Biography

AMERICANA SINGER-SONGWRITER JENNY VAN WEST TO RELEASE
HAPPINESS TO BURN (APRIL 2018)
The Heavily-Anticipated Follow-Up to Her Award-Winning Album, Something Real Portland, ME February, 2018—Happiness to Burn will be Jenny Van West’s second fulllength album, following her 2015 release Something Real and 2016 EP, Honey and
Hive. Happiness to Burn consists of 10 vocally-driven originals that fuse folk, rock, swing and country – songs that Van West describes as “confessional fiction that connects introspection and
personal experience.” When it came time to make Van West’s new record, her long-time friend and musical collaborator Ed DesJardins recommended veteran singer-songwriter and producer, Shane
Alexander. Flying out to his Los Angeles studio, Buddhaland, last summer, Van West spent a week immersed in the music, living at the studio and recording every day. Alexander not only produced, sang, and played guitar on the album, but enlisted a dream team to bring Happiness to Burn to life: Jesse Siebenberg (Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real) on steel and dobro, Carl Byron (Jackson Browne) on piano, organ and accordion, Ted Russell Kamp (Shooter Jennings) on bass, Austin Beede (Grateful Shred, Todd Hannigan) on drums, Justine Bennett (Jacob Dylan, Adam Cohen) on vocals, and Grammy-winner Brian Yaskulka to mix. Recording at Buddhaland Studios also gave Van West access to a battery of vintage instruments to help create the album’s timeless sound. The experience resulted in a modern classic album that
showcases her sublime voice and songwriting. The title track “Happiness to Burn” kicks off the album with a jaunty arrangement featuring Carl Byron’s tinkling piano that feels like a long-lost
jazz standard. “Live in a New Way” was inspired by the protests in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray. “This song asks people to consider shifting their habits toward the common
good, paying off societal debts as the way to peaceful co-existence,” Van West points out. “The topic is heavy but I knew that in order to be effective it needed to be a fun song that I would
want to play over and over.” From the gospel feel of “Never Alone” to the front-porch-country of “Twenty-Seven Dollars” and moodier pieces like “Can’t Have You Now” and “Embers,” Van West’s voice remains the shining star of the record. Growing up near the banks of the Potomac River in Maryland, Van West lived all over New
England and the Pacific Northwest before settling in Portland, Maine in 2005. Although singing, writing, and playing guitar since her teen years, she took a break from writing and didn’t return until 2009. Since winning the Maine Songwriters Association Songwriting Contest in 2015, her career has continued to progress.
With several tours under her belt, Jenny has also dug into the musical community of her hometown, founding the Maine Immigrant Musical Instrument Project and the International Open Mic, which features a cross-cultural lineup of performers. After meeting a fellow musician and human rights activist from DR Congo who’d been forced to flee his home, she thought how hard it must be to start a life in a new country, and as a musician, how hard it would be without her guitar. Working on referral from others she has served, she finds instrument-deficient musicians (most are seeking asylum) and connects them with what they need. She describes her role, “I work with recent immigrants finding musical instruments, teaching basic guitar lessons, networking, developing venue access, and generally building community, with music at the core.” It’s that level of empathy that Van West brings to her music: a soothing yet riveting stage presence and a voice that engenders wisdom, compassion and love. Happiness to Burn will be released on April 20th, following Van West’s SXSW debut in March.