Jenny Van West
“As a singer she could easily succeed at any vocal style she pursued and would destroy (in a good way) the great American Songbook if she chose to.” (Charlie Ricci, Bloggerhythms) Portland, ME-based Americana artist, Jenny Van West’s critically-acclaimed April 2018 release Happiness To Burn, fuses folk, rock, swing, and country in this follow-up to her award-winning 2015 album, Something Real. Happiness to Burn spent three months on the EuroAmericana Chart, peaking at #7. Van West has also dug into the musical community of her hometown, founding the Maine Immigrant Musical Instrument Project, the International Open Mic, and the Women’s Singer-Songwriter-Composer Showcase. A soothing yet riveting stage presence with a voice that engenders depth, compassion, and love, Van West has the ability to write songs that sound like instant classics.
With a crystalline voice that has been characterized as “somewhere between Aimee Mann and Bonnie Raitt,” Americana artist Jenny Van West has just released her new album of original songs Happiness to Burn (April 2018) to international critical acclaim. For the new album, producer Shane Alexander assembled a dream team of LA’s top musicians: Jesse Siebenberg / lap steel, pedal steel, dobro, (Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real), Carl Byron (Jackson Browne), / piano, organ, accordion; Ted Russell Kamp (Shooter Jennings) / bass, Justine Bennett / vocals (Jacob Dylan, Adam Cohen), Austin Beede (Grateful Shred, Todd Hannigan) drums.
Winner of the 2015 Maine Songwriters Association songwriting contest (“Nellie”) and a finalist in 2017 (“Happiness to Burn”), Van West released her first album Something Real in 2015 and the EP Honey & Hive in 2016, both produced by Ed DesJardins in Readfield, Maine.