Jess Klein

Native New Yorker Jess Klein was in college when she taught herself to play the guitar, using her father's old acoustic. She had already done a little singing and knew how to play the clarinet. In no time at all she was writing songs on her own and performing locally. With some time overseas, and then a move to Boston, MA, Klein turned her full attention toward her musical career. After performing enough to polish her natural skills, Klein recorded her first album, Wishes Well Disguised, in 1998. The debut was independently released and showcases tunes like "The Cloud Song," "Pressure," and "Favorite Shade of Blue." For 2000, Klein put together pop/rock and folk-mixed tracks like "Goodbye, Goodbye," "Little White Dove," "I Tried," and "Love Is Where You Find It," to complete a sophomore release titled Draw Them Near, breaking out under the Slow River Records label. Some of the artists who helped out on the recording were producer George Howard, mixer Paul Q. Kolderie, guitarist Will Kimbrough, drummer Ken Coomer, and bassist Brad Jones. Rykodisc, the influential independent label who distributed Klein's Slow River release, signed her to their main label for her next release, the more polished and accessible Strawberry Lover, which was released in 2005; another notable singer-songwriter from Boston, Marc Copely, served as producer and bandleader. In between recording, Klein spends endless time touring, having performed with popular acts like 10,000 Maniacs, Richard Shindell, and Jill Sobule.

from Wikipedia:

Jess Klein (born in 1974 in Rochester, New York) is an American singer/songwriter. A native of Rochester, NY, Klein picked up the acoustic guitar and started writing songs while living in Kingston, Jamaica in her late teens. On a whim, she auditioned for a guest slot at a local weekly dub poetry and music session. Upon hearing the first song Klein had written, the host Lady Elean Thomas declared "She have soul, mon." Klein returned home, moved to Boston, and began performing locally. After independently releasing her first two albums, winning the Telluride Troubador Songwriting Contest, and garnering several Boston Music Award nominations, she was signed to Rykodisc in 2000 by then-president George Howard. Her first release for Ryko, Draw Them Near [which received 3½ out of four stars from USA Today], launched Klein on a worldwide tour where she performed before 70,000 attendees at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. Returning to the U.S., Klein joined the songwriter collective Voices on the Verge, along with Erin McKeown, Rose Polenzani, and Beth Amsel. The foursome performed Klein's song 'Little White Dove' on Good Morning America. Klein's second solo effort for Ryko, Strawberry Lover, produced by RCA recording artist Marc Copely, debuted as the number 1 most added album at triple A radio a week before its release, was given four stars by MOJO, and received a plug from the nearly 80 million readership Parade. In 2005, Nerdcore Rapper MC Frontalot posted on his website a rap breakdown using the beat from the Jess Klein song "Soda Water." Klein's sixth album, City Garden [Five Stars, MOJO Magazine] caused the Boston Globe to describe her as "Quite simply one of the most gifted performers this area has produced."