Jen often plays solo, but for select shows she appears with her backing band 'Spare Change'. Spare Change is: Katie Grace on upright bass; Drew "Captain Midnite" Howard on Tele AND all those other instruments; Tahmineh Gueramy on fiddle. Jen is also one half of the duo 'Calamity Jane' with Laura Bates of Bates and Foote; on guitar and flute.
"Conductor Man" Live at the Scene Metrospace Folk Festival Jan. 2008
'Pay for what you get' @ the American Heritage Festival Sept. 2007
(filmed by Andy Balaskovitz)
Tomorrow Night @ the Creole Gallery Jan. 2007
(filmed by Bonnie Bucqueroux)
Influences
Greg Brown, Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch, Bonnie Raitt, Patty Griffin, Hayes Carll, Paul Simon, Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Waits, Julie London, Todd Snider, Lucinda Williams, Jolie Holland, Neil Young, Ryan Adams.... and my new hero (thanks to Captain Midnite) is Gene Sheldon!!! See video below...
A gifted vocalist and masterful songwriter, 2007 Detroit Music Award Nominee Jen Sygit has a golden ear and a deft touch on guitar. Her smooth, sultry voice brings just the right timbre to traditional ballads, acoustic blues, torch songs, country music or lighthearted folk tunes. To supplement her solid acoustic guitar playing, Jen often turns to her open back banjo or soprano ukulele performing mountain melodies and timeless jazz tunes further emphasizing her vocal dexterity. A countrified girl with a generous heart, Jen’s songwriting is personal and heartfelt, but always expressed with a universal appeal. Whether writing about the country roads of her childhood or about watching families send their sons and daughters off to war, Jen Sygit represents “the music of front porch America.”
Now, armed with her sophomore release Leaving Marshall St. (released on Earthwork Music in Sept. 2006) and four years of experience on the road, Jen has worked rooms both large and small. Available as a solo act or with her backing band “Spare Change”, Jen comfortably performs at house concerts, coffeehouses, theaters, festivals and concert series around her home state of Michigan and across the Midwest/ East Coast region. As host of the Tuesday Night Open Mic, a popular underground open mic held weekly at Dagwood Tavern in Lansing, MI, Jen has helped foster the rapidly growing community of musicians and songwriters located in and around mid-Michigan.
Thanks for adding Gregory Crockett! Incumbent judges are not all powerful. This November YOU have the power! -ELECT CROCKRTT- A positive change for our courts.
Just wanted to say hey. I caught you again at East Lansing's Moonlight Movie thing last Thursday. My daughter wanted to see the movie (again) and I wanted to see you again as we stumbled upon you there last year and I was impressed. =)
At the end of the concert in the park in St. Johns last Wednesday, they played Leaving Marshall St. over the sound system while folks were packing up and leaving, etc. I told them I loved their taste in CDs, and I wanted to sit and continue listening even though the live concert was over. :-) Heard the Spirit Of The Woods festival was awesome. Hope all is well. Should see you at the Ann St. Plaza show, if not before. Happy summer!
