Jeni Hankins & Billy Kemp: News

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Maverick is a top-notch magazine with lots and lots of reviews of roots, folk, country, and bluegrass. They are based in the UK, but the slightly higher cost of a subscription in the US is well worth it.

Jeni & Billy recommended!

Click here to read their starred review of our new CD "Longing for Heaven."

 

 

Thanks to all who came out for our very first performance in Birmingham (in the UK, not Alabama!)

Click here to read our interview in the Birmingham Mail.

Here's a bit of what Andrew Coleman wrote:

JENI Hankins and Billy Kemp, aka Jeni & Billy, draw on Appalachian roots music for their songs of miners, preachers, ramblers, lovers, and plain-living folks. They’ve struck a chord with UK music fans, prompting a second British tour, including a show at Kings Heath’s Kitchen Garden Cafe on Sunday. Jeni answered our questions.

How did the two of you get together? 

I was working on a record called Jewell Ridge Girl when we met. The producer took me to Billy’s recording studio in Maryland. Billy heard my songs and my singing style, I heard him play and sing harmonies, and that was the end of Life A, as we say, and the beginning of Life B. In just a few months, we turned everything upside down to start this duo. A year later, we moved to Nashville and we’ve been living the life of a true love duo ever since. That’s been just over five years now.

Click here to read more.

Tea Time Anytime Tour 

Well, the time has come for us to put on our wings and fly over the ocean to Great Britain! How that giant hunk of metal is going to carry our luggage and instruments, plus everyone else's things is a wonder to us. God bless the riveter!

We'll be playing a whole bunch up in Yorkshire - home of some of the kindest folks on this planet - and we're thrilled to be making a stop in Birmingham, home of The Moody Blues. I remember when I was kid imagining all of those Knights in White Satin and wondering how they kept their satin clean walking through dirty Medieval towns and riding sweaty horses. Imagine my disappointment when I learned it wasn't "Knights" but "Nights."

Click here to read the rest of our June newsletter.

 Longing No More!

We are so very happy to announce that our new CD, Longing for Heaven is now available at the trusty and independent musician friendly CD BABY! Yippee! Break out the tofu and broccoli! Pass round the carrot juice!

We'd be delighted if you'd head over there and overwhelm them with orders . . . And, while you're at, it you can also pick up a copy of Sweet & Toxic, The Extra Sweet Edition. This is the re-release of our first EP, with three new bonus tracks including the never before released song "Coronation Day." The new version of this EP has a booklet with all the lyrics and alternate takes of "Sweet & Toxic" and "If the Gun's Not Loaded." Sweet indeed!

 

 

Well, dear friends, I'm not sure how this monthly newsletter became a quarterly newsletter, except to say we certainly have been as busy as we could be this first part of 2010!  How is everyone out there? Hope you're doing well and doing a snow dance. Spring sure has been slow in coming this year, and this sunny day in Nashville certainly has us getting springtime notions.

Billy and I are heading down to Austin for SXSW. We are especially looking forward to the film part of the conference where we get to see scads of films that never seem to show up in the regular cineplex. After that, we'll be touring our sox off all over the USA, UK, and even heading up to teach in Ontario, Canada. Didn't the Canadians just knock you out with the Olympics? What a fine job! We'll be on the road from the end of March until mid-November, so please come out and say howdy.

We started this year off finishing up three CD projects. (Note to selves - never do this again!) January was supposed to be our time off! Oops! Right now we have in our sticky little hands (I just made cupcakes) our new EP, Pretty Fair Miss. Folks, this CD has a whole story of it's own, so look down below this letter for the scoop on the Great Fabric Exchange to learn more.

At Easter, we will be bringing out our shiny new CD, Longing for Heaven, a collection of original and traditional songs. You all have heard many of these songs at our concerts and we just wanted to get them down for those of you who have been asking for them. Plus there are a few new songs. We recorded most of the CD at a little cabin in the dead of winter 2008/2009 in Western NC. The rest were tracked with the fine folks at Bias Studios in VA.

Click here to read more of the January, February, March newsletter.

This year Jeni & Billy will be touring in the USA, Canada, and the UK with a new record, Longing for Heaven, duo out at Easter! As part of the tour we are giving away a three song CD, Pretty Fair Miss, to any audience member who brings Jeni a piece of fabric.

From Jeni's blog:

What, you ask, will I be doing with this fabric?  Well, I'll be carrying on the work of three generations of women in my family by making a Trip Around the World Quilt.  In November, Billy and I will be heading to the John C. Campbell Folk School, where he will study woodworking and I will study with the famous North Carolina quilter Georgia Bonesteel.  So, every piece of fabric we collect will become a part of a quilt that will remind me and Billy of all of the kind people we have met and the beautiful places we have visited in 2010.  You’ll also find me hand quilting a Single Girl Quilt and hand piecing a Floating Stars Quilt on tour.

