AMERCANA-UK

Birds Fall 2007

If Jennie Stearns’ ambition for Birds Fall was to make an album that is almost overwhelmingly powerful then she has surely succeeded beyond her wildest dreams, the difficulty comes from that there‘s no respite.
Birds Fall is the very essence of ‘high and lonesome‘, heartbreak stalks every note and line like a prowler in the night. But whether by design or happy accident, in baring her soul so completely she has left us with an album that is truly unforgettable if a little exhausting.
By rights the final track, When You Go, Stearns should have wrung every last drop out of herself and the listener but her voice sustains the whole experience. She is able to reach deep down inside herself and find the real truths on Birds Fall, they are sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes biting but every track is a devastatingly honest statement.
But it is also an album built around an unbreakable spirit, she bends during Pieces Of My Heart and Sad Girl but remains defiant to the end and eventually Everything offers a sense of hope.
Birds Fall is not easy, relaxed listening and it is likely that neither it nor Jennie Stearns will ever reach a mass audience. But her music demands and commands your attention and one thing is sure once you’ve heard her sing, you’ll never forget Jennie Stearns.

October 01, 2007
Reviewer: Michael Mee

NetRhythms UK

Bluesy earthy folk Americana, produced by Gurf Morlix and featuring guest vocals by Jim Lauderdale, this is the Ithaca born former founder member of Donna The Buffalo’s fourth album and, while sadly unlikely to much broaden awareness beyond her current following, its will send a shiver down the spine of anyone who wondered what a meeting between Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams might produce.

Although Thirty Years almost breaks into a midtempo pace and sports some mildly throaty electric guitar, the pace is otherwise kept to a sleepy, late night slow waltzing sway as she lays bare her confessional tales of love and loss. Sparsely arranged with lap and pedal steel providing the occasional extra colour to the guitar, bass and drums, ears looking for persuasion might well be directed to the moodily pulsing Grandfather, the overcast swampy atmosphere of the title track, a keeningly wistful Morning Glory (not Buckley’s) with its Weissenborn and mandocello, and the tear-stained farewell to love album sad waltz closer When You Go. She could well prove your best new discovery this year.

Mike Davies, Sept 2007
Heartbreaking beautiful.

Four years ago, Jennie Stearns previous cd, Sing Desire, was one of the great discoveries in Heaven, and although she had released a few earlier albums that we could check out, what we were really waiting for was her next cd. It finally appeared just before the new year, after having lain on our desk in unmixed form for about a year. The death of her father and the divorce of her husband Richie caused the delay, but Birds Fall has been more than worth the wait. Again Jennie Stearns proves she one of the most exceptional sing-songwriters within the americana genre. The album lacks a little of the sublime instrumental variety that made Sing Desire such a stand-out, but the slightly more straightforward production by Gurf Morlix is nevertheless perfect in it's subtlety and shows that Stearns doesn't depend on unusual sounds and instruments to convince. Her beautiful songs and her heartbreaking, vulnerable singing again make an unforgettable impression. The only thing that we actually still don't understand, is how it can be that a very comparable artist like Lucinda Williams is world famous, whilst Jennie Stearns, who has at least as much talent, has to release her music on her own accord.
****1/2 Eric van Domburg Scipio

Heaven Magazine, NL
2007
Expertly crafted alt country from earthily sombre chanteuse

If you like the moody, plangent Americana of Gillian Welch, you’ll love this album of exquisitely crafted songs from singer/songwriter Jennie Stearns.

Although it’s hardly a bundle of laughs - the songs are confessional in tone, dealing with the oldest themes of love, loss and damage in a hauntingly individual voice. They’re familiar - and yet not so. Stearns is enough like other country ladies to draw you in, but soon exerts her own fascination.

Stearns has been much championed by Bob Harris - yes, Whispering Bob of Old Grey Whistle Test fame - on his BBC6 music show, and her current producer is Gurf Morlix (who has previously worked with luminaries like Lucinda Williams.

This is one of those albums where it’s difficult to pick a standout track -m not because the songs aren’t up to it, but because they sit closely together as part of a sonic journey that needs to wield its own particular power. Cynics might call the songwriting samey - and perhaps it is. Neither does Stearns really vary instrumentation, pace or delivery from track to track. But somehow, none of these things matter at all.

If forced at gunpoint to single out some downloadable highlights, I might advise starting with title track Birds Fall or the gentle waltz-time Step Into The Picture. Beautifully made and impeccably performed, this is a minor jewel within the genre.

Clare O’Brien
www.suba-cultcha.com
Birds Fall
***
MAVERICK/UK/AUG.07
Stearns betters her contemporaries with just the right balance.
Although self-released, Jennie Stearns has attracted the highest calibre of artists to assist her on this, her fourth album. Gurf Morlix, produces and contributes sweet languorous guitar work, while Mary Lorson, Johnny Dowd and the Old Crow Medicine Show's Willie Watson all lend a helping hand. But it's Stearns' excellent song-crafting and understated vocals that are at the forefront of BIRDS FALL. Like a toned-down Lucinda Williams, with out the cut-glass edges or whiskey stains, or a calmer version of Kathleen Edwards, Stearns croons at a slow pace, with moments of warmth, laziness, and fragility.
Sad Girl and Grandfather are particularly tender pieces, their subject matter self-explanatory. Pieces of my Heart had a folkier Gillian Welch feel, and while Thirty Years picks up the pace with a rockier guitar, it rarely moves faster than a sway. If Lucinda is too grating or Kathleen too upbeat, this prime slice of sleepy Americana is probably perfect.
Birds Fall
Rating ****
THE SUN/UK
july 27 07
With the queen of alt-country Lucinda Williams not firing on all cylinders
and Gillian Welch still to deliver a follow-up to 2003's Soul Journey,
there are any number of singers queuing up to capture our hearts in their place. One such is Jennie Stearns, owner of a dreamy, fragile voice and writer of sincere, tear-stained ballads that rarely miss the mark.
The sparse arrangements have just the right amount of country twang. They illuminate without overcrowding her delivery. Particularly effective are the elegantly poised title track, the gently rolling Thirty Years and the sweetheart waltz of Step Into The Picture. This album proves Jennie is a genuine contender in a competitive arena. CS
Sing Desire... (Blue Corn Music)
This music has an old house around it and Jennie Stearns is sitting on a chair, up late, looking out a window. A longing haunts these songs, faint hum of electrical wires outside. Stearns's lyrics seem intently inhabited one moment, then spill like beads from a broken string the next. A Lucinda weariness in her voice that effectively contradicts the lightness of her singing. Old Crow Medicine Show's Willie Watson joins Jennie for two duets. Chad Crumm co-produced with Stearns, adds touches of atmosphere and surprise. Light on the drums, this is an acoustic record ? guitars, bass, touches of banjo and fiddle, keys, even cornet ? with Crumm's archived sounds widening the landscape. The songs go together well, almost to a fault at times by their seamlessness. Stearns's next record is already finished, produced by Gurf Morlix, and she says it's the one she's highest on. Sing Desire is one to be proud of, too.

Reviewd by Doug Lang, Freight Train Boogie
"Wife of The Horseflies' Rich Stearns (who appears here) and founder member of Donna The Buffalo, Stearns has lent her vocals to albums by the likes of Madder Rose, Saint Low and Mary Lorson (who repays the favour), which should give a rough idea of what to expect of her view from the Americana parapets on this her third solo album, released two years back and now receiving a somewhat belated UK release courtesy of the small Shrewsbury based label.

