The Baker's Dozen #44 Jennifer Crook

With the release of 'The Broken Road Back Home' in late 2022, Jennifer Crook received some of the best reviews of her career, with Folking claiming it as "One of the year's best albums". Jennifer is no stranger to good reviews, and a high bar had been set with The Telegraph, Mark Radcliffe and Fatea Magazine praising her previous work. ’The Broken Road Back Home’ is a lovely record with a timeless quality that should appeal to anyone who appreciates good songs and a finely crafted album with excellent musicianship. The album recently received a limited edition vinyl pressing, so it seemed like the ideal time to catch up with Jennifer to learn a little more, and, unsurprisingly, we found her in the recording studio.

1. What is your earliest musical memory?

Being about 3 and making up songs loudly in the back of my grandparents camper van and being told to shut up so they could read the map! Grandad couldn’t read a note of music, but he loved playing boogie-woogie piano at Christmas or strumming his mandolin. Mum taught music but soon decided it would be better if someone else gave me piano lessons. I remember singing my heart out at ‘playgroup’ and the sheer exuberance of all us kids belting out “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”. There’s something so joyful about the complete lack of self-consciousness at that young age.

2. Do you remember the name of your first band?

I had a band in my mid-twenties and we spent a lot of time trying to come up with a name. Usually in the pub. We were melding folk, bluegrass and Irish trad with new songs. It would probably be classed as Americana now. Realising we needed to get on with rehearsing we gave up discussing the name problem and decided to use our surnames. ‘Crook, Sears and Harrison’ unfortunately sounded like a firm of solicitors. Then when the drummer joined it got ridiculous, so we decided to use just His surname and called ourselves Madigan. An odd decision now I look back on it!

3. Which current artist do you find the most impressive and why?

Brandi Carlisle is an incredible force of nature and her vocal on ‘The Joke’ still blows me away. I was very impressed by Alison Russell when I saw her earlier this year - she seemed like an open channel for the music coming through her. These women inspire me because they are true to themselves and seem to be tapped into something greater than themselves too. I’ve always adored Mary Chapin Carpenter for the depth and wisdom in her songs, likewise Ron Sexsmith. Songwriter heaven.

4. Do you sit down to actually try to write songs or wait until inspiration strikes?

Mostly when it strikes, certainly with initial ideas and sometimes with whole songs. It’s when I know I have to get them finished I make myself sit down and write! I have tons of voice memos and notebooks - even if it’s only 5 minutes here and there - I try and capture the inspiration as soon as possible. Finishing songs to my satisfaction is a different matter. For this album I took myself off for a week and stayed at a local farm. It was in the height of the pandemic and I needed some distance from the news and everyone else just to be with the creative process. It’s a bit like sculpting to get to the ‘angel in the marble’ as Michelangelo is claimed to have said. I can circle around a gnarly lyric for days and then - boom - it lands and that’s a wonderful feeling.

5. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?

I’d tell her it’s ok to play different instruments and have lots of musical obsessions. There was an idea put into my head that I needed to excel in one area to be a real musician and focus on that. In fact, to be a producer or arrange songs and make records what I was doing naturally from the get-go is exactly what is required. You draw upon everything, every influence and musical experience. When I left school there was nowhere to go and learn how to be a songwriter so I did a degree in Performance Arts. I was the one in the practice rooms making up songs on the piano no-one heard. For years I kept most of my songwriting to myself because it seemed so exposing and risky. I’d tell her to find others with the same passions and not look for validation in the wrong places.

6. You're stuck in a lift with your musical hero (living or dead) and they ask you to play them something - who is it, what do you play and why?

I used to have a fantasy that I’d be visiting Montreal and find myself in a cafe sitting next to Leonard Cohen. I’d play him ‘Paris Burned’ as it is by far the darkest song on the album, thoroughly miserable in fact, aside from the beauty in the images. It’s also 6 minutes long so would use up more of that time stuck in the lift! I really dug into refining the lyrics “Chained and tortured by the past, the holy rose you failed to grasp, blinded by the smoke and dust, you drank from that poison cup” Most of them came quite quickly but I struggled with finishing this song - and equally with leaving it undone. It wouldn’t leave me alone until I finished it. So I did. It would be fascinating to discuss the lyric-writing process with him.

