16-Year Old New Zealander With Real Country Songs – Mature, Poignant & Powerful Voice

Someone has to explain to me how a teenage girl can have powerful vocals, insightful and intelligent worldly lyrics, sensitive melodies, can play the guitar and is an attractive young woman — all at the same time? 

Jenny Mitchell is all those things. While many of the CD’s I’ve reviewed in the past have often delighted me this is the one that surprises me. Not that a young woman can’t do it – it’s how she did it. The first track teased me. Can this girl maintain this quality throughout an entire album? “Little Patch of Heaven” with its plaintive acoustic guitar is a relatively simple tune, but the way Jenny presents it – it becomes a rich, mellow and intimate experience. Seldom explored by today’s country female artists without touching the edges of cliché and being frivolous. I am intrigued.  

With track two “No More” Jenny is more penetrating and her band is compelling and tight. The banjo, dobro and mandolin work is disciplined and sweet on the ears while Jenny’s voice smokes. Is it polite to say “she sounds older than she is?”  I’m not sure – so let’s just say she sounds mature. That’s a more polite description. This song displays Jenny’s strong and vibrant voice in the best way the song can. She sounds like a seasoned pro. I could have accepted all of this easier if she was Loretta Lynn’s daughter or Reba McIntyre’s niece. But she isn’t and there was no information about who inspires Jenny. No hint pointing toward her musical heroes. Who she listened to as a little girl. But I do know this — she’s a natural. 

Jenny Mitchell is a delightful New Zealander who will – if she comes to Nashville or Austin – turn each town on it’s ear. Is she better than what those two town’s produce now? No, not better. Different, but in a faithful way. Jenny is, in a word, – more impressive than someone who is just merely talented. On “The Old Oak” album Jenny owns these songs.

There are no pick up trucks, big hair, horses, manure, boot stomping, beer and cigarettes. No, not with Jenny. Jenny focuses on mature subjects despite her um….age. She’s 16! Maybe 17 by the time this publishes. Yes, country music is no stranger to young female singers who are incredible — but, those were young ladies who were raised on it — in America. Brenda Lee, Tanya Tucker and LeAnn Rhimes may have even been younger – but, they did not write their own songs, play guitar and their songs — were their songs this intense?

Aside from her blossoming career — Jenny has a special relationship with her dad Ron Mitchell. No doubt he must also be the primary influence on her musical development. There’s an open letter to him on the lyric booklet and on the song –“This Guitar” Jenny duets with her dad. It’s a private peek and it sheds a little light on the kind of special person we are listening to. You hear the weight of the truth and emotion in every line between their voices.

On “Till My Baby’s Home,” Jenny’s voice changes. This is an upbeat track and sounds like producer T Bone Burnett could have been in charge – but, he wasn’t. The day Burnett hooks up with Ms. Mitchell — that will be something to hear. Meanwhile, this is first class country with exquisite retro-style back up vocals. The clever song’s melody itself is a train rolling down the tracks. Jenny’s voice is confident and delightful throughout – and despite her New Zealand address this lady has the twang and voice of pure American country.

“Darlin’”  is slow – with a melodic banjo supported by the trio of mandolin, acoustic guitar and fiddle. All the necessary ingredients to beguile a country audience. Every instrument is recorded well. The deep bass tones, the sliver of deep slinky electric guitar notes, and the groove — is priceless. Jenny goes deep in her vocal and it seduces your ears. She has a good understanding of inflection, phrasing and she pronounces words differently when she needs to emphasize what she means – Jenny’s high notes on the word “lonely” at the conclusion is filled with the angst that makes for a perfect country song.  

Jenny’s next track is her already classic — “The Old Oak.” It’s one of the best poignant songs I have ever heard. This is written well, sung beautifully and the musicians play with an intimacy that is deserving of the song. John Dodd on acoustic bass, John Egenes on banjo and Jenny herself on acoustic guitar – real sophisticated. The lyrics are so good coming from a teenage singer-songwriter, the melody sincere and respendent. If I were a record executive I’d sign this young lady on the basis of this song alone. This is country music elevated to artistic levels. Taylor Swift had four songs in the NZ I-Tunes top ten – but Jenny was #1 with this song that week. That’s an impressive debut. But American record executives and Nashville music shamans — well, they’re asleep zzzzzzz. Let’s hope they wake up soon.  

Nashville has a tsunami coming its way and she’s called Jenny Mitchell. 

