| John
Jennings' greatest asset is his knack for making other musicians sound good. A
long-time co-producer and member of Mary-Chapin
Carpenter's band, Jennings
has played acoustic, electric, slide, lap, steel and baritone guitars, synthesizers,
organ, piano and percussion, sung background vocals and/or produced albums for Carpenter, the Indigo Girls, John Gorka, the Rankin Family, Cheryl Wheeler, Janis Ian, Iris Dement, George Jones, Beausoleil, Robin
& Linda Williams, Bill Morrissey
and Auldridge,
Reid & Coleman. With the release of his debut solo album Buddy, Jennings has
successfully stepped into the limelight. Raised in Virginia, New Mexico and Washington,
D.C., Jennings
grew up listening to everything from classical music and big-band swing to country music
and rock & roll. Although he took piano and trumpet lessons as a youngster, he steered
towards the guitar after hearing the Beatles. His
performing debut came with a rock band in the sixth grade, and he continued to perform in
the 1970s with Bill Holland & Rent's Due and Big Yankee
Dollar, a group that mostly played his original songs.
While he concentrated on writing advertising jingles in the early 1980s, Jennings' musical
career took off after Bill Danoff (of
the Starland
Vocal Band) introduced him to Mary-Chapin
Carpenter. Performing together in the Washington, D.C. area, Jennings and Carpenter began
to garner attention. An album recorded to be sold at their shows was reissued by Columbia
Records as Carpenter's
1987 debut album, Hometown Girl.
Jennings took
a temporary hiatus from Carpenter's band
in 1993, and began work on his solo album; co-produced with Bob Dawson, Buddy, was completed three years later. Jennings has
remained one of Washington, D.C.'s most accomplished musicians and has received area music
awards (Wammies) as Producer of the Year (1987, 1989, 1991 and 1995), best folk/bluegrass
instrumentalist (1991), best folk/bluegrass male vocalist (1991), best contemporary
folk/Irish instrumentalist (1992), best contemporary folk/Irish male vocalist (1992) and
Video of the Year ("Everybody Loves Me," 1997). I Belong to You followed in 1998. — Craig Harris
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