< Back to Index INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER KIMBALL-By Randy Cohen Jennifer Kimball's new CD "Veering from the Wave" distributed by Imaginary Road/Polygram reintroduces an artist - previously with Story, now going solo. With beautifully crafted songs, she creates a hybrid of pop and contemporary folk music by adding her distinctive soulful harmonies to the mix. To learn more about Jennifer, ACE had the pleasure of interviewing her at Berkely, California. ACE: You seem to be a romantic. A lot of your songs center on emotional love. Can you explain why this is the focus of your music? JENNIFER: I don't think there is a completely rational reason for this. I would say a couple of things. I have definitely been searching for emotional balance in my life and true love, again. I found the latter to be the true love. The former is a life long endeavor as is love. That is obvious from the other half of my songs. I am a romantic person and nostalgic, and I find that I enjoy letting that part of me show in a way that wasn't cool before. I don't have a really hard edge. I have edges definitely, but I like to look back. ACE: What song means the most to you? JENNIFER: Right now probably the "Revelations". It encapsulates so many feelings - here we are back at feelings again, that I was having during the last couple of years, since I quit "Story" in September, l994. ACE: What would you consider the driving force of leaving "Story" and going solo? JENNIFER: It was purely to extract myself from a very uncomfortable situation, painful, awkward, emotionally nauseating, and not creating anything. I had made myself into a zero. I was living a life where most people - whatever most people - fans, thought that I was half of a partnership. That's what it looked like visually, but it never was that - towards the end it was never that. It's hard to be seen that way and then it makes you feel even emptier. So I quit to quit - purely to quit. I had no designs on being solo. I hadn't written a song in l5 years. I didn't play instruments and I had not sung lead at all in Story. This is what I was up against. I quit - bye-bye, I'm going to be a graphic designer and I going to work on my marriage, which then failed. I'm going away from this life. I don't know what's going to happen. I take a step off the edge into nothing. It's a hard way to learn a lot about yourself in a hurry. It's taken me a couple of years, but I can't even tell you how much I learned from it. I wouldn't be talking to you if I hadn't quit and gone through all that. ACE: I think some of your fans would want to know what gives you that inner strength. You say you didn't know how to play any instruments. Did you at least play the piano when you were younger? JENNIFER: Well, that's an exaggeration, sorry. I did have piano when I was little and I had command of some classical piano pieces. My chops are bad, but I could play. I know what the chords are from studying music when I was a kid. More in classical world and I never sat down and learned pop songs at the piano. I never really learned any songs that weren't reading classical songs. I had a guitar in college. I could play a few songs. I even played at the beginning of Jonatha's and my music partnership - we both played the guitar and I tried to learn a couple of her songs so that we were both playing at the same time. And then I brought a keyboard and I brought a drum, and eventually it pared down to her one guitar basically and the two of our voices, and that was very compelling. ACE: Who influenced you to go solo? JENNIFER: I didn't quit to go solo, I didn't have goals, I wanted to write songs, I wanted to prove myself as a songwriter -- I didn't know any of that. I didn't think that I had it in me. It just wasn't an option. I was drawn out by a bunch of friends - particularly Patty Larkin, Carrie Newcomer, Catie Kurtis, and Lucy Kaplansky. They drew me out. I went on tour with Patty - she invited me the year after, in l995, to sing in her band. She did a national tour in a bus. She usually toured solo. She wanted me to do more than sing. She said could I play these parts that are really simple on the keyboard. I said okay sure - what have I got to lose and I played a lot of keyboard and played some tipals, a little guitar like instrument with three or four chords and I was part of her band in l995 and it was tremendously empowering and I give her a lot of credit for her shoving me out there and saying I need these parts can you do this - but in a very gracious way. ACE: What would you like to inspire in other would-be musicians? JENNIFER: If I had any goals, it would be to inspire other people to be creative - in any way - whatever it is, and to find it in themselves to find that creative voice. It is amazing to me that I found one. ACE: When you did the "Lilith Fair", did you do the whole tour? JENNIFER: I played two Lilith Fairs - in Milwaukee and Minneapolis. It was an amazing experience. ACE: Who did you play with? JENNIFER: Natalie Merchant, Lisa Lobe, Sarah McLaughlin, Paula Cole, and Joan Osborne who rocked my world. ACE: When you played the two Lilith Fairs, how did you feel playing in big amphitheaters? JENNIFER: Thump...It was inspiring. A couple of things happened. It was great to be part of such an well-organized festival and especially there is something about Sarah McLaughlin and her vibes. She radiates this calmness and courtesy and I would characterize the entire backstage as both those states. ACE: Your career is excelling really fast. It looks like your going somewhere. JENNIFER: Thank you. I hope so. I feel that the more I learn now, both musically and also about myself, and what I play and do, and my performance, and about music in general, the more I learn about all this stuff - the less I know and it is so exciting. I feel that there is so much to learn and I am just completely turned on by it. I could never have said that about any of the time I was in Story. It is some gift from somewhere that I have found - but it is also a gift. Find music at Amazon.com! < Back to Index News I Health I Wellness I Exercise I Profiles I Business I Links I Women ROCK! Product Review I To the Point I Contact I Home Created by: Art Street Design Studio. © Concerning Women Communications, Inc. all rights reserved.