Jenny Owen Youngs

Country of origin:

U.S.

Type of music generally:

Alternative folk/rock

Status:

Most recent release, Batten the Hatches (2007)

See also:

Jenny Owen Youngs's site

Jenny Owen Youngs's MySpace page

Comparisons:

Erin McKeown, touches of Thea Gilmore and Liz Phair

Covers/own material:

Own

General comments:

New Jersey-ite Jenny Owen Youngs is an avowed fan of Erin McKeown and is basically like a version of Erin if she grew up listening to Liz Phair. (paul2k@aol.com)

Comments about live performance:

Jenny Owen Youngs was fantastic. This woman is one of those own-the-stage people. She had good stories, talked while tuning (United Airlines broke her "good" guitar). She's funny, sassy, snarky and yes, has the songs to back it up. I saw her last year and had a few reservations about her musically, but no more. (3/24/07, shrub@mac.com)

Recommended first album:

Batten the Hatches

Recordings:

Batten the Hatches

Batten the Hatches

Release info:

2007—Nettwerk—0 6700 30648 2 8

Availability:

Wide

Ecto priority:

Highly recommended

Group members:

Jenny Owen Youngs—acoustic guitar, bass, banjo, voice

Guest artists:

Adam Christgau—drums, shaker, kick, coffee cans, floor tom, tambourine, voice
Cicero Jones—organ, French horn
Andrew Platt—upright bass, bass, bells
Bess Rogers—flute, voice
Dan Romer—electric guitar, Rhodes, synth, programming, footstomp, bass, voice, all arrangements
Hawk—viola, voice
Patrick Petty—cello
Bob Pycior—violin
Andrew Futral—synth; arrangement assistance (3, 5); arrangement, programming, additional instruments and "aahs" on "Woodcut (The Age of Rockets remix)"
Chris Hembree—piano
Jon Samson—digital kittens
James Cucinotta—bass clarinet
Tim Petrochko—violin
Wil Farr—electric guitar
Oscar Chabebe—tabla
Ronen Codor—harmonium, arrangements on "Keys Out Lights On"
Jordan McLean—flugelhorn

Produced by:

Dan Romer (additional production on "Keys Out Lights On" by Ronen Codor)

Comments:

Funny, funky, jangly folk/pop/rock fusion, musically upbeat, though often with dark lyrics. Nettwerk's reissue of Jenny Owen Youngs' 2005 debut is a winner. (The albums are the same except the 2007 version adds "Drinking Song" and omits the "Fuck Was I" child-friendly radio edit.) I can't describe it much better than the All-Music Guide which says she "sounds like an entirely successful fusion of Liz Phair's perceptive and brashly funny lyrics and the orchestrated folk-pop of Regina Spektor and Erin McKeown, with just a hint of Nellie McKay's jazzy cabaret leanings and Cat Power's throaty, confessional angst." (JoAnn Whetsell)

Thanks to JoAnn Whetsell for work on this entry.

	Y Kant Tori Read
	Gabriel Yacoub
	Yaz (see Yazoo)
	Yazoo
	Kathleen Yearwood
	Bird York
	Kristeen Young
	Young Marble Giants
	Jenny Owen Youngs
	Lindsey Yung