Jenny Owen Youngs
Encyclopedia
Jenny Owen Youngs is an American
singer-songwriter
from Montclair, New Jersey
.
in elementary school
and the tuba
in junior high school. At 14, she began to play the guitar
. She graduated from State University of New York at Purchase
with a degree in studio composition.
Her album Batten the Hatches
was self-released in 2005. In 2006, a song from that album, "Fuck Was I", appeared in the second season premiere of Showtime's Weeds
, resulting in Batten the Hatches being re-released on April 10, 2007 with new artwork and an extra track ("Drinking Song") on the Canadian indie label Nettwerk
. "Fuck Was I" was also released on Weeds: Music from the Original Series, Vol. 2.
In addition to her solo career, she is in the band The Robot Explosion
, a side project with fellow musicians and friends Bess Rogers, Andrew Futral, and Saul Simon-MacWilliams. She also takes part in an online Podcast through Myspace with Bess Rogers and Andrew Futral, titled 'Once More With Feeling' (named after the musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer
).
Youngs recently toured with Vienna Teng
, opening for the singer on the Green Caravan Tour. Also, she supported Aimee Mann
at London's indigO2 on 27 July 2007. Youngs more recently toured with Glen Phillips
of Toad the Wet Sprocket
in August 2007, and with Sean Hayes
, with whom she co-headlined. She traveled to cities in Belgium
, Netherlands
, Norway
, and Sweden
in November and December 2007.
Youngs released her second album, Transmitter Failure
, on May 26, 2009. Youngs also supported Regina Spektor
in her 2009 tour promoting the album Far
.
She also collaborated with Xian Hawkins under the moniker Bell Horses, which resulted in the album This Loves Last Time (2009).
Youngs recently covered "Have You Forgotten" by Mark Kozelek
for American Laundromat Records
's upcoming charity CD "Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies" due out in Spring 2010. Tanya Donelly
, Dean & Britta, Say Hi, Julie Peel, Stars, The Real Tuesday Weld
, and others are contributing to the project which helps children with cancer and rare blood disorders.
In March 2010, Youngs toured with Bess Rogers and Allison Weiss on their 'Spring Break Forever Tour', after which she flew out to the United Kingdom
to support Motion City Soundtrack
on their tour, which took place in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. She headlined a show at "Monto Water Rats" in London in April 2010.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
from Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,977 people, 15,020 households, and 9,687 families residing in the township. The population density was 6,183.6 people per square mile . There were 15,531 housing units at an average density of 2,464.0 per square mile...
.
Music career
Youngs played the fluteFlute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
in elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
and the tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
in junior high school. At 14, she began to play the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
. She graduated from State University of New York at Purchase
State University of New York at Purchase
Purchase College, State University of New York, is a public four-year college located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York system...
with a degree in studio composition.
Her album Batten the Hatches
Batten the Hatches
Batten the Hatches is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs. Originally self-released in 2005 by Youngs, it was reissued with the bonus track "Drinking Song" two years later by the Nettwerk label....
was self-released in 2005. In 2006, a song from that album, "Fuck Was I", appeared in the second season premiere of Showtime's Weeds
Weeds (TV series)
Weeds is an American television comedy created by Jenji Kohan and produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television. The central character is Nancy Botwin , a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling marijuana to support her family after her husband dies suddenly of a...
, resulting in Batten the Hatches being re-released on April 10, 2007 with new artwork and an extra track ("Drinking Song") on the Canadian indie label Nettwerk
Nettwerk
The Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Management, Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk One Publishing, Nutone Records, and Artwerk. With over 150 employees, the Vancouver-based company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Boston, Nashville, and Hamburg...
. "Fuck Was I" was also released on Weeds: Music from the Original Series, Vol. 2.
In addition to her solo career, she is in the band The Robot Explosion
The Robot Explosion
The Robot Explosion is a recording-only musical project consisting of Jenny Owen Youngs, Bess Rogers, Andrew Futral, and Saul Simon-MacWilliams. The latter three are all also members of The Age of Rockets....
, a side project with fellow musicians and friends Bess Rogers, Andrew Futral, and Saul Simon-MacWilliams. She also takes part in an online Podcast through Myspace with Bess Rogers and Andrew Futral, titled 'Once More With Feeling' (named after the musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Once More, with Feeling (Buffy episode)
"Once More, with Feeling" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the fantasy television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the only one in the series performed as a musical...
).
Youngs recently toured with Vienna Teng
Vienna Teng
Cynthia Yih Shih , better known by her stage name Vienna Teng, is a Taiwanese American pianist and singer-songwriter based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Teng has released four studio albums: Waking Hour , Warm Strangers , Dreaming Through the Noise , and Inland Territory...
