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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    In the early days of the recording industry much of what we today call folk, country, and old-time music was called “hillbilly” music. That’s because the hills and hollows of Appalachia were a treasure trove raided by urbanized “song catchers” (academic collectors). Many of them mistakenly thought that all American folk songs and tunes were variants of British Isles imports. They soon learned that Appalachia was far more than music preserved in amber—the region also contained great original composers. And since those days, there have always been a number of women whose stars shined slightly brighter. In the (recorded) beginning there was Sarah (1898-1979) and Maybelle Carter (1909-1978) from Virginia. Slightly later those with recording machines came calling upon Kentuckians Aunt Molly Jackson (1880-1960) and her half sister Sarah Ogan Gunning (1910-1987). Still later we got Loretta Lynn (1932-) from Butcher Hollow, KY, June Carter (1929-2003) from Maces Spring, VA, and Jean Ritchie (1922-) from Viper, KY. So who are the heiresses to the Mountain Crown?

    If you find yourself in a discussion that doesn’t include Jeni Hankins of southwestern Virginia, walk away – it’s not worth your time. Hankins’ approach is often compared to that of Hazel Dickens (1925-2011) and aptly so. Though Hankins has a smoother, less nasal voice than Dickens, it has the same born-in-the-bone twang – the kind you don’t get by dressing up country and scouring songbooks. Hankins also grew up in the same contiguous coal mine region that spawned Dickens, and with the same sensibilities: an appreciation for the grace of ordinary people, mountain gospel music, support for miners’ unions, and a gift for finding beauty where less attuned people fail to see it. Think I’m kidding about that last point? In “Good,” a song co-written with her musical partner Billy Kemp, the duo muse on coal mining, Sears Roebuck, Hardshell Baptists, and banjos. The banjo wins: “And he played us a tune from the old country/and the hills, they rang with our song/God said it was good/and we knew that it was good.” Even more impressive is “McHenry Street, a song inspired when the duo spotted kids making banners from trash can castoffs in Kemp’s native Baltimore.

    Picnic in the Sky is filled with small moments that seem more sublime when stripped of glitter and hype. This time the band is bigger – David Jackson (bass, accordion), Denny Weston, Jr. (percussion), Dillon O’Brian (keyboards, vocals), Dave Way (claps, feet), David Keenan (steel guitar), and Craig Eastman (fiddles, fretwork), an old acquaintance of mine whose work I’ve admired for decades. We get a veritable potpourri: “The Robin & the Banjo,” Jeni’s wedding song reworking of “Froggy Went A-Courtin’;” “The Old Hotel,” an illicit love song; the dust-and-tedium-meets-dreams “The Mill Hurries On;” and gospel refracted through Jane Eyre on “Reckoning Day.” Remember Joe Hill’s “The Preacher and the Slave?” Check out this album’s title track, a gentler shade of caustic with yellow squash and biscuits substituting for Hill’s pie, but the same hard questions about a future “heavenly reward.” Call it “Good.” Call it authentic. Call me anytime Ms. Hankins is singing and Kemp is picking, flailing, and singing by her side.
    — Rob Weir, Sing Out

    Comes in a six panel eco-friendly wallet, designed by Jeni and her father, Greg Hankins, featuring photos of the Big Picnic Band. A large, fold out poster includes all lyrics and credits — plus images of knick-knacks from Jeni's collection.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Picnic in the Sky via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 26 Jeni Hankins releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of String Unraveller Demo May 2021, The American Dream (Harlis and Freda), Voice Memo Demo, I'm Letting Go of You – Kitchen Single, The Wondarium: Songs For Kids, A Body is a Delicate House, I Fell Into the Fire, The Loneliest Snowman, I Fell Into The Fire – Limited Edition Handprinted, and 18 more. , and , .

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about

Picnic in the Sky – Jeni dreamt this song, woke up in the night, and
wrote it down — an impressionist poem for her childhood in Southwest Virginia.

lyrics

Picnic in the Sky
by Jeni Hankins & Billy Kemp © 2013

I pulled up the milkweed, hid ‘neath the willow tree
from the church bell and the mystery
‘cause I did not understand
Christ Jesus’ victory and how that he loved me –
the tears and the tongues, the power in the blood.

Frozen dinners were a special treat,
listening to radio obituaries,
Great grandma hoed the yellow squash.
We listened while the women talked
and the voice said, “These are the Days of Our Lives.”
I wondered did they go to the picnic in the sky,
while I braided sister’s hair, watched the biscuits rise.
Oh, do this in remembrance of me.

The men washed their faces, removing the traces
of the local mining industry –
years of working underground
to get at the low seam, to pick out the old dream
of a house and some land, a heavenly reward.

The miner now a memory, in the same place as little me,
fussing with my dolly and singing
the old rugged cross,
listening to the women speak of patchwork and recipes –
the power in the blood, the power in the blood.

credits

from Picnic in the Sky, released May 30, 2014
Jeni Hankins: Vocals
Billy Kemp: Vocals & Guitars
Craig Eastman: Lap Steel, Slide Guitar, & Mandolin
David Jackson: Upright Bass
Denny Weston Jr: Drums
Dillon O’Brian: Organ & Harmony Vocal

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about

Jeni Hankins London, UK

Jeni Hankins grew up in the coalfields of Appalachian in Southwest Virginia among a family of miners, moonshiners, and journalists. Her writing pulls the grit, gumption, and keen sense of observation out of that heritage like drawing water from her grandmother’s well.

In every song, Jeni’s “true sense of place shines through – old as the hills, but brand new at the same time.”
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