Jennifer Kimball

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Jennifer Kimball
Oh Hear Us
(Epoisse)

As one half of the folk pop duo The Story (along with Jonatha Brooke), Jennifer Kimball recorded a pair of early-90's albums that still hold up. Kimball and Brooke's harmonies could give even the most indifferent listener goosebumps. While Brooke has had a somewhat more successful solo career, Kimball has only released two solo albums.

Kimball's eagerly anticipated second album, Oh Hear Us, released eight years after her solo debut, is a veritable who's who of the Boston folk scene, including Kris Delmhorst and Merrie Amsterburg. The talented Kimball is not a showy performer, and it took me three listens to finally connect wiht her subtle style. The 11 songs have faint country flair to them, brought forth via Duke Levine's lap steel and Sean Staples' mandolin. Kimball's musical gifts can be "heard" best on "Can't Climb Up," "Is He or Isn't He?," "When I was Lost," "East of Indiana," a cover of "Weap your Troubles in Dreams," and the dirge-like "Last Ride Home."