Can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your musical journey and background?
I’m a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, recording artist living in Southern Oregon. I’ve just released my latest album called Plenty Of Nothin’ To Do and perform regularly as a solo artist, with my acoustic duo and with my 5-piece band – Jen Ambrose & The Mystics.
I started my musical journey when I joined the church choir just before I turned 5. Throughout grade school I learned flute, oboe and piano. I was one of those kids that would go to the band room during lunch to practice my instruments and spend hours at home learning songs. Music was my emotional rock. It helped me through early childhood depression that I still cope with as an adult. When I wasn’t playing music, I was a competitive gymnast. Music and gymnastics were my most precious passions.
In college I finally began learning guitar. I took a songwriting class and it stoked my dream of becoming a songwriter and performing my music.
My life took many paths before I became a full time musician. I studied Anthropology in college. I became a massage therapist and an herbalist and then I raised my family. Through each phase of my life, music and songwriting has been a mirror for my experiences.
I first started performing professionally with a classic rock band that also featured my original music. This morphed into my work with an 11-piece cover revue band where I performed everything from Country to Pop and Rock from the 40s through contemporary music. This group, called Sound Stage Revue, gave me exposure to a variety of musical styles that I draw from in my own songwriting. We were performing at large outdoor concerts and casino events. Our shows included a great horn section, backing female vocalists and costume changes between songs. We had a blast! This project really helped my hone my stage presence and my style as an entertainer.
I then joined a party dance band called Saucy that performed regularly at casinos and festivals as well as local taverns. With this project, I sang disco, uptempo pop and included some of my own material.
At the same time, I was also performing my solo, live-looping shows at regional wineries and festivals. I was just finishing up the recording of my latest album – Plenty Of Nothin’ To Do and making plans to begin releasing singles during the Summer of 2021, when we were all coping with a world with COVID.
That Summer, I was performing a lot of outdoor shows and the West Coast was consumed by blistering heat, intense wildfires and smoke. The hazardous smoke conditions ended up impacting my health and I developed vocal polyps that affected my singing voice. By late 2021, I was forced to cancel all upcoming shows, quit my bands and delay my album release with strict vocal rest. I was devastated.
I spent most of 2022 working with an Otolaryngologist (Ear, Nose, Throat specialist). Through lifestyle modifications, voice therapy sessions and guidance from my vocal coach – Ken Orsow (who is also my songwriting collaborator and producer), I started healing.
For much of that year I wasn’t singing, but performing as an instrumentalist including mandolin and percussion. I even did a couple shows in total silence. During this down time, I worked with my friend and talented videographer, Antonio Melendez with Heartisan Films. We put together a series of music videos in preparation for my upcoming album release.
It’s now the Summer of 2024 and I’m so thankful that my vocal cords are 99% healed — with no surgery! I’m grateful to be singing and performing again. I’ve been releasing songs from Plenty Of Nothin’ To Do and doing some really great show with Jen Ambrose & The Mystics.
The circuitous journey of my life, with all of its choices, experiences and healing, has taken me even deeper into my path and passion as a songwriter and as a performer of my music.
Who have been some of your biggest influences and how have they shaped your sound and style?
As a child, I loved learning classical music – especially on flute, oboe and piano. Then as a teenager, I became strongly influenced by the classic rock era of the late 60’s/early 70’s. The evocative and sometimes provocative performances of artists like Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, awakened my passion for music and inspired my inner muse. Interestingly, the more I listened to the music of that era, the more I came to appreciate that many of these artists drew their inspiration from the Blues and Jazz artists of the early mid 20th century – especially the women.
When I hear the voices of Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Big Mama Thornton, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, to name a few, I hear the poignancy of each woman’s life experiences. The words they sing and the way they sing their words has awakened my own voice – as a woman and as a person who strives to be honest and authentic in my art.
As I grew into my guitar playing and singing, Bonnie Raitt also has become a strong influence. Like the women earlier in music, she cultivates an honesty in her expression and performance that I strive for in my own music.
Can you share a specific artist or album that has had a significant impact on your Music?
Led Zeppelin. Zeppelin was my bridge to the Blues – its early American and African American influences led me back to artists like Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson.
I was in High School when I discovered Zeppelin II. The music on that album fed my inner angst and touched my soul in a way no other music had. Robert Plant’s vocals had a seductively haunting effect on me. His voice inspired my full-body experience of singing, especially when I first started performing. Despite their hard hitting rock, their blend of early American Blues, Celtic folk and Middle Eastern styles woven through their music influenced my own more experimental approach to song-writing.
What’s your creative process like when you’re composing or writing a new song?
The most important part of the my songwriting process is to create a safe space where I can allow be vulnerable and experimental and allow the ideas to unfold – regardless of how good or perfect they may or may not be.
Evening is one of my favorite times to write. The natural darkness of night helps create a more waking dreamscape that I like dive into for inspiration
Some songs come from my direct experiences – what I’m going through in the moment or emotions I’m trying to resolve from the past. It’s like journaling but with rhyme and rhythm and a melody that take me deeper into what I’m feeling.
Other songs are more experimental. Sometimes a word or phrase catches my attention. I like to see what ideas and emotions follow. Then, I experiment with different chords or riffs on my guitar or piano that help the images become more evocative, visceral, emotional.
At other times, I hear musical phrases in my mind and I pick up my guitar to find out where that music thread wants to go and what feelings they inspire – love, sadness, sensuality, longing…. Then the lyrics follow to give voice to the music.