“That’s My Proof,”  is a humorous, upbeat song on a serious subject. This is a bonafide country foot-stomper 100 proof. Pass the Old Crow whiskey and a strong cigar. The acoustic instrument interplay is tight and bright. Nice upright piano banging supports Jenny’s voice and conceals some sarcastic humor and has attitude — it’s because she’s a woman who has experience with personalities. “Found a new man he was great, Found out about him yesterday, Looked at my family tree, Turns out he was related to me…..You can’t trust anyone these days and that’s the truth….and, you can ask my aunt Suzanne, honey…That’s my proof.”  Brilliant.

“Falling,” is another slow ballad — sung with poignancy. These are subjects few — if any — female country singers today dare attempt. Jenny’s deep in the basement vocal is riveting. This is not your grandparents’ country and western twang, it’s not even today’s pop-oriented, stage filled with tight fit hot pants dancers with smoke machines via Taylor Swift. Instead, this is the real deal. Jenny has re-defined the lessons she has learned and has added some freshness to an authentic tradition of Americana-Roots-Country music. One listen will convince you that this young lady understands it, she gets it with no showboating. She understands what many of the pencil pushing pros in Austin, Nashville and New York don’t. “Falling,” is one powerful little tale and I am a sucker for an accordion at key moments to accentuate – and Jenny does this. If Dolly Parton had an opportunity to hear Jenny’s music, read her lyrics, Dolly would adopt her. This is an artist, a songwriter a Dolly Parton could relate to. What was that line John Wayne uttered in “True Grit,” when he and Glen Campbell were crossing the river and were watching the young and determined Kim Darby cross downstream on her pony? He said “damn….she reminds me of me.”  Yeah — Dolly Parton might say that about Jenny.   

“Mamma”  has circuitry. Back-up harmony vocals from Jenny’s younger siblings – Nicola and Meagan spirits this song. Why is this great? I had to stop writing to listen it. The vocal, music, arrangement and the very idea of assuring Mamma everything’s going be alright – is textbook perfect country music. Musicians on this support Jenny by laying down a first rate performance. These musicians have the voodoo, the mojo, the abracadabra that makes a song like this magical — and it is. The fiddle cries, the lap steel whines, Jenny’s vocals are fluid and have charm. It’s also – remarkably plain and broad-shouldered authentic. That’s the word. 

She’s already shot up the country charts in New Zealand and Jenny continues to be truly an exciting performer. She may be at the crossroads of country-folk-roots and Americana  but the manner in which Jenny performs, writes and projects her art – is as an enduring original and she keeps the showcase balanced. How can a woman like this not be embraced by the massive country audience that is America? She is exhilarating — not a poseur. Every step she takes in this genre of music solidifies the tradition of country music and she is doing it from New Zealand. Jenny follows in the ambitious and wonderful footsteps of New Zealand singer-songwriter Donna Dean as well, who gets even more marvelous with every new album.  

“Ain’t Coming Back,”  is Jenny in full throttle commercial overdrive. Boundless vocals – about as close to country-rock as Jenny will get on this LP. Splendid Phil Doublet guitar leads and Doug Wright piano. “Well I hoped you enjoyed your chances, ‘cause now I’m gone and I ain’t comin’ back.”  This is a well sung stinging, self-affirmation song.

The closer is a penetrating ballad: “Empty Promises.” Piano by Doug Wright, pedal steel by John Egenes and Marian Burns’ fiddle — this song is another winner. Ms. Mitchell’s voice is aptly suited to ballads – and her vocal note holding is exceptional. No screaming, no acrobatics, just skill. She holds notes in a classical style and she wrings out all the pain and frustration dramatically – as country music will and should – and ends it suddenly on the line: “…No, I’m not saying love ain’t real.”  As the listener – you’re momentarily startled. It’s over. Abruptly. This is the creativity I admire in a singer. An American country singer would wring out every drop…every note out of that ballad’s sponge and fade out. Instead, Jenny chose to just come to a dead stop. That jars a listener and gives you a moment to think. Much the same as the man Jenny is singing to and that in a sense is his reality…and her maturity.

New Zealand artists seem — at this time — to understand Americana / country music maybe even better than most in the American country music capitals. Maybe American artists have assumed too much and have drifted too far from the center of music town. I’m not bad-mouthing our own musicians or genre. Many of the studio musicians in Nashville and Austin are the best in the world but, they are studio musicians. There are also many independent artists who write and perform country and folk throughout this country and release everything on their own — and quite accomplished too. However, these artists are not in the elite country artist “club.”  They won’t appear on the CMT (Country Music Awards Show in USA), or any of the big audience late night network talk shows or music showcases. These excellent artists don’t wear the big hats, are not from the “beer for their horses group,”  they don’t have boots and spangles, spurs and saddles. If the song doesn’t have a pick-up truck in it, a roadhouse fight, a twang and hee-haw attitude, a beans and bacon reference or a hint of Taylor Swift pop music in it — it’s not today’s country.