7. On the road, do you have any pre-show rituals/superstitions?

I’m usually trying to make sure my hair isn’t going to get in my eyes! Seriously though, just the rituals of pre-gig preparations do the job. I might do a few vocal things in the car, or a few yoga stretches if there’s space. By the time soundcheck has happened, I’ve written the set list, had a bit of food, got changed and the audience is arriving I’m usually itching to get on stage. Sometimes, if for some reason I feel nervous, I remind myself that it’s not about me, it’s about the music and how blessed I am to be in a position to share it.

8. Should music be free?

No. If we changed the way society is put together, then maybe yes. Creators and artists need to be recompensed for their work and true value given to it. A good life, for me, doesn’t need a ton of money, but money is what we currently deal in so it is necessary. If I could spend my life making music and writing songs and all my basic living requirements are covered, that’s a good life. Producing records and shows to a high standard is very costly and it all takes masses of time, skill and experience. That needs to be reflected in the value given to art of all kinds.

9. Can you remember the first record you bought and what have you bought recently?

I can remember the second single I ever bought - it was the Band Aid single which was recorded by Stuart Bruce who co-produced The Broken Road Back Home with me. The first was far less cool, I think it was ‘Hello’ by Lionel Richie.  I’m lucky in that I have talented friends who release albums on CD so mostly I get given them. As a child I used to listen to old singles on a red toy record player - Johnny Cash, The Everly Brothers etc. Now that I’ve got a proper turntable I can buy some records again.

10. What was the last song that made you cry actual tears? 

Hmmm. It was a while back but when Miranda Sykes (Show of Hands) sang Eilidh Patterson’s beautiful ‘When I Don’t Feel Like Singing Anymore’ during one of her lockdown shows. It really got to me. I’d sent the song to Miranda after meeting Eilidh at the Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival some years ago because I thought it would suit her. I was having a really tough time and all our gigs were cancelled, and there was my dear friend going through chemo, singing for us anyway.

11. In the digital age, we have more music and video at our fingertips than ever before.  Do you have any guilty pleasures or recommendations in film or TV?

I don’t have a TV and I’m very picky if I do watch something, but I currently have one guilty pleasure which is Nashville. A friend kept urging me to watch it and I realised how rare it is to see a series with characters living the music life (however dramatised it may be), especially with good female leads. They have well-researched details like the mics and studios used, and with T Bone Burnett on board the songs are good.

12. Your house is on fire.  You already have your loved ones slung over one shoulder and your guitar in one hand.  With your other hand you can rescue three CDs or LPs…What are they?

That’s a lot of other instruments going up in flames! But yes I would save my 1971 Gibson LG1. It’s a very special guitar and I can’t imagine being without it. That’s hard. This would be things that can’t be replaced yes? Carole Kings ‘Tapestry’ LP because it was my Mums and has been around since I was small. Shawn Colvin’s ‘Cover Girl’ which I played to death at a certain point, and a CD of a live gig in the 90’s with an alt. country band I was in called The Rainkings - for the memories of good times discovering great songs.

13. What is the most important thing to you that you can see from where you are right now?

 I’m actually at Real World Studios sitting in on the final mixes of my friend Brent Jones’s album and feeling lucky to be here. Stuart Bruce is mixing on the SSL desk in the good old-fashioned analogue way, and I was delighted to be asked to contribute some vocals. Brent sang a duet on my album during the pandemic and flew over from Canada a couple of weeks early to make it to my vinyl launch. That was the first time we performed Brand New Day together, live. We first met because he came to record here. So I’m looking around the Big Room and thinking about all the amazing music that has been created in this place, and watching the raindrops on the water outside. The most important thing is everything this room represents - music, creativity and the power of collaboration and friendship.

https://jennifercrook.com/

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Photo credit: Neville Farmer