Variously compared to Jane Sibbery, Lucinda Williams, Suzanne Vega and Gillian Welch for her aching folksy voice, melancholic lyrics and bluegrass/folk influences, she injects her own flavours into the reference pot with jazz and Hispanic melodic shadings on the likes of Early Train, Season of Dreams and Sleeping. Stearns' breathily caressing vocals, the sound of autumn leaves, corn husks and dirt streams washing over children's' feet, ease dreamily through moods of wistful sadness on the simple Shades of Blue with its hymnal harmonium, a slow waltzing Too Close, the gorgeous reverie that is You Save Me and the earthy yet ethereal title track while County Road, Sleeping and the desert dusk atmospheres of Whisper find her in more musically energised form.
And as if her own songwriting wasn't ample reason enough to invest in this and track down the back catalogue, playing guitar on Season of Dreams, one of the album's stand outs, Johnny Dowd also provides the album's only cover, a spare voice and churchy organ version of the trad folk sexual come on Garden of Delight. Highly desirable. "
- Mike Davies, netrythmsuk
Altcountrytab.com
Sing Desire
5 stars
Review by: Doug Floyd
There are quite a few ladies pushing the envelope for altcountry these days, what with the likes of Emmylou, Gillian, Lucinda, Alison Krauss and new comers Kathleen Edwards and Mindy Smith. What the ladies may lack in quantity, they more than make up for in quality. Add to this list then ladies and gentlemen - Miss Jennie Stearns! Founder member of Donna the Buffalo, Stearns is a singer songwriter in the finest traditions of those aforementioned; with a voice that carries a lightly fractured beauty that can melt hearts while withholding enough grit to make her point when called upon. Specialising in dreamy ballads and bluegrass founded shuffles, she enters the country music world big time with her latest offering ‘Sing Desire’, following up ‘Tin Roof Mystery’ /’Live in Buffalo’ (2000), ‘Mourning Dove Songs’ (2000), ‘Angel with a Broken Wing’ (1998) and ‘Running with Scissors: Live at the Rongo’ (1996). All the material here is her own with the exception one co-write and a fascinating rendering of Johnny Dowd’s “Garden Of Delight.” The music here also reflects nods in the direction of soulful Miles ‘Kind of Blue’ jazz, as well as the occasional flash of Cajun and Tex Mex that spice up proceedings just when the experience drifts tentatively towards wistful.
Lyrically this is a sorrowful set but full of poetic meanderings and imagery that make it an enthralling journey all the same:

“all alone in this world you bend the light to make due
saving all your shiny pennies sometimes wishes do come true
you stay when you should run tugging thread through a seam
you'll be ready when they come in the season of dreams
In the medicine cabinet remedies to dull the pain
forty five's and misplaced letters, party dresses do the same
mixing colors on the glass changes every thing you've seen
you'll be ready when they come, in the season of dreams
Take the keys from the dash board, this city knows your name
pushing metal on the pavement
grinding gears in the rain
you stay you should run tugging thread through a seam
you'll be ready when they come in the season of dreams”

…see what I mean?

The austere backing that generally pervades lends a buoyancy to the shade of the themes. However tracks like the opener “You Save Me” and the smooching “Bitter Sweet” feature some atmospheric, shimmering instrumental flourishes that take us beyond the usual formula that we tend to bear from our troubadour artisans adding touches of intrigue and charm to an already captivating set of songs. The title track “Sing Desire” is a warm and touching vehicle and so incredibly beautiful that you really have to sit back and allow it to flow over you, not the sort of song that allows itself to become a background effect. The bluegrassy feel of “County Road” is light, with a banjo strummed steadily in the background while the bass carries the rhythm and a wash of harmonies brushes the mix. “Season of Dreams” has a real touch of the Gillian Welch’s…with Willie Watson adding the Rawlings shade’s and Johnny Dowd supplying the steady gentle guitar and a touch of atmospheric cornet a la Miles Davies from Peter Dodge. It is really hard to pick out the best tracks from this very tight selection, but I kind of drift towards the elegant “Bitter Sweet” for the simple fact that all the best elements throughout the album: singing, instrumentation, writing, production and arrangements are all at their peak here. If possible “Shades of Blue” pares back the sparse arrangements even further, sensitive synth and spinet along with some harmonium provide a droning pious feel to proceedings. The effect is then reversed with the Cuban twist on the gently danceable “Sleeping” before returning even more starkly on Dowd’s “Garden of Delight”, where the spinet is all that holds the theme along with Stearns’ aching vocal.

I have to confess that none of Stearns’ previous recordings has a place in my collection, something that is going to be put right within the up and coming paydays. However, this sounds like an excellent place to start, and I recommend you do so with haste! It is one of those midnight ‘til four in the morning kind of records, when the wines flowed and the fires burning low, and you just want to lay back and kick off your shoes and be enveloped by beautiful sounds. This is an excellent album, full of emotion, passion and tender melodies that should rightly place Jennie Stearns up on the same pedestal as her better known contemporaries.
Review of Jennie's show at the Take Root Festival in Holland
"Lucinda williams and Emmylou Harris may soon have a new colleague to welcome to the division which untill today they have held as the undisputed Queens. The throne succesor is known...Jennie Stearns."
-Rootstown Freezine
"Just when you thought there might be enough good songs in the world, Jennie Stearns gently pierces the soul with her new collection of great ones. Jennie makes one wonder if Neil Young has a long lost kid sister he's not telling us about."
- Linford Detweiler, Over the Rhine

Sing Desire
Although I was vaguely aware of Jennie Stearns (she was a founding member of ‘Donna the Buffalo’), I hadn’t heard any of her material so when a couple of her albums arrived I was really looking forward to hearing them. After my first listen of ‘Sing Desire’ I thought it was good, but not exceptionally so......this just goes to show how wrong first impressions can be, as after the second (and closer) listen through it was obvious that ‘Sing Desire’ is an exceptionally fine album.

The most striking thing is the overall balance; it’s an atmospheric and fairly lyrically downbeat collection, but rather than being the obvious purely acoustic affair, the instrumentation and arrangements are varied and they give the album variety and a spark that makes it stand out from the crowd.

While the songs may be full of strong but fairly bleak imagery, the disc is packed with attractive and memorable melodies that really stick with you – this contrast makes the disc incredible easy to listen to and the balance of ‘dark and light’ is perfect.

Almost every review you could read for Jennie will liken her voice to Lucinda Williams, and it’s a fair comparison as they share some vocal traits, but Jennie has a slightly more delicate approach that really suits the open arrangements on ‘Sing Desire’.

There are many standout tracks here, and it’s an album that works well as a sequenced collection, so picking a couple of tracks to highlight is difficult, but ‘Early Train’ is a great song, strong lyrics and hooks combined with an imaginative arrangement; and the title track is a superbly crafted song with a melody that stays with you long after the song has finished.