Won’t you come along and be part of our scrapbook?

To Learn More about the Fabric Exchange vist Jeni's Site www.thelittleyellowsewingbox.com

What better way to repay all of the wonderful mentors and teachers that have inspired and encouraged us than to pass it on!  It is with tremendous excitement that we announce that Jeni & Billy will be teaching at The Woods Music & Dance Camp in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada in August of 2010!  After hearing "there is a town in North Ontario" growing up and thinking of it as some magical place, I can hardly believe that next year Billy and I will be setting foot on that hallowed ground! More details to come next spring.  The camp runs August 11-15 and we can't wait!!!

Thanks to all of you who came out to our shows, bought our CDs, encouraged us in every little and big way and helped to make 2009 a brilliant year for Jeni & Billy!

We are playing two shows in North Carolina with John McCutcheon this weekend and one in Arkansas next week. After Thanksgiving, we are leaving off touring until mid-January to finish up our new CD, "Longing for Heaven", and to rehearse all the new songs for our 2010 tour.

Our 2010 tour will take us back to the UK for May & June, out to California for our first full West Coast Tour in September & October, and up to Canada in August for our first teaching camp at the Woods Music and Dance camp in Muskoka, Ontario.

One of the most thrilling dates of our year will be Merlefest in North Wilkesboro, NC, in April.  Merlefest was one of the greatest influences in my (Jeni's) journey as a songwriter -- exposing me to the powerful voices and songs of Polecat Creek, the sophistication of Gillian Welch, the raw emotion of Ginny Hawker, and the all out enthusiasm of the Avett Brothers.  It was the first live music event that I wanted to share with Billy and has been a wellspring for us both!  We are still pinching ourselves to be chosen as performers!

As Billy and I reflect on this past year, we are especially thankful that our songs about coal have brought us together with coal miners and the Union that stands by them.  As a global community we are faced with many difficult decisions and a long road ahead in making smart choices about where we get our energy.  But as long as coal miners are going down in that hole so that we can light our theaters and perfomance halls and string power to microphones that get our voices to the back of the room, we are determined to make sure their job is a safe one and that they and their families have proper healthcare.

God bless you all during the Holiday season and in the new year.  Thank you for your stories, your kindness, and your beautiful spirits,

Jeni & Billy

Well folks, we made it home to Nashville after ten glorious days in Los Angeles!  It was hard to leave the tree-lined streets of Pasadena, the endless produce section at Whole Foods, MyVegan Restaurant, the Cinerama, Amoeba Music, and all things Marilyn Monroe, but somehow we consoled ourselves with visions of our two month tour out West in 2010!

There is just not sufficient room in this newsletter to extend all of the thanks that we want to send to everyone who hugged us, encouraged us, and gave us directions in California!  We felt so much at home we began to wonder if we'd only write songs about fruit, freeways, and Freebo when we got home to Nashville.  But our first song on our return turned out to be a sweet lullaby written on our new-old Martin Ukulele that we got at Westwood Music in LA and a toy xylophone piano we picked up back in 2007 in Galax, VA, while taking a break from the fiddler's convention.

If you happen to live on the left coast or have friends blessed to be planted there, please by all means let us know if there is a venue near you that is calling our name or, better yet, write our trusty and kind agent, Josh Dunson of Real People's Music.

Here's a great new video of Longing for Heaven, a traditional shape note lyric and melody that Billy arranged for two voices. We hope to have this one on our new CD.

We are thrilled to announce that Jeni & Billy have been chosen as Performance Alley Showcase artists for the 2010 22nd International Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis, TN!

If you looked carefully at our upcoming tour dates above you might have noticed that we are going to be in sunny California in November! That's right -- the home of Disneyland, Marilyn Monroe's Star, and the FAR-West Conference. We'll be showcasing all weekend and (yikes!) part of a panel on Appalachian music.
If you have some friends in LA who need to hear Jeni & Billy send them to the Coffee Gallery Backstage on November 10!

We are heading back out on tour for a few weeks and we are really looking forward to being back up in Billy's hometown of Baltimore, MD!


We'll be tracking at Bias Studios in VA where we cut several tracks for our debut EP, Sweet & Toxic.

