Jeff Klein

All Music Guide:

With a haunting muse that at times recalls Jay Farrar or Jon Dee Graham, upstate New York native Jeff Klein made his way to Austin, TX, to make his mark. The singer/songwriter's critically acclaimed 2000 debut You'll Never Get to Heaven if You Break My Heart prompted CMJ Magazine to list him as one of five "Must-See Austin Acts."

Born and raised in Newburgh, NY, Klein found early inspiration in his older brothers' Replacements, Nick Drake, Clash, and Dinosaur Jr. records. By 15, he was writing his own songs and at 18, he moved to Boston to attend the prestigious Berklee School of Music. After his abbreviated stay at Berklee, he moved to New Paltz, NY, a college town near Woodstock, where he developed a strong regional fan base and sold more than 3,000 copies of a self-released EP. In 1999, he made the move to the songwriters' mecca of Austin, TX, finding friends and allies in such local vets as Jon Dee Graham, Will Sexton, and Alejandro Escovedo. After the critical acclaim of his 2000 album, Klein set to work on Everybody Loves a Winner, which was produced by Nashville songwriter and alternative country star Matthew Ryan. The effort featured guest appearances by Jon Dee Graham and Patty Griffin, the latter of which happened to be Klein's landlord at the time. He followed it up with Hustler in 2005.

Wikipedia:

Jeffrey Lawrence "Jeff" Klein is an American singer/songwriter from Newburgh, New York, who plays keyboards and guitar. He has released three critically acclaimed albums.

Biography

At the age of 18, Klein moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music. In 1999, he moved to Austin, Texas and released his first album, You'll Never Get to Heaven If You Break My Heart. Signing to influential records label One Little Indian, Klein released two more albums, Everybody Loves a Winner, featuring Patty Griffin, Matthew Ryan, Jon Dee Graham and Johnny Goudie, in 2002, and The Hustler, which features Ani Difranco and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum as guests in 2005.,

He has also worked with Ani DiFranco and The Twilight Singers, and as of 2008 is touring with The Gutter Twins as keyboardist. He has been described as "Tom Waits snagged on a barbedwire fence." and as having a "smoky voice (with a) bruised world-weariness".

Klein is also a main member of the collective My Jerusalem, along with fellow Gutter Twins musicians Cully Symington and Dave Rosser.

Along with a history of collaborating with Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan, Klein has toured or guested as a member of bands such as The Honorary Title, Stars of Track and Field, Ed Harcourt,and Statistics (band)