Among all the songs you’ve created, do you have a personal favorite?
Hmmm. When I write a new song, it’s like falling in love. I’ve written quite a few songs through the years, so I guess I’ve fallen in love quite a few times. There are some songs that really stand out, but at this time, one of favorites is on the B-side of my new album. It’s called Familiar. It has an Americana feel. I wrote Familiar when we were all sheltering in place at the beginning of Covid. It speaks to reunion with people we love, to the strength of our connections amidst the uncertainty of not knowing when or if we will ever see one other again.
Let’s talk about your latest song. What’s the title and what’s the story or message behind it?
The latest song that I released from my album is called Rainy Day. It was co-written with my friend and vocal coach, Ken Orsow, during the early days of the Covid lockdown. Ken and I were meeting for our weekly “over the phone” writing session and it was a particularly rainy afternoon so this sparked the title and chorus of the song.
The original thought was that it would be a blues song about the rain and heartbreak and loss, but through the hours that Ken and I were bouncing ideas back and forth, the song evolved into the rain becoming a metaphor for loving and feeling embraced.
I drew from my memories of when I was living with my partner and our child n some remote and exquisitely beautiful places in the forests of Oregon. Rainy Day is inspired by those lush, green rainy mornings, the sound and smell of the rain falling on the cabin and my sweet-heart lying beside me. The song recalls those deep feelings of contentment and thankfulness for the love in my life and for being alive.
Share a memorable or unique experience from one of your live performances.
I have had some pretty memorable experiences through my years of performing, but I’m going to share a story of what happened a year ago.
Last July I was really excited to finally start releasing music from my current album. I had just pulled together my new band – Jen Ambrose & The Mystics, and we were getting ready for my album release party at StoneRiver Vineyards – it’s beautiful winery in the heart of Southern Oregon. After months of preparation, advertising, catering and lots of fans with tickets to attend, it was finally showtime!
Summer is typically hot and dry in this region, so I never even considered the possibility of rain, but there was a slight chance of rain in the forecast that night. This was an outdoor event so this made me made me a little bit nervous.
As we’re setting up the PA and unloading gear, the clouds start approaching in the distant hill – but still a ways away. Things looked pretty good for us so we decided to risk the weather and do the show.
The night was spectacular! During the performance, the hills around us had lightning and rain, but the heavens spared us. It was an incredible, natural light show full of rainbows and a spectacular sunset!
The evening was coming to a close with 2 songs to go. I planned on ending with the title track from my album – Plenty Of Nothin’ To Do right after a special cover by Bonnie Raitt. The sun had set and I was singing my heart out, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” as the wind dramatically started blowing my hair and making the lights shimmer and dance off of my white pant suit and my sequined black shirt. I felt at one with the power of the performance and the power of nature as I sing my long sustaining high note…
Then,
suddenly,
SHHHHHHHHHHHH SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
In the dim night beyond the stage, I hear people crying out in surprise! I see the shadows of people running!
The rains must have finally come, I thought, but no – that alarming noise – SHHHHHHHH – was actually the sound of the sprinklers!!!
Abruptly we stop playing. The water is splashing up onto the instruments, onto the PA, onto my albums and all over the audience!
Fortunately, somehow, plastic covering is placed over the sound system, the keyboards, the speakers and the instruments. Just as the audience is fleeing the sprinklers, lo and behold, the heavens opened wide and it starts to pour rain upon us all!
The show was clearly over, however I did not get do perform Plenty Of Nothin’ To Do – the title track from the album.
At least, I can honestly say, my album release made quite a splash! Lesson learned – perform the title track earlier in the show.
(Fortunately, no equipment, instruments nor humans were harmed in the making of this event…)
Beyond music do you have any hobbies or interests that you’re passionate about? How do they influence your music?
I just finished digging a 30ft. garden bed and my husband and I planted it with some starts I picked up from the Grower’s Market. I love being outdoors and I’m passionate about food – especially locally grown, organic food, and I care deeply about the environment. Doing things like taking walks in the woods, planting a garden or even clearing blackberry brambles and poison oak all feed my body and soul.
Many of the earliest songs I wrote were about nature and seeking to restore our balance with the natural world. It’s both timeless and every changing through the endless cycles of life and death and rebirth. Nature is poetry to my music. It evokes all my senses. I feel stronger physically, emotionally and mentally when I spend time in nature.
Is there a dream collaboration you’d like to pursue in the future?
Bonnie Raitt. It would be such an honor and dream to share in creating music with this artist who has inspired my own musicianship and has created such a profound legacy in music history.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians who are just starting their journey in the music industry?
Be authentic and remember how much you love your music. Sometimes there are obstacles along the way but other times opportunity. Be kind to yourself through the process and allow yourself to expand and grow.
Although the music industry can be really competitive, it is more about collaboration. The connections we make along the way – with other musicians, producers, venues, sound engineers and our fans – are at the heart of our work. No one is an island. It’s our work together that takes this music from our hearts out into the world. These relationships are part of the community that your music will create. Cherish them!
Can you give us a sneak peak into any upcoming projects or new music you have in the works? What can your fans and listeners look forward to from you in the near future?
In addition to performing with my band and as a solo artist, I’m writing new material and will be back in the studio this Summer! One song, titled Dolphins in the River, is almost ready for recording. I’m also working in creating relationships with supervisors sync opportunities in movies and shows.
For all you good folks at Vibe Vault, thank you for all your time and support of indie artists. It’s an honor to share some of my story with you and your audience.
Keep the Flame Alive!!!