Friday, July 1, 2011

Artist: Jenny Whiteley, Album: Jenny Whiteley, Song: '75

"In the summer of '75, she was standing at the bottom of her daddy's drive.  Fifteen years old and running wild."  Jenny Whiteley is a singer songwriter from Toronto, Ontario.  Her father is blues and jazz musician, Chris Whiteley.  She started out in a bluegrass band called Heartbreak Hill with fellow singer songwriter, Dottie Cormier (see blog 1/26/11).  Their one and only recording in 1998 was actually nominated for a Juno.  Just before the band broke up, Jenny released her self titled debut in 2000.  It won Best Roots and Traditional Album Of The Year at the Junos the following year.  It also featured a little known back up singer named Amy Millan.  Amy would make a name for herself in later years as part of the band, Stars.  She would also release a solo album in 2006 called, Honey From The Tombs, which featured the Whiteley song, Baby I, from this same album.  This is one beautiful album that was recorded in Toronto with her brother Dan, father Chris and uncle Ken all contributing.  '75 is a song that closes out the disc and was penned in collaboration with Fred Eaglesmith (see blog 8/3/10) and Dottie Cormier.  Jenny would go on to win another Juno in 2005 for her sophomore release and has four albums to date.  She is signed to indie label, Black Hen Music, and you can follow her at http://www.jennywhiteley.com/.  You can hear the song, '75, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bObsmbxJi88).  This one particular release is very difficult to find today.  At the time of this blog, there were copies trading on Amazon between $65 and $125.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!