And on Saturday, October 17, at 7:30 pm we'll be playing a Soup & Song House Concert at the home of Charlie and Marilyn Bernhardt in Laurel, MD! The concert will be recorded live! So come on out, be part of our audience, make some noise. Black (as coal) Bean Soup for everyone! For directions please contact Charlie at soupandsong@earthlink.net

This Wednesday we will have the honor of playing for Cecil Roberts' Inauguration as UMWA President. Mr. Roberts is the longest running UMWA President since fiery John L. Lewis. Here (http://minewar.blogspot.com/2009/04/centralia-mine-disaster.html) is a stirring clip of John L. Lewis testifying before Congress after the Centralia (IL) mine disaster, which took the lives of 111 miners.

Mr. Roberts, too, is a fiery speaker and a tireless advocate for miner's rights, especially for mine safety. Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uqiX_EKekA) he speaks at the Inauguration of AFL-CIO President, Richard L. Trumka, also a former coal miner. Roberts' admiration for his predecessor and mentor, John L., is unmistakable.

Billy and I are just past the one year mark since we officially released Jewell Ridge Coal. We can hardly imagine a more fitting way to celebrate the anniversary of our tribute to the small Southwest Virginia coal mining community I called home as a child. We are humbled that President Roberts invited us to attend his inauguration and to share our music there! Goosebumps all over! I wish my great-grandfathers Avery and Sutherland could be there to see it!

We are thrilled to announce that Jeni & Billy are now represented exclusively in the UK by Kelly Foley at ADASTRA. Kelly is a lovely person whose family is plagued by a seagull named Egbert. Egbert has gone as far as stealing their phone off their back deck and depositing it days later on the roof of their neighbor's garage!

We are touring the UK from May 5 through June 22, 2010 and would be thrilled if you would contact Kelly for venue and festival recommendations. If you would like to host us for a house concert please let Kelly know and we will be delighted too!

Kelly Foley: kelly.foley@adastra-music.co.uk
ADASTRA: http://www.adastra-music.co.uk/html/101_artistInfo.php?id=130

We've just spent a great weekend sharing our music at Bristol Rhythm & Roots, one of our favorite festivals! Thanks to all of the folks who came out to see us and who shared their stories of the coalfields and the Carter family with us!

Billy and I are very excited about the gigs we have this week and wanted to send out a short message just to say we hope to see you there! We're heading from the Birthplace of Country Music to my birthplace, Richlands, VA. On Tuesday night we'll be giving a concert sponsored by the Citizens for the Arts. 7 pm at the Middle School.

On Thursday, Sept. 24, we'll be heading to Charlotte, NC, a city I frequented as a student at Davidson College. We'll be in fine sweetheart duo form at the lovely Evening Muse.

On Saturday, Sept. 26, we head over to Wilkesboro, NC, to play a set at Carolina in the Fall. For a few numbers we'll have the pleasure of the Kruger Brothers' company!!! A whole new "Chicken Ridge" will be created on the spot with a banjo duet played by Billy and Jens Kruger.

We are doing a bunch of traveling from now through November, so please check our calendar and come out and see us!

On the Road Again!
This weekend we're looking forward to seeing our Tarheel State fans at Summer on the Porch, a beautiful series put on by the Rooster's Wife in Aberdeen, NC. Next Friday we'll be at Music on the Square in beautiful Jonesborough, TN, Storytelling Capitol of the World. We have just added the Fox Valley Festival in IL and the Mountaineer Folk Festival in Fall Creek Falls, TN, both in September. Also in September -- Bristol Rhythm & Roots, one of our favorite festivals!

We will be traveling out to California in late October. We are booking dates on a northern route to CA in October and a southern route home to Nashville in November. Anyone interested in hosting a house concert along these routes, please get in touch, or if you have a venue suggestion, please let us know!

Thanks to all of the folks who came out to see us in July & August in Maryland, Virginia, New York, Vermont & Maine. We are planning a Northeast tour next July & August and we welcome your ideas!

We are doing a bunch of traveling from now through November, so please check our calendar and come out and see us!

Yesterday we were honored to share our music at the unveiling of the Tri-Cities Miners' Memorial in Cumberland, KY. Stella Morris, who lost her husband, Bud, to a mining accident, raised the money to install a beautiful memorial at the mouth of the Tri-Cities Miners Memorial Highway.
For us, the highlight of the service, was a rousing speech given by UMWA President Cecil Roberts. Mr. Roberts reminded us that since coal mining began in the USA, 200,000 miners have died from mine accidents or black lung and that in any other US industry that number of fatalities would foment public outcry. US Citizens and Congress would not stand for 200,000 dying on the job at Walmart.

Yes, it's a dangerous job, but we had no Mine Safety Act in this country until 1969 after the Farmington, WV, mine explosion took the lives of 78 miners. In the 25 years preceeding Farmington, 12,000 miners died in accidents. In the 25 years following Farmington, 3,000 miners were killed. Those 78 miners in Farmington -- whom Mr. Roberts called heroes -- and the 1969 Act saved 9,000 miners' lives.