‘Sing Desire’ is one of the most creative and thoughtfully constructed singer/songwriter discs to come our way over the past few years, and one that really stands out from the pack. Highly recommended. 
–Fish Records / UK

Jennie Stearns - Sing Desire 2003

Eccoci qui a segnalare per l'ennesima volta il lavoro di una cantautrice che non si capisce perchè sia quasi sconosciuta, nonostante meriti tutta la nostra attenzione. Si tratta di Jeannie Stearns e in questo caso del suo ultimo lavoro dal titolo Sing Desire, un album sicuramente fra i piu' riusciti del 2003 nel suo genere. Ma andiamo con ordine: Jeannie Stearns arriva da Ithaca, NY e dopo aver collaborato all'inizio della sua carriera con i Donna The Buffalo, ha intrapreso il percorso da solista, del quale Sing Desire è il terzo capitolo. In quanto a successo commerciale i risultati non sono stati certo incoraggianti (un clichè) ma come spesso avviene, la stima e l'ammirazione dei colleghi più famosi come Peter Case o gli Slobberbone e i nostri amati Cowboy Junkies non è mancata, al punto che la band dei fratelli Timmins l'ha ospitata come opening act per alcune date del loro tour Americano. Voce sognante ed ipnotica che non potrebbe colorare al meglio queste ballate legate alla tradizione, ma con qualche cosa in più, che le rende un ideale ponte tra tradizione stessa e modernità. Dove per modernità si intende la capacità di saper dosare al meglio quei suoni "sotterranei", che ascolto dopo ascolto escono sempre più imponenti, come, per darvi un'idea, nel bellissimo album di Jessie Sykes recensito qualche mese fa. Le canzoni prese nel dettaglio sono autentiche gemme, a cominciare da You Save Me, che mette subito in risalto la voce della cantante e viene impreziosita da qualche rumore: dopo poco entra subito in testa e non ne vuole uscire. Sing Desire è una malinconica ballata, con le tastiere e l'elettrica a farla da padrone dietro la voce mentre Country Road vede la presenza del banjo di Rich Stearns, che oltre ad aver suonato nell'ultimo album della Merchant, è anche il consorte di Jeannie e da anni suo prezioso collaboratore. Vi sono poi alcuni brani in cui fa capolino una dolcissima cornetta, suonata da Peter Dodge, come in Season of Dreams e Early Train, sognante quanto afferma il titolo la prima, quasi jazzata la seconda. Bitter Sweet, in cui appaiono anche Mary Lorson e Billi Coté (già con Mudder Rose e Saint Low) è caratterizzata da riverberi elettrici che rapiscono l'anima. E poi Shades Of Blue, venata di tristezza, ma di quella tristezza di cui non vorremmo mai fare a meno oppure Slepping, con un ritmo latino e un violino magico, in bilico tra antico e moderno. E anche gli altri brani (12 per un totale di 45 minuti) non sono da meno. Un album di non facile reperibilità, ma vi assicuro che se farete lo sforzo ne sarete ampiamente ripagati
-Ruggero Marinello

Some (Take Root) festival reviews of Jennie's September/October 2003 tour of Holland:

"Jennie Stearns was a pleasant surprise, with her material that reminded me of Gillian Welch she managed to keep the attention of the visitors that showed no sign of fatigue, even after 8 hours of music somewhere around midnight you could hear a pin drop during her performance."
-Dagblad van Het
Noorden Netherlands (Take Root/Holland)

"How long will she be announced with comparisons to Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris? Jennie Stearns with guitarist Gabe Tavares is the last one to play in the acoustic room she askes the audience "Are you tired?" After that she manages to have the whole audience quietly listening to her touching ballads.
-www.altcountry.nl (Take Root/Holland)

"Her songs are imaging, present, touching and typically human, and sometimes heartbreaking and hopegiving. Her slow ballads and sweet waltzes are stripped to the bare essentials and frighteningly gracious and sound like she learned them on somebody's porch.
-Take Root Festival NL

Some Listeners' Words for 'Sing Desire' (from CDbaby.com)

Subdued, quiet and thrilling
Reviewer: Hans "Dif" Willers
This is quiet music. At no moment it is obtrusive but when you listen it is of a thrilling beauty. The musical arrangements succeed very well in getting the best out of this artist. This CD should be appreciated way beyond the crowd of americana lovers it will appeal to.
 
Reviewer: Ton van Zuidam
I like this album very much Lovely songs, good music, good words, very good voice. This album should be released in Europe in a normal way to reach a large audience.
 
Even better than expected
Reviewer: Gerard de Bruin (The Netherlands)
I read about the album in a dutch magazine "Heaven" and after a few lines I put away the magazine and decided to go and listen to it on the first music-site available. Some reviews are written in a way that forces the music on you. Like in this case: Kim Richey was a revalation, but Jennie Stearns sounds as if she's always been there: mature, empathic and that voice! those melodies! I want more! Pure, empathic and that voice! those melodies! I want more!

unknown, yet perfect
Reviewer: Wim (from Europe)
Some artists do need an introduction. In my case, this was through a review in "Heaven", including the necessary link to CD Baby. The order arrived in no more than 3 days time and the CD surprised me for its quality and atmosphere. The songs sound familiar, but this is only beacause they are so good. If you liked Jennifer Terran's "The Musician" (that other great surprise), "Sing Desire" is a must.
 
Excellent cd
Reviewer: Ewen
What a shame this cd will be overlooked by the majority. This is as good an album as you are likely to hear all year. Jennies voice sounds uncannily like Lucinda Williams, no bad thing there. There is not one bad track on this album. Just buy it.

Jennie Stearns is the name of The Americana discovery of this spring and she is brought to us by the same enthusiastic people where Rod Picott and Mary Gauthier have their fame to thank to . So this means guaranteed success. Although it would be just a little too much to mention her name in the same breath as Emmylou and Lucinda that doesn't mean that Sing Desire is not a dream of a record because it is. You can also call the instrumentation perfect not only because of the diverse variations in acoustic guitars but especially because of the surprising combination with cornet, banjo, harmonium, spinet organ, violin and the programmed drums. This late bloomer (expression for someone who starts something successful after 30) from the Ithaca area in New York has area neighbor Johhny Dowd playing on her record. Jennie Composes like Gillian Welch in the earliest American folk tradition. Compared to the ancient ballads her lyrics are more impressionistic. In her sensitivity for all kinds of sadness she maybe stays a little bit too long in that atmosphere. Now and then a bit more rougher emotionality would have been good if you ask me. But for everyone who likes romanticized sadness Jennie's CD is the one to get.
Geert Hendrickx, OOR Magazine, Holland
"Some artists try to grab your attention through raucous abandon; others weave a dreamy spell that draws you in through more subtle means. Ithaca-based singer-songwriter Jennie Stearns falls squarely into the latter category. A founding member of the acclaimed roots band Donna the Buffalo, Stearns has since taken a solo route that finds her crafting soft, dreamy folk pop that recalls the candlelit artistry of bands like Cowboy Junkies. Stearns could hardly have picked a better title for this collection than Mourning Dove Songs. Framed in minimalist arrangements, her compositions exude an airy, hypnotic quality. High points include the classic sounding 'Georgia Pine,'the violin-laced 'Southern Winds,'and a composition titled 'Prisoner' that would sit nicely on Neil Young's Harvest album. Mourning Dove Songs benefits from a superb band, and from Madder Rose singer Mary Lorson's tender backing vocals, but clearly this CD is Stearns' show all the way."
-- Russell Hall, Performing Songwriter Magazine, March 2001
"Recording live in the studio that used to be a church, on a 10-degree upstate New York January day, Stearns brought her quiet crystalline voice to intimate songs that flower through the details of the lives of the people she sings about. Most singer/songwriters would have done this with just a voice and guitar, but Stearns used a restrained, partly electric band that breathes just the right amount of extra life and strength in her songs. Players come from the ranks of neo-old-timey outfits the Horseflies, Donna the Buffalo, and others. Their drive supports Stearns' words. They can jam out, but they were their to support this fine collection of story songs. "
--- Li, Dirty Linen October/November 2000
Sing Desire
"Jennie Stearns has a rich sorrowful tone reminiscent of the divine Jane Siberry. And much like Emmylou Harris when she is in her most inspired and haunting mode, Stearns has a powerful, yet reserved, ability to move the soul. Her highly personal and poetic lyrics weave through a sparsely arranged musical bed punctuated with lazy harmonium, playful banjo, muted coronet, and gypsy fiddle. Sing Desire is both earthy and ethereal; you could say it's new folk from the Americana highway to heaven."
--Miles of Music
Rich & Jennie Stearns
Live From Buffalo/Tin Roof Mystery
"This husband and wife duo has created their own two-fer collection. This disc presents an intriguing live performance of just the two of them as well as 5 studio tracks. The live recording is from early 2000, recorded in Buffalo, NY. The studio portion, titled Tin Roof Mystery, goes back to '93 and utilizes numerous friends and members of Donna the Buffalo. Jennie was one of the founding members of the original band and Tara Nevis, Jim Miller, Jeb and Ward Puryear are all present here on the studio material. Rich and Jennie are on their own for the 8 live tracks, accompanying themselves with banjo, standard and tenor guitars. Their songs are dry and lonesome musings that are reminiscent of Neil Young and have an allure that's almost haunting and otherworldly. Good things hopefully in the future for the two of them. Certainly Jennie's solo record, Sing Desire, on which Rich performs, has made quite an impression on us."
--Miles of Music
"The now upstate New Yorker and onetime member of roots band Donna the Buffalo pays us a local visit coming equipped with a fine band, dreamy vocals, and nice hummable tunes that are layered on deeper lyrics. Her new CD SING DESIRE is a flavorful collection of countrified folk that goes down easy."
--The Village Voice
 