Jenny Mitchell is not going to shovel manure to get that credibility.

Not going to  spread legs wide atop a big horse in tight blue-jeans for a thirty mile ride onto the prairie to make some tobacco chewing redneck appreciate her music. No. Not this Jenny. The artists I respect sing about country on subjects that are more real, about splendid strong hard-working people, about things like old oak trees, dedicated mothers, beat-down weathered fathers, calloused hands and about not coming back, about having proof, worrying about a loved one, or a special guitar, losing something, singing about a little piece of heaven and….empty promises. That’s Jenny’s country. Pure country.  

I don’t hear this in today’s country. Instead, I tread through a “girl crush,” a “house party,” drinking sangria, crashing and burning, being young and crazy, losing my mind, little toy guns, John Deere tractors, Nuns with cleavage, drinking until you’re in a coma. Done to death subjects with inane, lame titles to songs. Not like Bobbie Gentry’s song “Ode to Billie Joe,” that had to be the most mysterious piece of country music ever written. The repetition in today’s songs is beyond a typical 1960’s pop structure. Instead, I hear a little of that Bobbie Gentry mystery and mystique that comes from a deep well of inspiration in Jenny Mitchell’s voice. Nothing artificial here. 

Jenny Mitchell is ambitious. She’s more motivated than the average country singer. She’s a performer and writer first and doesn’t care about the clichés of the industry. She is her own woman and thrives on the tradition that many of today’s artists – the commercial artists mind you – not those priceless independent artists who spill blood for their art – understand. She won’t compromise for cookie cutter songs. 

Jenny was at college one day and while in class burst into tears among her classmates because while she sat she sneaked a look at the New Zealand I-Tunes charts on her cell phone. Country mega-star Taylor Swift had four songs on the chart that day but Jenny Mitchell – Jenny Mitchell — was Number One on that same chart with her song “The Old Oak.”  Later, her album was also at the top of the list for album pre-orders. Jenny has since performed at the New Zealand Country Music Awards Show. Won the intermediate gospel, traditional and New Zealand composition awards the year before.  I listen to lots of music but I avoid bigger names, the more commercial music, because I would be brutal in my assessment. 

I don’t think these “famous” artists do the music justice anymore. They follow a map, a standard recipe. It’s like using a GPS everywhere you go with your car. If you never take a backroad — you will never see America. It’s safe to stay on the highway — go direct. But that’s not always the best way to reach your destination. I was a disc jockey decades ago and often played the “hits.” Some times I would stick an independent record into the mix. And the phone would ring. Who is that you’re playing? Where can I find it? Never heard of them but, they’re great.  And today? Today, just visit comments on YouTube to find those same people “discovering” all the alternatives. Just recently, I read one on a YouTube site for singer-songwriter Chris Rea. The poster said they discovered him this year and can’t stop listening to him. Chris Rea? He’s been around since the early 70’s and someone discovered him now….that’s remarkable. 

Jenny Mitchell is quite exceptional. She doesn’t deserve to be discovered more than forty years from now. She deserves to be listened to now. 

Ms. Mitchell delivers a solid set of tunes on her album “The Old Oak,”  that I can find no fault with. I can offer no criticism or suggestions (that’s a rarity). Jenny’s technical people and musicians are some of the best and she is indeed in good hands. She has the passion and exemplifies what makes this music special. She may be a teardrop in the ocean today, but Jenny Mitchell will, eventually, make a big splash. She at least deserves the chance.

Besides, look at the big smile of hers in that photograph above…..how could you not like her? 

Her CD cover was designed by Graeme Woller and it’s a full-color 3-panel die-cut fold out with full-color lyric book with credits. Recorded in New Zealand and Produced by John Egenes

Photography: Image of Jenny Mitchell with guitar in red dress appeared in Southland Times

Portraits in blue dress & white blouse: Each by Stephanie Renee Photography / Other photos from Internet

Website:      http://www.jennymitchell.co.nz/

FaceBook:   https://www.facebook.com/jennymitchellmusic

Bandcamp:  https://jennymitchell.bandcamp.com/releases

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this review / commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of No Depression. All photography is owned by the respective photographers and is their copyrighted image; credited where photographer’s name was known & being used here solely as reference and will be removed on request.

John Apice / No Depression / August 2015