|
 Jennie
McAvoy’s music combines the magic of the traditional ballad
singer with the intimacy of the folk-chanteuse. Her
voice—she’s a trained mezzo-soprano—is at once angelic and
wise. It floats above the current of a rock-solid, deftly
fingerpicked acoustic guitar (think Joan Baez or Elizabeth Cotton)
on either her vintage Martin or her handmade Nickerson.
Two-time
Valley Advocate Reader’s Poll Winner (for Best Female Vocalist)
Janet Ryan says: "Jennie McAvoy’s voice has an ethereal
quality that makes you feel as if she herself lived through the
joy and sadness in the musical tales she weaves." Fred
Momaney, of the St. James Coffeehouse, who has booked Jennie on
many occasions, says: "Not only does Jennie have the voice of
an angel, but she builds an almost immediate rapport with her
audience that makes her a perennial favorite." Her winning
stage presence makes members of the audience feel as if the song
she is singing is for them individually.
McAvoy
has an impeccable ear for collecting songs—and an uncanny knack
for making them her own. Her vast repertoire spans decades—even
centuries—and finally, at the encouragement of her many fans and
friends, she has recorded eleven of her best and favorite songs.
The resulting CD, So Long On The Flood, is an eloquent
collection of traditional and not-so-traditional folk songs. Songs
from such artists as Kate Rusby, John Renbourn, Naimh Parsons,
Mary Black, and Van Morrison, to name but a few. So Long On The
Flood features McAvoy’s voice and guitar surrounded by the
lush acoustic guitar and octave mandolin playing of Brooks
Williams, and the sonorous cello of Phil Helzer. It is an eloquent
and intimate recording.
McAvoy
was born in New York City, raised in the Hudson River Valley, and
now makes Deerfield, Massachusetts, her home. Her interests in
music have always been two-fold. There’s the classical side: her
years playing cello, singing and playing in an Early Music group,
singing in the Collegium Musicum (while a student at Oberlin
College). Currently, she sings with the Pioneer Valley Symphony
Chorus and the PVS Chorus Chamber Singers. She also sang in the
2004 World Premier of the opera The Captivation of Eunice
Williams.
The
other side, though, is the traditional folk side. She picked up
the acoustic guitar in her mid-teens and immediately began
learning and playing songs from the traditional folk songbook.
(She even studied fiddle with Eileen Ivers.) At Oberlin, she
performed her first gigs at the Cat In The Cream Coffeehouse and
played guitar in the college's production of Spoon River
Anthology. (The production was recorded and the sound track
was released in January 1982. It includes an original song by
McAvoy, which she reluctantly admits she has forgotten how to
play!)
In
recent years Jennie McAvoy divides her time between
folk-traditional gigs, classical choral concerts, teaching ESL to
middle school students. She has performed at The Turning Point in
Piermont, NY, St. James Coffeehouse, Energy Park, Artspace, and
The Turning Stone Coffeehouse. She has opened for Mary Black, Greg
Brown, the late and great Vassar Clements, Brooks Williams, Lui
Collins, Richie Havens, The Persuasions, Levon Helm and Livingston
Taylor. She is also an avid supporter of the arts, serving on the
board of Artspace (the Community Music and Arts School in
Greenfield Massachusetts), as well as being a member of the Coop
Concerts (a Greenfield Musicians' Cooperative). |
