Here you’ll find bands and artists that you may not have heard of yet…but whom we think are going to make a name for themselves really soon ~ and you get to hear about them here, right before they make it big!

Solo: Kim Jennings
By Tine Roycroft

Singer/songwriter Kim Jennings released her first album, My Own True North, through Birch Beer Records in December of 2009. With grace in each vocal step, the album takes the listener on a powerful journey, one that stirs emotions tucked down deep in the soul since childhood and covered with the slapdash band-aids of a fast-paced ascent into adulthood.

Jennings’ guitar, her constant companion, and her sweet, gentle voice can create spaces for emotions ~ both beautiful and sorrowful ~ to flow freely. The song “You Left Me Too,” for example, cuts to the bone with realism, but heals with its intimacy and pure love. Jennings revealed that the song came from a collection of tragedies that had occurred in her own life.

“When I was in high school, one of the kids in my class committed suicide,” Jennings said. “Then after college, two of the women I lived with senior year committed suicide years apart from each other. That’s where that song really came from. A tribute to them. And I think we all, in those situations, wish that there was something more we could do.

“When I first wrote that song, I sat on it for a couple of months,” Jennings admitted, “because I couldn’t even get through it at home without crying. The first time I ever played it out, I had to ask myself if I could really do it. But it’s an important story to tell, it’s an important story to hear. I like to think I’m in that story.”

Jennings, now 36 and a Worcester resident, spent her childhood in Franklin, MA. She loved music and performance. Originally, she played the piano, but was looking for an instrument to accompany her easily from performance to performance, so she took up with the guitar. Jennings attended Harvard University for psychology, went on to attend WPI, found a delightful job as an IT director of a home healthcare company, and managed to grab a husband and have a child along the way. Music was always a great joy for her, but she was not giving it her full attention.

“It was actually my husband who said, ‘I think you’re avoiding music and I’m not sure why because it gives you so much,’” Jennings laughed.

At 34, with the loving support of her hubby, she began heading to weekly open mic nights and getting back into the game. Jennings found an understanding community of artists that further encouraged her in her goals. Not only was the musician now playing in front of live audiences to much acclaim, but Jennings and good friend Dan Cloutier took a giant leap forward and started their own music label, Birch Beer Records, which will be one of her main focuses in 2010.

“I’m really excited about the label and all we will be able to do with it,” Jennings exclaimed. “We really want to create an environment where we can help other musicians and collaborate and bring all of this great talent to light.”

For more information on Kim Jennings, go to www.kimjenningsmusic.com.

Band: The Neighbors
By Jillian Locke

“As I was packing up for Ralph’s, I found the insert for the first CD I recorded, and I had titled it East Coast Acoustic Sorrow. It was unabashedly emo ~ I was not ashamed, and was just going for it ~ that’s why I started playing and writing music,” vocalist/guitarist Tom Cadrin reminisced as we discussed the folk/emo/experimental outfit that is The Neighbors. On January 16th, the trio, including life-long friends Alex Rossiter (bassist/vocalist) and Dave Crepeault (drummer/vocalist), played Ralph’s Diner for the first time, pulling in the largest crowd and making their first appearance in Worcester a stellar success.

After dismantling their high school pop-punk band (“Didn’t everyone play in a pop-punk band in high school?” Cadrin mused) to pursue secondary education, the three have made their way back to each other to form the present day incarnation. Cadrin just graduated from St. Michael’s in VT with a degree in English, while Rossiter graduated from the Berkeley College of Music with a degree in Professional Music with a focus on bass guitar, and Crepeault graduated from the Sound Engineer Technology program at UMass Lowell. “We’re all students of music, so we definitely try to beef up the songs and make it more interesting to us.”

For Cadrin, who now lives in Grafton, that process started in VT. “I went to college and started listening to jazz ~ my goal for a while was to educate people about the intricacies of music and entertain those who already knew about it. I was experimenting with music and what a pop song could be.” The new sound they’re forging ahead with should give long-time fans new fodder to devour and brand new fans a fresh impression of the guys next door. “We’re headed in more of a ‘smart-pop’ direction. We’re really trying to focus on small parts of the music to make it more than a pop rock tune, but still retain those elements,” Cadrin explained.

The Neighbors are headed into Zing Studios in Westfield, MA at the end of the month to record their five track EP, entitled Sinner and a Liar, which is looking at an April release date.

Check myspace.com/weareyourneighors and facebook.com/pages/The-Neighbors/150457631484 for deets on the CD release show on April 15th at Harpers Ferry and show The Neighbors the faces of the people in their neighborhood!