BIOGRAPHY
Joe Jencks is an international touring performer, songwriter, entertainer, and educator. This year he is celebrating his 10th year touring full time at venues like Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, to coffee houses, festivals, spiritual communities, and educational institutions. His songs have traveled to every continent.
Jencks is noted for his unique merging of musical beauty, social consciousness, and spiritual exploration. Weaving a diverse web of stories with brilliant musical skill, he ensnares even the most rigid of hearts, inviting them to open. His songs invite us to live inside of our passions and our beliefs.
Jencks applies his conservatory training to a contemporary genre, and offers the listener the best of both worlds. Drawing on his Irish heritage (dual U.S./Irish Citizen), he uses his lush and lyrical voice to enchant, heal, and inspire. Jencks has won numerous songwriting awards and is also highly regarded as a song interpreter. Joe’s latest solo release, "Links In A Chain", highlights this aspect of his work.
"Links In A Chain" is Jencks’ 7th CD, his finest work to date, made it to the top of the Folk Charts in 2009. The recording features six new original compositions and six songs written by some of Jencks’ mentors and influences. Included are songs by folk legends Phil Ochs and Bob Gibson, as well as a vivid rendition of the American classic, Joe Hill. In his original compositions, Jencks explores a wide range of topics, including family history, staying in love, and a brand new piece in the Irish tradition called On Eireann’s Shore. This beautifully lilting love song genuinely honors his heritage, and sounds as if it could have been written a century ago. A Grammy winning team of engineers and supporting musicians contribute to make the recording an exceptional piece of work from start to finish. Guests include: Jon Carroll on keyboards, Pat Wictor on slide-guitars, Jim Robeson (Bass & recording engineer) and Charlie Pilzer (mixing and mastering engineer).
Jencks’ "The Candle And The Flame", gained international acclaim and made it to the top of the Folk charts in 2007. This recording combines many facets of his diverse musical background and weaves them all together in an aural tapestry that is warm and exquisite. Jencks has the passion of Gospel singer, the knowledge of a classical vocalist, and the soul of an Irish Tenor. And at the center of Jencks’ music is an abiding love for humanity that transcends the everyday and boarders on the mystical.
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