 Jennie Stearns
Sing Desire
Listen and weep.
Pieter Wijnstekers
Heaven Pop Magazine/The Netherlands
March 2003
Just before Christmas I received an e-mail by an American singer I had never heard of called Jennie Stearns, asking me if she could send me her new CD Sing Desire. Of course people are always allowed to send me stuff as long as their expectations aren't too high as we only have limited space in Heaven and there is a lot of competition. Still there was something that really made me curious about Jennie's CD, especially when I discovered she was the wife of Rich Stearns, member of one of my favorite American folk bands of all time, The Horseflies, who had seemingly suddenly disappeared after 1994.

When the CD arrived about a week later, I immediately put in into my CD-player Within the first thirty seconds I was won over. What a beautiful atmosphere, what a beautiful song, but above all what a beautiful voice, like a more vulnerable Lucinda Williams with a hint of Emmylou Harris. And all in a perfect setting that at the same time was more rootsy as well as more modern than on Lucinda's latest offering. I was deeply moved, a feeling that remained for the whole album because all the songs on Sing Desire were stunningly beautiful, each one with its own unique elements to support that intensely melancholic voice. A trumpet here, a violin there, a harmonium, banjo or basic salsa-rhythm, every element just as imaginative as tasteful. Elements that also stay interesting, so that I now, twenty-odd spins later, don't hesitate to declare Sing Desire to be more pure, more heartbreaking, more imaginative than either Lucinda William's Essence or Rise by Kim Richey .
4 stars ****

  Sentenced to the Melancholy Life
by Jeff Spevak
Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, NY, March 6, 2003
 
A few years ago, Jennie Stearns traveled to Austin, Texas, to see her fellow Ithaca Bard of Darkness, Johnny Dowd, perform at a music conference.

''He was singing a song about murder,'' Stearns recalls. ''And there were these college-age guys right in front of me, and one of them leans over and says, 'Do you think that's autobiographical?' ''

Hey kids, they're always autobiographical. That's why Johnny Cash is never getting out of the slammer. You kill a man in Reno just to watch him die, and that's life without parole.

Ithaca's kind of an artsy town, or so the Chamber of Commerce says, which perhaps makes it surprising that it produces melancholy songwriters such as Dowd. ''I'm drawn to his dark side, too,'' confesses Stearns, who opens for Sassagrass on Friday at Milestones, with her own melancholy songs.

Stearns actually doesn't go for gunplay in her own writing -- her characters are more into mental illness and feeling forlorn. Perhaps Dowd senses this as well. When Stearns asked him for a song to include on her most recent album, Sing Desire, he passed along the not-quite-finished ''Garden of Delight.''

Perhaps she should have been tipped off by the line ''nothing's real until you kill it, nothing's missed until it's gone.'' Or the reference to bloodstained clothes. But when she heard ''Garden of Delight'' later, in its final version, Dowd had added a final verse. ''There's a gun in it, yeah,'' Stearns says.

Her version omits the final verse, but she's actually not one to duck the pain. Her own ''Bitter Sweet'' features a character who suffers from depression, and its darkness surprises even Stearns. ''Usually the songs have a light at the end of the tunnel,'' she says. ''This one has no light. ''

Someone asked me, 'Why do you have to write sad songs? Why aren't you writing happy songs?' But I was always drawn to songs sung at funerals. They're soothing in some way. I think it's the chorusing that I'm drawn to.''

She likes that dichotomy of pretty melodies with bleak images. Like the Louvin Brothers, or Hazel Dickens, the 1960s West Virginia folk singer who championed the causes of feminism and unionizing mine workers with her friend, Alice Gerrard. ''I think she was in Coal Miner's Daughter,'' Stearns says of Gerrard. ''Singing at a grave site.''

Singing at a grave site. ''Haunting'' is another word that's often applied to these ancestors of what's called alternative country today, dumped into that same Americana bin where Stearns is usually found: She's sitting right next to Jane Siberry, Victoria Williams and, most particularly, Lucinda Williams.

There is even a danceable version of this genre. At one time, Stearns was with one of Ithaca's best-known bands, Donna the Buffalo; she wrote songs with titles such as ''Madness'' and ''Life Is Strange.'' Her husband, Richie, was a member of the Horseflies, another excellent strings-and-granola outfit.

Maybe it's the rural view out the Stearns' window that leads to sadness. She and Richie live in the small town of Mecklenburg, just outside Ithaca. It has a post office and a few other necessities. The house is a couple of hundred years old, by Stearns' reckoning. They've lived in it for 15 years, installing the indoor plumbing themselves. There are woods out back, where Stearns wanders with their two kids, ages 8 and 12, and Jett, the mix of German shepherd and Australian cattle dog.

''I definitely don't feel that I've made it in any way,'' she says. ''We live close to the bone, though we're pretty happy with that.''

She's 42, and for years worked in record stores, restaurants or day care schools. Or cleaned the houses of Cornell University professors. ''Jobs that allowed me to go on the road,'' she says. ''The music business is suffering. We were chasing record companies for a while, getting a bit of interest, but people aren't signing now.''

It's life without parole. So you reach for whatever good piece of news that you find. The album "got a good review in a magazine in the Netherlands,'' Stearns says, hopefully. ''Hey, whatever works.''  

