Klein draws positives from prevailing winds of change

Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

With eleven studio albums and a career spanning more than two decades to her name, Jess Klein has long been at the heart of the folk-Americana scene.  The New York singer-songwriter’s music has always been personal and introspective and her latest record, Back to My Green, delves willingly into the turbulence that has dominated her life in recent years. That being said, with its rich folk instrumentation and eternally optimistic lyricism, the album retains a positive atmosphere throughout.

Having recently announced her April-May UK and Ireland tour, Klein is set to play two Galway dates in the coming month.

In support of Back to My Green, she will perform in Mullarkey’s Bar, Clifden, on Thursday, May 9, and in Campbell’s Tavern, Cloughanover, on Friday, May 10. Such intimate venues should prove to be ideal locations in which to share Back to My Green with live audiences.

Alongside the running folk, the new album contains elements of Motown and 1970s rock. Klein moves from rounder, full-band tracks like Gates of Hell to stripped back acoustic songs like New Thanksgiving Feast but both musical approaches seem focused on telling stories.

In fact, those variations in sound reflect some of the changes Klein has experienced in the last couple of years. 2016 saw a move from her long-time home of Austin, Texas to join new husband, and fellow singer-songwriter, Mike June in North Carolina.

“We relocated in May 2016, and it was a huge change,” the artist recalls. “I had several major personal changes between the release of my last album, Learning Faith, and this one. I fell in love, got married, moved across the country to a town I’d never been to. Then the election happened, and all the upheaval that came with that.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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