Mine Safety is not an issue to be debated among politicians or coal bosses, it is a life or death matter and deserves our advocacy 100%.

"A sweet and surprising high point [of the Beverley Folk Festival] was the Appalachian duo Jeni Hankins and Billy Kemp. Singing songs from the Southwest Virginia coal mines, the pair melted hearts with songs like Tazewell Beauty Queen and Back Then, a heartbreaking tale of tragic love. Jeni Hankins' smile-infused Mother Maybelle voice was . . . perfect."

- Hazel Davis
Maverick Magazine

We mentioned in our last newsletter that we would be heading over to the UK and Ireland in June & July. Well, we've been over and back and feel like we found a second home over there. We want to thank everyone in Yorkshire, Cumbria, Northern Wales, and Ireland who made us feel so welcome! We thoroughly enjoyed every place we played.



One highlight was meeting a lovely singer named Fiona who had sung "Tazewell Beauty Queen" at her local folk club the week before she met us at Beverley Folk Festival! What a compliment! As vegans, we were certainly challenged by the abundance of dairy, but were rescued by the Marks & Spencer ready-made salads at the Moto stops on the M's.

Billy quickly adapted to driving on the left and our Sat-Nav made the going easier, but the A-roads made Chicken Ridge look like an interstate. Speaking of Chicken Ridge, while in the UK, we were asked to play for the Sydney Smith School in Hull and had the pleasure of singing it with about 200 school kids!

We are returning to the UK and Ireland in May & June of next year, so we welcome suggestions for venues, festivals, and folk clubs. We also love to do house concerts and would love to hear from those interested in hosting one!

Also, if you have any photos of us from our visit, we would love to see them and add them to our scrapbook. See you in 2010!

A special thanks to Chris & Sue, Barbara, Harvey & Thelma, Gill & John, Laura & Kelly & Chris W, Dave, Bill, Peter, Richard, Hedley & Lynne, and Nigel in the UK. And to Michael, Barry, Niall, Sandy, Charlie, and Ralph in Ireland & Northern Ireland.

We're back and full of gratitude and wonder for the beautiful people and places all so welcoming in the UK and Ireland.
Gigs coming up right away and then a writing retreat in Maine, so we'll be getting together a new newsletter at the beginning of August.
Hope to see you at the Champlain Valley Folk Festival the first weekend in August!
www.cvfest.org

In recent years it's been practically considered a given that the writing of coal-mining songs is a thing of the past, but lo and behold, along comes an album of new songs related to, or inspired by, the coal-mining lifestyle. Jeni Hankins is the granddaughter of coal miners, so she is well steeped in the tradition. Her mournful vocals compare favorably with other Appalachian old-time folks singers . . . the accompaniment is always very spare, and the performances are never rushed . . . Jewell Ridge Coal is a very worthy addition to a genre that may not be so antiquated after all.
- Paul-Emile Comeau
Dirty Linen

You may have noticed a slight change of continent on our tour schedule above! That's right, we are heading to the land of tea & rain, pints & pixies, Beatrix Potter & many non-vegan breakfast options!
Are England & Wales too far to travel to see Jeni & Billy, not for Maryland fan Al Goldstein who may find himself on a plane to the North Wales Bluegrass Festival if he can eliminate all of the Welsh consonants in his flight path! Honestly we are as thrilled as can be to bring our music to the UK. If you know any folks over there, we hope you'll encourage them to seek us out!

Thanks to some family photos, a little Flip camera, and the magic of iMovie, we have entered the world of YouTube!
Jeni's Dad put together a lovely slideshow using the photos from MawMaw Smith's Stride Rite Shoebox for our song "Tazewell Beauty Queen."
We caught a few of the performances from our May tour and they are collected in a short film on YouTube as well. Hope you enjoy them!
http://www.youtube.com/user/jeniandbilly

We just returned to Nashville from a 21 day tour that started in Kirksville, MO and ended in Annapolis, MD! We fell in love with a new town, Kirksville, MO, signed with a wonderful agent, Josh Dunson, in Chicago, picked up our home on wheels, Little Grey, from the Airstream hospital, made a mini-world tour of one of the loveliest places on Earth, Central Virginia, where we ate way too many Bodo's bagels, and topped it off by enjoying our very own dressing room with bathroom & dining room at The Ram's Head! Heady times indeed!

Thanks especially to all of the wonderful folks who made us welcome as John McCutcheon's opener in VA & as Bill Frisell's opener in MD. And thanks also to all of you who came to see us in our own right. We'll be back in Central VA on March 27, 2010 at the Richmond Folk Music Society and in MD this coming July 12 at the Columbia Lakefront Festival.