From Miles of Music's "MOMZINE" Issue #38
Strong Desire
By Jim Catalano
Five years ago, Jennie Stearns released Angel With A Broken Wing, one of the best CDs to come out of the Central New York music scene in the past decade. Fans and music journalists lauded the effort, comparing Stearns to Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and other leading lights in the alt-country genre.
After releasing a live album, Mourning Dove Songs, in 2000, Stearns spent the next couple of years working on her next studio album. Completed last summer, Sing Desire is now winning her new fans around the country.
Unlike Angel With A Broken Wing,which was mainly a band-oriented project with a consistent sound, Sing Desire draws on a variety of moods and textures with the occasional use of drum loops, more keyboards, and even a cornet (played by Peter Dodge) on one song. Some cuts feature a full band, while others have just have Stearns and CO-producer Chad Crumm. (Madder Rose's Billy Coté also produced one song, the atmospheric "Bitter Sweet.")
"I knew that I wanted to go into different territory with the music, I just didn't know how quite to create what I wanted," Stearns says. "I had some strong ideas, and Chad would throw in his own ideas. It definitely was a CO-production; we had to come up with something that we were both happy with. .Maybe we both sacrificed a bit, but not to a fault for the songs. We decided to go for what each individual song wanted."
The CD features contributions from many Ithaca-area musicians, including Bill King, Harry Aceto,  Mary Lorson and Jennie's husband Richie Stearns. Old Crow Medicine Show singer Willie "Buck" Watson, a native of Watkins Glen who now lives in Nashville, sings on a couple of tracks. "I was lucky he was able to come into the studio for a couple of hours when he was in town," Stearns says. "I had been wanting to sing with him for awhile."
Another guest is Johnny Dowd, whose "Garden of Delight" is the album's sole cover. "We had him play guitar on 'Season of Dreams,' and when he was out in the studio, he played me a bunch of his songs," Stearns says. "I don't know if it was his intention to get them on the record, but it was such a delight to hear them. He had sent me a tape also, which I listened to when I got home. That song really stuck out as far as one I could represent well, so when we went back in the studio I played distorted guitar with similar rhythm like what Johnny played me, and Chad played organ and I sang, then we took the guitar out. It was very fresh -hearing it once, going home playing with it, then recording. It felt really good. I was feeling a bit of angst that day -I didn't want to work on anything I was already working on, so it was good day to sing a Johnny Dowd song."
Stearns has gradually been gaining notice outside of Central New York. Last fall, Sing Desire's title song landed on the latest Starbucks compilation. T hat followed having four songs from the CD on rotation in Starbucks stores around the country.
She also has been getting out of town more the past couple of years, recently opening for Buddy Miller in Northampton , Mass., and touring with the Cowboy Junkies and Over the Rhine at various points during the past year. "My manager is trying to get me in front of similar listening crowds, so it's ideal to open for bands like that," she says. "And it's great thing to connect with people you're opening for. I gave Over the Rhine my CD and they were really taken with it, and they joined us on-stage for a song on the last tour."
A native of Carlisle, Mass., Stearns started writing songs at 14 and first performed when she was 21. "I grew up outside of Boston and used to go into Cambridge a lot," she says. "The first 45 I bought was Neil Young's 'Heart of Gold.' Tom Waits was a huge influence, and I saw lots of his shows back when I was teen."
She cites early Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Joni Mitchell, Elvis Cost ello, Jane Siberry and Robbie Robertson among her other influences. "I wasn't really into reggae, bluegrass, or old time music," she says. "I didn't buy Emmylou Harris records, but there's knowledge of that kind of music and how people attack it. For me, it's more inspirational to hear how different musicians and singers approach songs."
Stearns moved to upstate New York to study illustration at Syracuse University. Looking to remain in the area after college, she moved to the Ithaca area and eventually joined Donna the Buffalo in 1987.
Married to Richie Stearns (known for his banjo work with the Horse Flies and other old-time bands) since 1985, Jennie quit Donna the Buffalo in 1991 after having their first child, but kept on writing songs. "Music has always been a big part of my life," she says. "It's just in me and I have to do it."
She and Richie performed in Tin Roof for several years, and Richie continues to play tenor guitar and banjo in her live band (he also contributed to "County Road" on Sing Desire and several songs on Angel With A Broken Wing; he just released an excellent CD of banjo and vocal tunes titled Solo). Last year, they released Live From Buffalo/Tin Roof Mystery 1993 that contains songs from that era, as well as tracks from more recent duo shows.
The Scene Is Heard
DAZE Talks to Some of Ithaca's Finest Muscians
By ALEXIS DIFIRNANDO and ANDREW GILMAN
Jennie Stearns Interview By Alexis DiFerdinando

It is the candied sweetness of honey dissolved in the soothing vigor of chamomile -- the experience of numb hands that clutch a mug of playfully teasing steam. This is the art of Jennie Stearns, a singer/songwriter characterized by veracious lyrics
that resonate her stories. A leading influence in the local music scene, Jennie's raw honesty generates soul-stirring moments. Following the release of her new album, Sing Desire, daze had the opportunity to speak with her.

daze: Do you regard the local scene as a sort of family?
Jennie Stearns: Yes ... family in all meanings of the word.
daze: How did you become involved with Donna the Buffalo and why are you no longer playing with them?
JS: I was friends with The Puryears, Tara Nevins, Jim Miller, and Shane Lamphier for a few years before the band formed. We had a healthy dose of parties at our house, and sharing songs was a big part of those gatherings. I left due to personal conflict and differences. I always loved the music when I was in that band. Sometimes the music just isn't enough though. I still feel connected with the band
members. It's in my blood. It's family.
daze: How did you meet your husband, Richie Stearns -- was it through your musical interests?
JS: When I first moved to town and saw the Horse Flies play, I absolutely felt drawn to Richie through his music.
daze: How does the fact that you are both musicians affect your relationship?
JS: I like the fact that Richie understands the deep connection that I have to music, and I can relate to his relationship with music also. We have a mutual
understanding when it comes to music. Rehearsing and performing can be a challenge that anyone would expect from two people that have been together for so long, but the good does outweigh the bad.
daze: Can you describe the evolution of your albums-- how does the new album, Sing Desire, stand apart from your other releases?
JS: Sing Desire was a co-production with Chad Crumm and the song "Bittersweet" is produced by Billy Coté. With this project I wanted to create a landscape for the songs to sit in that was unique but that grew from the core essence of the songs. Some of the songs I wrote were an intentional stretch from my usual formula. Angel With A Broken Wing was my first full-length production. I might have been over-excited, being that it was my first CD, but we did have a grand task of picking through the many tracks we had laid down. On Sing Desire, we generally started very bare-boned, and then gently and slowly built up.

