All Together Now!, a new album from Boulder’s beloved folk/rock/blues singer-songwriter Jenn Cleary, offers children and families messages of connection, community, and caring for each other and our environment.
“For 14 years I ran a non-profit that I founded, which promoted innovative, locally sustainable health and economic sufficiency programs in Nepal, India, and Tibet. That was a beautiful time in my life, trying to make a difference in the world,” says Jenn Cleary. “Writing a children’s album is another way to deliver a positive message and impact kids, while bringing a smile to their faces! When I worked with children in developing countries, we couldn’t communicate through words, so we used the universal language of music to help bring us ‘all together.’ All Together Now! takes me full-circle in my passion to make a positive difference in children’s lives.”
Jenn Cleary has always included playful tunes in her repertoire of songs for adults, and All Together Now! blends full-on fun with messages of environmental and social consciousness for kids. Beginning with “Our Wild Family,” a danceable ecology number about caring for our environment, the songs on All Together Now! range from upbeat and sweet (“Bubbles,” “Dinosaur Friend”) to educational (“Clean Water”) to funky (“Scat’s the Word for That”). Among her many activities, Jenn Cleary is also a beekeeper, well-versed with interesting facts about bees! She couldn’t resist including “My Sisters and Me” in the album. It’s an engaging rockabilly tune about the life of the honeybee, which also happens to be a feminist anthem.
“All Kinds of Families,” the emotional center of the album, is about the different kinds of families in which kids can live. Jenn Cleary wrote the song with her adopted daughter, Dorje Dolma, who was initially raised by aunties, parents, and grandparents who were nomadic yak herders in Nepal. Dorje was in a Nepali children’s home before Jenn brought her to America for life-saving surgeries and subsequently adopted her. After college, Dorje went on to work in a preschool where she witnessed many different kinds of family situations. Dorje co-wrote the song “Families of All Kinds” with Jenn Cleary, and her artwork, “Healing Heart,” is featured on the All Together Now! album cover. She is the author of Yak Girl: Growing Up in the Remote Dolpo Region of Nepal, published in 2018 by Sentient Publications.
Jenn Cleary has twenty years’ experience performing on international stages. Highlights include Sundance Film Festivals, Colorado Rockies games, opening for Shemekia Copeland at Etown, and several European tours. Jenn was honored as a Telluride Blues Festival acoustic competition finalist and a Colorado Blues Society finalist for best self-produced album. She has studied with Livingston Taylor, Dr. Ysaye Barneswell (Sweet Honey in the Rock), Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul and Mary), David Wilcox, and many others. Noted for her range of song styles, Jenn performs bluesy acoustic solo shows as well as rockin’ shows with her full electric band.
Previous albums include Blues from the Heart (2018), Back to the Wheel (2010), and Breakin’ Loose (2006).
All Together Now! will be available on Amazon. CDs will also be available at Jenn Cleary’s live shows, through her website: www.jenncleary.com, and at brick-and-mortar stores through Super D distribution.
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