
Engineered and co-produced by Mark Thayer at Signature Sounds Studio in Pomfret, CT, Goodspeed is joined by an impressive group of musicians including Jim Henry (Tracy Grammer, Mark Erelli) on acoustic guitar, Richard Gates (Patty Larkin, Suzanne Vega) on electric bass, Eric Platz on drums, Duke Levine (Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Jonatha Brooke) on electric guitar, Seth Glier ..boards, and Beth Amsel on harmony vocals.
ABOUT ME:
In the late 60s and early 70s, thousands of baby girls born in the U.S. were named Jennifer. A subset of that group, myself included, were named, in particular, after Barbra Streisand’s song “Jenny Rebecca.” It’s been scientifically proven that having a song for a namesake destines one to living a life obsessed with music. Really.
This year I released my first full-length CD. Why now? When I was three, my mother asked me why I was engaging in some odd activity, like climbing into the kitchen cabinet to commune with the aluminum pots and liquor bottles, and I replied, "Not why mom, just because." Pretty wise for a three-year old. (It’s been downhill ever since.)
All but two of the songs were written when I returned to the Northeast after a 10-year detour in the Midwest and West. So, more than anything, the record is a love letter to New England and its infinite kinds of trees, rain, spring peepers, foggy mornings...everything I felt starved for while out West. I've been back for over eight years now and it never gets old.
Video courtesy of Elijah Rottenberg Jonah - Mocha Maya's, Shelburne Falls, MA
thank you for accepting. Your songs are very beautiful , with "broken" becoming a classic in my ears. This is an absolute superb song ! Will listen to this more often....
kind regards from ashtree to ashtree :-))
another note from moi ;-) i was playing your cd yesterday ... my partner walked into the room and said, hey, that's joni mitchell ... from for the roses . sweetness on a saturday morning...your music serves as a compass to me, lovely friend. xo
hey beautiful girl, just stopping by for a visit, it's been a long while ;-) all the very best to you dear Jenny. Still love your CD, each time I listen to it, I hear something new and fresh. I never tire of it. Much love always , Mags
Thanks for the add, Jenny, and for your help in spreading the word about the Taunton River Folk Festival www. tauntonfest. org) and keeping live music alive!