"...known for her dark, brooding lyrics opens for the Cowboy Junkies in Portland. Her vocal presentation shines, and her composition skills are positively dazzling."
--Sun Journal / Lewiston Maine
"Morning Dove Songs" - Jennie Stearns
"Sometimes when you listen to some music all you can say is "Oh shit, this is good." With Mourning Dove Songs, Jennie Stearns offers up music that earns so strong a response. The music blends jazz and folk to the point where it is both. That the CD was recorded live is icing on the cake. The music on this CD is incredible. The musicians in the band do an amazing job. They are Rich Stearns (tenor guitar and vocals), Bill King (drums), Mary Lorson (harmony vocals), Sim Redmond (bass), Chad Crumm (violin) and Jeb Puryear (pedal steel on "Step into the Picture"). Jennie Stearns plays the acoustic guitar and sings. Her voice is magic, slightly smoky, sliding into the music and making it hers. There is a sorrow in these songs that is hard to explain ... a softness in the music, sometimes in the lyrics themselves. Whatever the source, there is a darkness here that is beautiful, it pulls you in and embraces you. The CD slides in gracefully with the opening notes of "Georgia Pine," which waltzes to a wistful tune, evoking faded pictures of people you knew without ever meeting. The sorrow widens with "Madness," where the music and lyrics paint a picture of relationships falling apart, of people being hurt. Then comes "Southern Winds," a soothing song that calls you to rest, to healing. There is a gentleness and warmth in the music that floats over the steady beat of the drums. "Knoxville Girl (Parting Gift)" is a story told in stages, each part a brief sketch. "Angel with a Broken Wing" is a song of quiet searching, a call to reach out to a broken wounded girl. There is more longing in the lyrics than hope. "Mystery" is a song of remembrance of sorrow or loss, of a question that was never answered. "Shame" is a song of falling and hitting the ground. The driving beat of the music keeps the sorrow at bay, but even then, there is a sense of falling slowly backwards. I can't quite piece together the story in "Prisoner" -- but, nonetheless, there is a haunting edge to the music. "Perfect Sky" comes in, and you can almost hear it cut across the dance floor, sliding back and forth. There is a hard edge to its gracefulness that fades in and out. Both it and "Step into the Picture" are love songs. "Step into the Picture" is a waltz to the tango of
"Perfect Sky." The CD ends off where it started, with an instrumental version of "Georgia Pines." Or you could say it ends with one last dance to bring the night to a close. Mourning Dove Songs dances you into the dark night and then on to the edge of dawn. The songs might not always be easy to listen to but they are always good. You will like what you hear."
--Paul de Bruijn, Rambles.net Cultural Arts Magazine
"The face of country music will change, because Lucinda Williams and Jennie Stearns exist. While the former has reached high status within the music industry, the latter performer will certainly be the next to ascend into singer/songwriter stardom. Stearns, whose voice calls to mind Kim Richey, Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris, makes country music containing purity and emotion. Each song on her latest release "Mourning Dove Songs" pulls the listener into a vast mustard field to contemplate life and deep blue
skies.
--Jambands.com
"I received Sing Desire a few days ago and immediately fell in love with it. I think it's a really wonderful album with lots of beautiful songs, great playing and fantastic singing (a bit Lucinda Williams meets Emmylou Harris). I'll definitely be writing a rave review of it!!"
--Eric van Domburg Scipio Chief Editor /Heaven /Pop Magazine/The Netherlands
'Sing Desire' receives Best Contemporary Folk CD for 2002
- Honorable Mention for Best Overall Cd 2002
-Honorable Mention for Best Female Vocalist
--'Jimmies' Awards • The Ithaca Journal Dec 26 2002
"Ithaca-based singer/songwriter Jennie Stearns' 3rd full length album "Sing Desire" released earlier this fall featuring 12 new songs adding to her collection of album releases since her debut album in 1998. Recorded by Chad Crumm and mixed and produced by Stearns and Crumm with incredible tact and taste, there is a great gamut of producing and mixing styles while all in all staying true to her delivery of lyrical imagery and insights. Assisted by an all-star cast of local musicians from Chad Crumm, Richie Stearns, Gabe Tavares, Brian Dudla, Johnny Dowd, Mary Lorson, Amy Glicklich, Gregory McGrath, Jordan Aceto, Harry Aceto, Peter Dodge, Mike Stark, Billy Cote, Bill King and Matt Saccuccimorano, their unique styles and influences create a wide array of instrumental backdrops and beats in which Stearns' songs are given dimension. The album opens with a sauntering groove in "You Save Me" ingeniously mixed with ambient noises/reverse tracking which gives an extra edge and lift, into her poignant title track "Sing Desire," where the melody sails in waves of momentum and emotion with well placed harmonies amidst the panned piano. Highlights include lyrical insightful tunes like "Shades of Blue," "Season of Dreams," and "Whisper." She loops in and out of grooves and dream sequences throughout the flow of the album, performing such haunting melodies like that of Johnny Dowd's "Garden of Delight" only accompanied by the sustained chords of the spinet organ played by Chad Crumm, to the Latin groove driven "Sleeping" with fiddle, synthesizer, bass, acoustic and electric guitars and drum programmed beats. The album sounds how it looks - like an ornate but balanced print of intertwined characters, clean, modern, and warm with the familiarity of sepia tones found on the cover in Stearns' quiet smile and poetic eyes. The album plays like a soundtrack to amber sunsets down winding dirt roads - poignant, nostalgic, and mellow, but always with a slow steady drive in the music behind her or in her voice. This subtle longing and edge in her calm voice narrates and makes one feel that one is within Stearns' perspective, looking through her mental photo album or conversations in her head as they are shared and heard."
-- Bora Yoon, Ithaca Times, Ithaca, N.Y.
"Jennie Stearns writes late-night country-tinged songs that have a habit of getting into the brain and staying there for a very long time. Highly recommended."
--fRoots Magazine
JENNIE STEARNS' Mourning Dove Songs (Live + Kickin' ) Picture this: You're frolicking through grass full of flowers, remnants of dandelions flying around you. Feeling happy and at peace yet? Play Mourning Dove Songs as a soundtrack to that free-floating experience. It's sweet, softly caressing music is disarmingly poignant and free. Stearns and her band are adept at creating a sound and mood that readily eases the mind and soul, whilst showcasing a glowing talent.
-Chartattack.com Canada
  "Jennie Stearns...makes quite a splash on her debut CD, "Angel With a Broken Wing" with incisive lyrics, warm singing, and great playing from an all-star cast of local musicians.The best overall local CD of 1998."
---Jim Catalano , Ithaca Journal N.Y. Dec.31, 1998
"Angel With a Broken Wing" shows all of her strengths, particularly her straight to the heart, emotional songwriting - and her ability to attract some stellar musicians to play with her."
---Daniel Aloi,Star-Gazette, Elmira, N.Y.Oct.8, 1998
"This latest offering comes on with all the promise of the early Jane Siberry or Suzanne Vega. Her poignant and personal lyrics are exquisitely wrapped around a set of lilting, haunting melodies that will leave long trails in your ears to follow you around long after you listen to them. 'Life is Strange' is a killer waltz that conjures up reflections of relationships and could easily be covered by twenty different country and acoustic artists yet still leave room for Stearns' gentle definitive rendering. In 'You Crossed the Line', she deals with the problem of predatory male behavior with eloquent directness, and somehow manages to keep the listening experience pleasant at the same time."
--- Gene Ira Katz, The Ithaca Times, August 20, 1998
"Jennie Stearns is a star. The rest of the world just hasn't found out yet. Her debut solo CD "Angel with a Broken Wing" is ample testimony to the brilliance of her artistry. Her vocal presentation shines,and her composition skills are positively dazzling. No overnight wonder, Stearns was a founding member of Donna the Buffalo the better part of a decade ago,and she fronted the excellent Tin Roof, which released a marvelous cassette album during their all-too-brief life."
---Gene Ira Katz, The Ithaca Times, Aug.20, 1998
Best local concerts of 1998 Jennie Stearns @ The Rongovian Embassy."Her December show spotlighted her songs from her debut CD,"Angel with a Broken Wing", with the help of many of the local musicians that made the CD so memorable, including Mary Lorson, Rich DePaolo, Rich Stearns, Bill King and Eric Aceto."
---Jim Catalano, Ithaca Journal ,Dec.31,1998
Headline: Local Music Makers Share '98 Memories: Mary Lorson..favorite music moment of '98...Being Jennie Stearns backup singer when she played with the Hix at the GrassRoots Festival.
Hank Roberts...Favorite '98 CD,Jennie Stearns Angel with a Broken Wing...and favorite moment... Seeing Mary Lorson and Jennie Stearns duet on opposite sides of the stage at the Rongo playing Mary's tunes while warming up for Jennie's band.
Heather Dunbar,WVBR...favorite CD, Angel with a Broken Wing. Ithaca Journal, Dec.31,1998
Angel with a Broken Wing "If only this was the face of country music. Jennie Stearns' CD is so full of character,it seems to have a life of it's own. It's an exquisite album, sensitive and strong; a debut with a lifetime's worth of classic, memorable songs."
---Chuck Cuminale...City Newspaper, Rochester, N.Y. Dec.30,1998

