Biography
Hailing from the Detroit suburbs, Jen Cass came into the world already immersed in the sounds of Motown alongside folk and pop selections from her parents’ record shelves. Entering the early 1990s, she began composing original material and taking the stage across the metro Detroit folk and coffeehouse circuit. After moving to the Pacific Northwest, Cass issued her first album on her own imprint in 1996. Crafted alongside the Siberian surf rock outfit the Red Elvises, the warmly acoustic Brave Enough to Say sat stylistically between Shawn Colvin and Ani DiFranco. She spent the ensuing period traveling the country, offering copies of the record directly to audiences. The project eventually reached John Jennings, the producer and longtime collaborator with such figures as Mary Chapin Carpenter, the Indigo Girls, and John Gorka. Jennings assumed production duties for Cass’s follow-up and recruited fellow musicians from Carpenter’s ensemble to perform on it. The resulting Skies Burning Red reached listeners in January 2003.
Albums
