"Jeni & Billy provide acoustic music lovingly dressed with graceful phrasing and old-time charm. It's soothing, relaxing, heartfelt, and richly steeped in the traditions of old-time country and bluegrass." Joe Tennis - Bristol Herald-Courier, Bristol, VA/TN
Acoustic duo Billy Hankins and Jeni Kemp will draw you into captivating narratives of heartache and hard living, of true life blues and unexpected grace. Images of coal & crowns, trash & trailers, and glass and gasoline recur, and Jesus and the Great Speckled Bird are never far off.
Click to Listen to samples of Jeni and Billy's Music on their website
Jeni comes by her mournful, lonesome voice honestly. Born in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia (Tazewell County), her singing has been compared to that of Mother Maybelle Carter and Hazel Dickens. A born storyteller, she has been a writer almost since she could put pen to paper, a vocation inherited from her journalist father and grandfather. Jeni honed her powers of observation and turn of phrase as a student of Pulitzer Prize winning Northern Irish poet (and sometime rock lyricist) Paul Muldoon who with his typical brevity called Jeni & Billy's 2006 EP Sweet & Toxic "Great Stuff!!!"
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Billy comes to the duo with a long history of music-making. He has been everywhere from Germany to the Grand Ole Opry playing his guitar and singing. A Baltimore native, he was introduced to the world of country music through the fateful movie house experience of seeing Bonnie & Clyde. He loved the music of Flatt & Scruggs so much he went back just to listen fourteen times. He has played numerous bluegrass festivals sharing stages with Jim & Jesse and Jimmy Martin. Billy has also performed solo at nationally known venues such as the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, the Lonestar Cafe in New York, the Kennedy Center and the Birchmere, opening for Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Kathy Mattea, Janis Ian, and Joe Ely among others. He has leant his talents to the shows of many folk luminaries including Oscar Brand, Christine Lavin, and Tom Paxton, as well as producing and touring with Debi Smith.
Visit Jeni and Billy's website at www.jeniandbilly.com .