WLOY hosts Jennie Stearns concert
WLOY presents Jenny Stearns, performing in McManus Theater April 9 at 8 p.m. as the start of a tradion of up-and-coming artists to play at Loyola.

by NICK ALEXOPULOS
MANAGING EDITOR

WLOY's inaugural concert will feature alt-country singer/songwriter Jennie Stearns per-forming in McManus Theater on Wednesday, April 9 at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are free for Loyola students and $5 for the general public.

Stearns is the first artist WLOY brought to Loyola after going on the air in March of 2003, and Loyola's radio station hopes that there will be more concerts like this one in semesters to come.

"This concert will be the first of what WLOY hopes to be a long-standing tradition of bringing under-the-radar artists to Loyola," said Brendan McCahill, pro-motions manager for WLOY.

Stearns kicked off her current tour after the 2002 release of her latest album Sing Desire, which Stearns describes as "true to the new songs I'd written." Her biography equates her solo guitar sound to that of Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch, in a class of artists con-sidered to be "pure Americana."
Stearns is the featured artist in the April 2003 issue of Woman Rock, which says of Stearns, "When you flip on an album by Jennie Stearns, you get the sense that she is in the room with you."

In the past she has toured with headline acts like the 10,000 Maniacs, Over the Rhine and Erin McKeown, among others.

"This is a big event for us," said McCahill. "[Stearns] has opened for some big-name acts, like the Cowboy Junkies."

Because it is so late in the year, WLOY has no other concerts planned for this semester, but McCahill said it hopes to attract more artists like Stearns next year and in years to follow.

Tuesday, April 15, 2003
WLOY presents Jennie Stearns

by JASON LAM
SPECIAL TO THE GREYHOUND

I have to say first off that I am proud of Loyola College for hosting a variety of interesting events on campus this year.

Whether it is ALANA and Spectrum getting Margaret Cho to perform or the SGA getting Jurassic 5 to play Loyolapalooza, it is nice to see our campus try to bring some diversity to our Evergreen campus.

With that said, Loyola's college radio station, WLOY, recently hosted their first live concert featuring singer/songwriter Jennie Stearns. Stearns has just recently put out her 5th solo release, appropriately titled, "Sing Desire".

Stearns is a singer/songwriter from Ithaca, New York. Her soul-stirring voice is reminiscent of the talented Aimee Mann, which is a great thing. She is married to Richie Stearns, who is the guitarist/banjo player for The Horseflies, an American grassroots band that plays self-proclaimed "neo-primitive bug music."

Stearns plays most of her live shows with Richie, although she is publicized as a solo act. I have no idea why considering he contributes greatly to the set.

Stearns is the types of artist that you have to experience live to really "get" what she's all about. Many of her songs from Sing Desire take on different, more complex dimensions when performed live, mainly because of her vocal harmonies and guitar play with her husband, Richie.

She played a majority of her songs from Sing Desire and also added in some of Richie's songs into her set list.

My favorite track on the CD was definitely the title track, "Sing Desire". The vocal harmonies are haunting and with lyrics such as "I don't remember the color of your shirt/or the song you were singing when I saw you first/those dark dark eyes shooting straight into my heart/the cold cold wind tearing the sky apart."

The song has a tone of romantic nostalgia and maybe even unrequited love. The guitar solo is not too "busy" and fits snuggly in the somber mood of the song.

Besides the simple, yet effective lyrical style of Stearns, I love the fact that all her songs, though mellow, are not all the same style.

The first track, "Save Me" fuses blues and jazz, while "Sleeping" is a combination of brass horns and has some Latin flavor in it. She is not afraid to experiment with different styles and instruments which makes her that much more attractive as an artist.

Another standout track entitled "Bittersweet" shows her range as a lyricist. With lyrics like "cigarette burns in the sink by the window where you lost your heart", it is no wonder that she has opened for bands such a Cowboy Junkies and Over The Rhine. She uses her effortless vocals and ghostly lyrics to paint vivid pictures for her listeners.

Sing Desire consists of songs, which sound more like letters to lovers, ex-lovers, friends, etc. I personally think that her lyrics play just as much of a role as her angelic voice.

Stearns has the ability to personalize the songs in a way where you feel like you're partaking in an open reading of her diary. Her words are vulnerable enough to get you involved but not enough for you to feel like you're not part of the story.

Stearns currently releases her music independently and is not signed to a major label. Do I think her music would have great "commercial" success? Probably not. But it's not because her songs are not great; it is because of the pathetic state of commercial music today. It's kind of like the idea of movie stars getting paid millions of dollars while teachers can barely make a living. Stars and singer/songwriters like Stearns being the schoolteacher, commercial music the movie stars.) Hopefully popular artists like Aimee Mann and Norah Jones, can share the spotlight with Stearns.

Not many people can appreciate Stearns' songs because they are very low key; there is no "jump around" hook or dance beat to propel it up the TRL countdown. But what you do get is insightful lyrics and soul-stirring music (can't say that about most of the bands on MTV, let alone TRL).

I must admit that I never listened to Stearns's music until an hour before her show at McManus Theatre. However, since the show, it's been in constant rotation on my stereo.

Jennie and Richie Stearns put on a very intimate and funny set, telling stories about their kids and their life as parents (keep in mind that they are married and play music together for a living).

Their on-stage dialogue was really entertaining and provided some comic relief between songs. It was really disappointing to see that the show had such a little turnout because it was a great, "storytellers" type set.

They should definitely release a live CD in the future. But for now, go out and get "Sing Desire", and try to catch her live. And if we're lucky enough, she'll swing by McManus again.

Stearns has toured with Cowboy Junkies and Over the Rhine, and a song from Sing Desire was chosen for Starbucks' eighth Hear Music compilation. She's the only fully independent musician to have appeared on any of their compilations.

Jennie is the featured artist in Womanrock.com's April 2003 issue.
   
Breathing Space
Jennie Stearns
by Marina Galazidis, WomanRock.com 
       
When you flip on an album by Jennie Stearns, you get the sense that she is in the room with you. She sings to you about a blue curtain, misplaced letters, the texture of a dream - and the songs tacitly become yours, too. Her new album, "Sing Desire," is gaining popularity both here and abroad. She most recently toured with The Cowboy Junkies and Over the Rhine, and she is actively writing and performing in the New York State area.

WOMANROCK:
What made you decide to create the Artist Diary on your Web site?

Jennie:
I saw that someone else had one, and she didn't have much on it. But I thought I would be curious about a musician or an artist - what their days are like, or how they incorporate what they do with their creative process into their regular life. It's a challenge for me. I don't want to write what I think people want to hear. I'm trying to be true to myself.