, opening for the singer on the Green Caravan Tour. Also, she supported Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...
at London's indigO2 on 27 July 2007. Youngs more recently toured with Glen Phillips
Glen Phillips
Glen Phillips is a songwriter, lyricist, singer and guitarist. He is best known as the singer and songwriter of 1990s alternative rock group Toad the Wet Sprocket.-Personal life:...
of Toad the Wet Sprocket
Toad the Wet Sprocket
Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986. The band consists of singer/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss. The band enjoyed chart success in the 1990s with the singles "Walk on the Ocean," "All I Want,"...
in August 2007, and with Sean Hayes
Sean Hayes (musician)
Sean Padrick Hayes is an American singer-songwriter.Hayes is a native of New York City, but raised in North Carolina. He began playing traditional American and Irish music with a band called the Boys of Bluehill...
, with whom she co-headlined. She traveled to cities in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
in November and December 2007.
Youngs released her second album, Transmitter Failure
Transmitter Failure
Transmitter Failure is the second album by American singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs. It was released May 26, 2009 by the Nettwerk label.-Track listing:-Performance:*Jenny Owen Youngs – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, bass, ukulele...
, on May 26, 2009. Youngs also supported Regina Spektor
Regina Spektor
Regina Ilyinichna Spektor is a Russian American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered in New York City's East Village.-Early life:...
in her 2009 tour promoting the album Far
Far (album)
iTunes bonus track version-Reception:Bevan of Spin writes that Spektor, in "The Calculation", "...purrs a scenario of love and hurt that plays out in the breakfast nook..." Powers of the LA Times states of "Eet" : "It's not just cute." Maerz of EW states of "Folding Chair" that she "literally sings...
.
She also collaborated with Xian Hawkins under the moniker Bell Horses, which resulted in the album This Loves Last Time (2009).
Youngs recently covered "Have You Forgotten" by Mark Kozelek
Mark Kozelek
Mark Kozelek is an American singer/songwriter Producer and frontman of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters.-History:...
for American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records is an indie label based in Mystic, CT.The label has produced several tribute albums, including Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES, Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young, and High School Reunion - A Tribute to Those Great 80's Films...
's upcoming charity CD "Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies" due out in Spring 2010. Tanya Donelly
Tanya Donelly
Tanya Donelly is an American Grammy-nominated singer songwriter and guitarist based in New England who co-founded Throwing Muses with her stepsister Kristin Hersh. She then went on to work in The Breeders and Belly in the 1990s...
, Dean & Britta, Say Hi, Julie Peel, Stars, The Real Tuesday Weld
The Real Tuesday Weld
The Real Tuesday Weld are a British band, fronted by lead singer and founder Stephen Coates. They are known for producing jazzy cabaret-style music with subtle electronica influences, a style dubbed "antique beat" by Coates. They have six albums, several singles and eps and many tracks on...
, and others are contributing to the project which helps children with cancer and rare blood disorders.
In March 2010, Youngs toured with Bess Rogers and Allison Weiss on their 'Spring Break Forever Tour', after which she flew out to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to support Motion City Soundtrack
Motion City Soundtrack
Motion City Soundtrack is an American rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 1997. The band consists of founding members Justin Pierre and Joshua Cain , along with keyboardist and moog synthesist Jesse Johnson, bassist and backing vocalist Matthew Taylor, and drummer, percussionist and...
on their tour, which took place in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. She headlined a show at "Monto Water Rats" in London in April 2010.
Albums
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Batten the Hatches Batten the Hatches Batten the Hatches is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs. Originally self-released in 2005 by Youngs, it was reissued with the bonus track "Drinking Song" two years later by the Nettwerk label....
|
| 2009 | Transmitter Failure Transmitter Failure Transmitter Failure is the second album by American singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs. It was released May 26, 2009 by the Nettwerk label.-Track listing:-Performance:*Jenny Owen Youngs – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, bass, ukulele... Nettwerk The Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Management, Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk One Publishing, Nutone Records, and Artwerk. With over 150 employees, the Vancouver-based company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Boston, Nashville, and Hamburg... |
Singles
- "Split" with Dave HouseDave HouseDave House is a singer/songwriter from South East England often likened to The Weakerthans, Billy Bragg & The Get Up Kids. He first started performing as a solo artist in 2003 after the breakup of his old band Lucky Thirteen. He was also the bassist in The Steal, and currently plays guitar in Pacer...
- UK vinyl only single released April 2007 Gravity DIP RecordsGravity DIP RecordsGravity DIP is an independent record label and music management team based in Kingston upon Thames, England. It evolved from a music collective which has promoted live shows by bands and club nights in Kingston upon Thames since 1994... - "Fuck Was I" UK single released May 2007 Nettwerk Music Group
- "Things We Don't Need Anymore" digital single released by Nettwerk Music Group
- "Great Big Plans" digital single released June 2011
EP
- The Take Off All Your Clothes EPThe Take Off All Your Clothes EPThe Take Off All Your Clothes EP is a EP by the American singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs.-Track listing:#"Fuck Was I " – 3:30#"Fuck Was I " – 6:45#"Hot in Herre" – 4:16#"From Here " – 2:23...
March 12, 2007 - Led to the Sea EP April 7, 2009
- Last Person EP March 23, 2010