Album Notes

Singer. Songwriter. Strummer. Stomper.
Once upon a time, Jes Raymond left the recital hall in Chapel Hill, NC, and she headed west on a Greyhound Bus with a guitar, a notebook, and a pair of hiking boots. When she reached the Rocky Mountains, the walking began. It went on for years, deep into Washington’s Olympics and North Cascades. And when she came back down, out of those mountains, what a song she had to sing.
Her debut studio album, "Even the Trees" was recorded with the help of the Jackstraw Productions Artist Support Program, and features many of Seattle’s finest instrumentalists. The arrangements form a spectrum from sparse banjo and guitar duets to dense ensembles of drums, bass, piano, clarinet, fiddle,guitar and dobro. The songs are crafted with the simplicity of a true poet’s intentions.
In addition to her solo songwriting career, Jes formed and tours with the old-time/bluegrass group The Blackberry Bushes Stringband who placed 2nd in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival band competition in 2009. She was awarded the 2009 Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs City Artist Award.
Jes Raymond knows well the dusty path between tradition and new illumination.