WOMANROCK:
You wrote on January 8, "I get frightened sometimes by what emerges as the content of a song." Could you tell me more about that?

Jennie:
Looking back on my catalogue of songs and just knowing myself, I do tend to write about some pretty hard personal experiences. Sometimes I'm afraid of some subjects I don't want to touch on, but do end up touching on them, and maybe I'm afraid of what's going to unearth from myself. It's the fear of facing something to the point where I will actually write a song about it. I made an effort [on Sing Desire] to really write some love songs, and then once I got into it they came pretty easily. The same with "County Road", it was just a nice shift to approach a song that way, not necessarily coming from a hard place.

WOMANROCK:
What was it like to collaborate with your husband who played banjo on that track?

Jennie:
When we work together, the closest we get to co-writing is just showing each other the song, and getting some little ideas here and there about arrangement, but that's about it. Usually when I do a CD, it's pretty much a solo project. That's just because I'm more comfortable with that, and there's part of me that has a hard time working with other people concerning my songs.

WOMANROCK:
With that in mind, what was it like to co-produce Sing Desire with Chad Crumm?

Jennie:
I tend to want to take the easy route. Sometimes songs come easily to me and I don't have a real hard work ethic with them. I'm afraid I'm going to beat them to death. And Chad is the complete opposite. He works really well doing those twelve-hour night shifts. He pulled stuff out of me and I taught him how to let go at times.

WOMANROCK:
Is the ballad form something that has always been part of your song writing?

Jennie:
Yeah, it always has. It's always been something that I've been drawn to. I think back to younger days with Hazel Dickens and Neil Young. I'm drawn to them, and to songs that are sung at funerals, songs that are soothing. I guess you could say gospel. I love the haunting quality, songs that move you.

WOMANROCK:
Who else would you cite as more generally inspirational?

Jennie:
Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, like the classic Nebraska, but I definitely love him when he doesn't have that E Street Band sound. Tom Waits, the caliber of his songs is just incredible. It's so heartfelt, and playful too, I think.

WOMANROCK:
What was the last album that you listened to?

Jennie:
I just listened to the last Luna album. And I'm just in love with the newest Patti Griffith album. I tend to give away the CDs I really love because I want to share them.

WOMANROCK:
What do you listen for when you hear other musicians?

Jennie:
I don't like overplaying. I like the core of a song. I guess I'm looking for good songs and really great playing. I'm definitely very picky so I don't have a huge collection.

WOMANROCK:
How did you get to be on one of the Starbucks Hear Music compilations?

Jennie:
My manager passed my CD on to the guys who work there and next thing we get a call from them. It's pretty unheard of being that it's an independent release. That was a good day. It's almost better than radio in a way because it's getting it out there. That was great and the CD wasn't even mastered. It was good timing.

WOMANROCK:
You are the only fully independent artist on all of those compilations. Do you think that your song will open doors for more independent musicians to be on similar compilations?

Jennie:
I hope so. I do feel really comfortable with being independent because I can have complete control over everything. I think it's great that Starbucks took an independent. It's a good sign. It makes you think that someone didn't just decide this is what's been on the radio, so this is what people are listening to, and no one has been listening to that. I mean there's not much benefit for them, except that they think that it's a good song, and that is really encouraging.

WOMANROCK:
Have you considered signing to a label?

Jennie:
We did shop the record [Sing Desire] around to some independent labels. I just get the feeling that they're not quite sure. They don't quite know how the public would react. I think it's too much of a risk, just too much of an unknown for them. The record industry is just not at a good place as far as signing people. Now we're just taking matters into our own hands.

WOMANROCK:
Last year was very successful for you and Sing Desire, what else do you imagine for this album in 2003?

Jennie:
The cool thing is that touring with Over the Rhine or Cowboy Junkies, we'd go to these places where we'd play for a thousand or two thousand people. I feel that if I get out and tour, I'd like to be able to open for people who really draw, and just get some press. I feel very comfortable behind this record and I want this record to have longevity, and I feel that if it gets out there and gets some good reviews, that that might be the same thing as a tour with a great band. They're different ways of achieving a certain comfort level with what I do. I would just be happy getting this CD out and getting some press and having the opportunity to record again, and that's ultimately my favorite thing to do.

WOMANROCK:
Sing Desire was very well received in Western Europe also, so what are some goals as far as exploring and cultivating that fan base?

Jennie:
We just got a great review from Heaven magazine from the Netherlands, and I've been selling a ton of CDs there, and we're just about to sign on with a small distribution company over there. So I guess my goal is just to keep building up those connections, and I'd love to tour Europe a few times a year. The genre my CD falls into, people over there want to hear it. I don't know the state of things and what's going to happen. I'm sort of in denial right now.

WOMANROCK:
How much does the political situation factor into your writing?

Jennie:
Every Friday I go to this protest in this little town where about forty of us get together, and I remember thinking, is this something I feel comfortable putting out there? These days I actually feel really comfortable and I feel like there's a need for people to be comfortable and to see other people being comfortable with it [protest]. We [Jennie, her band, and her husband] had a show the other night, and I mentioned that I'm about to write another angry song - I just feel it - thanks to our president, and there was a lot of support in the audience. Then my husband started talking about blowing up cars as a way to deal with the situation, and there was some discomfort like he had crossed the line a little bit. It was a big bar and we were in Eerie, Pennsylvania. And then he made people feel comfortable by saying, "okay, that's all I'm going to say," and we went right into a song. The very last song, I started going into this real intense song I had written, and then he said, "don't forget, blow up your cars." It's an interesting time now.

WOMANROCK:
What was the first song you ever wrote?

Jennie:
When I think of it, I think of it as a really bad song. It was about the moon rising. Something like, "I feel the moon rising," oh, when I think about it… But I was fourteen.

WOMANROCK:
Back then when you first began, was it the music that initially interested you, or was it writing?

Jennie:
It was the music, definitely. And I don't think of myself as a writer. I feel intimidated about that. I don't make as much of an effort as I feel I should with writing, but I do sit down with a guitar and the music comes out - the same with the first song I wrote - and then the music inspires words.
I don't need much to keep me happy. I've been doing this for so long and just working with people who have the same goals and it's pretty much just to keep content, enough so that you keep doing what you feel like you have to do. And for me it's definitely the music.

WOMANROCK:
How has having kids affected your career?

Jennie:
One thing is that the band I was in, Donna the Buffalo, they'd just be up and down the East Coast, and that's how they got to where they are. I would not have been able to do that. I've been having to maneuver in different ways to be able to get to a level where I can keep recording and keep doing what I want to do. It's been a challenge. It's really nice to be out on the road knowing that the kids' dad is with them. I think it's taken me a while because I'm lucky enough to have the kids. A few years ago [they're now twelve and eight], I wouldn't have felt comfortable going out on the road for two weeks, but now it's fine, and these days you can communicate pretty easily.

WOMANROCK:
How would you describe your relationship to Southern folk music? How does it inspire you?

Jennie:
I think that there's an older, more pure quality. I grew up in New England. I think that southern music has a more melodic feel. I love waltzes. This guy was trying to figure out what I like about them, and I think it's just that they're circular. I like to dance, so I think a song needs to feel danceable, but not in a very uptight-up-and-down-fast kind of way. It has breathing space.

"Jennie stearns must be the best kept secret of alt country"
Ctrl.Altcountry (e-zine)


Photo credit (top): Thomas G. Smith