FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2015
JENNELL TO RELEASE HOME ON AUGUST 28th
EP mixes rootsy stomp of folk music with hooks and harmonies of pop
Nashville-based singer/songwriter Jennell is set to release her latest EP, Home, on August 28, 2015. A five-song EP that mixes the rootsy stomp of folk music with the hooks and harmonies of pop, Home was recorded in Nashville and produced by Dewey Boyd Jr. at the Forty-One-Fifteen recording studio. It’s a record about traveling across the country in search of a new home, chasing dreams, and experiencing a roller-coaster’s worth of ups and downs along the way. The driving percussion and gang vocals might evoke comparisons to the Lumineers and Mumford & Sons, but Home doesn’t really sound like them. It sounds like Jennell.
“I am so excited about the new album,” says Jennell. “I am more excited about this than anything I have ever done. I worked so hard on this project and was involved in every detail of making the EP, that no matter what happens, I will be proud of it. It is honest and from the heart… it is my story.”
Years before she moved to Nashville with an acoustic guitar and a catalog of melody-driven indie pop/folk songs, Jennell spent her childhood in Casper, Wyoming, where she had dreams of becoming a singer. Performances with her high school and college choirs whet her appetite for more. Jennell packed her bags and left for Los Angeles, kickstarting a musical career that’s earned her comparisons to Sheryl Crow, Colbie Caillat and KT Tunstall.
While taking grad school classes at the University of Southern California, she also began writing poetry, playing the guitar, and writing her own songs. Working with producer Dan Diaz, she wrote and recorded her debut EP, The Game, which received a boost in popularity after several songs wound their way onto cable TV shows (“Giuliana and Bill,” “E! True Hollywood Story”). After producers Patrick Bolton and Will Luke heard her sing, they hired her as a backup singer, with Jennell going on to sing harmonies for Atlantic Records recording artist Hope and Disney Channel star Roshon Fegan. Meanwhile, she continued pursuing her solo career.
After releasing Urban Cowboy and Boots N Dukes, two EPs heavily influenced by country music, Jennell decided to move to Nashville in March 2014. “Moving to Nashville was one of the best decisions I have made,” Jennell says. “I don’t regret living in LA, because I have so many great memories and it was a great learning experience, but Nashville is where I belong. Nashville has a touch of Wyoming’s small town charm, mixed with the excitement and entertainment industry of Los Angeles. It’s a perfect blend and great place for me to grow as an artist.”
Oddly enough, once she arrived in the capital of country music, she began writing songs that reached beyond the genre’s borders. Home, her first release as a Nashville resident, is her most wide-ranging collection of music to date.
“The last song on the EP, ‘Feels Like Home,’ is a perfect way for me to end the EP, because, for the first time in my life, I finally feel like I am exactly where I am supposed to be,” Jennell says. “I have worked extremely hard this past year, soul searching, writing and finding my voice as an artist and I feel ‘home.’”