Our Song of the Day comes via a beautiful premiere from San Francisco singer-songwriter Jenny Gillespie. Pain Travels (Chakra Huckster) is taken from her forthcoming album Cure For Dreaming which see its UK release on 13th May. The album blends an earnest folk sensibility with experimental flavourings of progressive jazz – as well as sunny sixties and seventies R&B flavoured pop, along the lines of Minnie Riperton, Fairport Convention, and Shuggie Otis.
There’s plenty to love about this new release which was recorded in the fall of 2015 in Los Angeles, CA. Featuring musicians such as Paul Bryan (Aimee Mann,) drummer Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant and Allison Krauss’ Raising Sand), guitarist Chris Bruce (Meshell Ndgeocello,), guitarist Gerry Leonard (David Bowie) and pedal steel player Greg Leisz (Lucinda Williams, Bon Iver).
Themes of motherhood, marriage, spirituality and dying enter into the music but through the medium of playful and conversational language. Characters weave in and out of the songs, such as the brooding loner drawn to the masculine expressions of his ancestry of “Part Potawatomi”, or the cheerful artist facing death in “Last Mystery Train.” The music is loose, warm, and memorable, yet pulls off an undercurrent of occasional instrumental and melodic wildness not often found in modern day pop. Take a listen and discover a new nuance of American folk. One you should all add to your album shopping lists.
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About Jenny Gillespie
Jenny Gillespie was born in Springfield, IL in 1980 and grew up in a rural setting outside of town, surrounded by woods and water. There was a lot of time spent making fairy houses with twigs and moss. And a lot of harmonizing in the backseat with her sister, a gifted pianist. First picking up her artist mother’s Martin guitar at 13, she found she could put her little poems to music. The local record store clerk had also given 13 year old Jenny the holy trinity of female 90s songwriters: Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, and Shawn Colvin. Her songwriting started to bloom and ever since the garden hasn’t stopped flowering.
Find out more here: jennygillespie.com