Maverick is a top-notch magazine with lots and lots of reviews of roots, folk, country, and bluegrass. They are based in the UK, but the slightly higher cost of a subscription in the US is well worth it.

Jeni & Billy recommended!

Click here to read their starred review of our new CD "Longing for Heaven."

Click here to read our interview in the Birmingham Mail.

Here's a bit of what Andrew Coleman wrote:

JENI Hankins and Billy Kemp, aka Jeni & Billy, draw on Appalachian roots music for their songs of miners, preachers, ramblers, lovers, and plain-living folks. They’ve struck a chord with UK music fans, prompting a second British tour, including a show at Kings Heath’s Kitchen Garden Cafe on Sunday. Jeni answered our questions.

How did the two of you get together? 

I was working on a record called Jewell Ridge Girl when we met. The producer took me to Billy’s recording studio in Maryland. Billy heard my songs and my singing style, I heard him play and sing harmonies, and that was the end of Life A, as we say, and the beginning of Life B. In just a few months, we turned everything upside down to start this duo. A year later, we moved to Nashville and we’ve been living the life of a true love duo ever since. That’s been just over five years now.

Click here to read more.

Tea Time Anytime Tour 

Well, the time has come for us to put on our wings and fly over the ocean to Great Britain! How that giant hunk of metal is going to carry our luggage and instruments, plus everyone else's things is a wonder to us. God bless the riveter!

We'll be playing a whole bunch up in Yorkshire - home of some of the kindest folks on this planet - and we're thrilled to be making a stop in Birmingham, home of The Moody Blues. I remember when I was kid imagining all of those Knights in White Satin and wondering how they kept their satin clean walking through dirty Medieval towns and riding sweaty horses. Imagine my disappointment when I learned it wasn't "Knights" but "Nights."

Click here to read the rest of our June newsletter.

 Longing No More!

We are so very happy to announce that our new CD, Longing for Heaven is now available at the trusty and independent musician friendly CD BABY! Yippee! Break out the tofu and broccoli! Pass round the carrot juice!

We'd be delighted if you'd head over there and overwhelm them with orders . . . And, while you're at, it you can also pick up a copy of Sweet & Toxic, The Extra Sweet Edition. This is the re-release of our first EP, with three new bonus tracks including the never before released song "Coronation Day." The new version of this EP has a booklet with all the lyrics and alternate takes of "Sweet & Toxic" and "If the Gun's Not Loaded." Sweet indeed!

Well, dear friends, I'm not sure how this monthly newsletter became a quarterly newsletter, except to say we certainly have been as busy as we could be this first part of 2010!  How is everyone out there? Hope you're doing well and doing a snow dance. Spring sure has been slow in coming this year, and this sunny day in Nashville certainly has us getting springtime notions.

Billy and I are heading down to Austin for SXSW. We are especially looking forward to the film part of the conference where we get to see scads of films that never seem to show up in the regular cineplex. After that, we'll be touring our sox off all over the USA, UK, and even heading up to teach in Ontario, Canada. Didn't the Canadians just knock you out with the Olympics? What a fine job! We'll be on the road from the end of March until mid-November, so please come out and say howdy.

We started this year off finishing up three CD projects. (Note to selves - never do this again!) January was supposed to be our time off! Oops! Right now we have in our sticky little hands (I just made cupcakes) our new EP, Pretty Fair Miss. Folks, this CD has a whole story of it's own, so look down below this letter for the scoop on the Great Fabric Exchange to learn more.

At Easter, we will be bringing out our shiny new CD, Longing for Heaven, a collection of original and traditional songs. You all have heard many of these songs at our concerts and we just wanted to get them down for those of you who have been asking for them. Plus there are a few new songs. We recorded most of the CD at a little cabin in the dead of winter 2008/2009 in Western NC. The rest were tracked with the fine folks at Bias Studios in VA.

Click here to read more of the January, February, March newsletter.

From Jeni's blog:

What, you ask, will I be doing with this fabric?  Well, I'll be carrying on the work of three generations of women in my family by making a Trip Around the World Quilt.  In November, Billy and I will be heading to the John C. Campbell Folk School, where he will study woodworking and I will study with the famous North Carolina quilter Georgia Bonesteel.  So, every piece of fabric we collect will become a part of a quilt that will remind me and Billy of all of the kind people we have met and the beautiful places we have visited in 2010.  You’ll also find me hand quilting a Single Girl Quilt and hand piecing a Floating Stars Quilt on tour.

Won’t you come along and be part of our scrapbook?

To Learn More about the Fabric Exchange vist Jeni's Site www.thelittleyellowsewingbox.com

As Billy and I reflect on this past year, we are especially thankful that our songs about coal have brought us together with coal miners and the Union that stands by them.  As a global community we are faced with many difficult decisions and a long road ahead in making smart choices about where we get our energy.  But as long as coal miners are going down in that hole so that we can light our theaters and perfomance halls and string power to microphones that get our voices to the back of the room, we are determined to make sure their job is a safe one and that they and their families have proper healthcare.

God bless you all during the Holiday season and in the new year.  Thank you for your stories, your kindness, and your beautiful spirits,

Jeni & Billy