New Record & September Tour, plus how it's all going . . . !

Finding my new melodeon in Berlin!

Jeni Hankins is an artist to believe in.

– Three Chords and the Truth

I am delighted with this first review of my new solo record from the man behind Three Chords and the Truth. Read more here. 

Now you can buy either an actual CD or a digital download of The Oxygen Girl directly from me, the girl who wrote the songs, here.

All sales of the physical CD come with a digital download of the album and the artwork. So, you can go ahead and listen while you wait for the record to arrive in the mail. 

I’ve just spent a week in Berlin where I saw an exhibit at the Brohan-Museum on Kissing in art. Here I am at the comment board where I left a kiss.

The gorgeous glass and steel addition to the Deutsches Historisches Museum housed a very clever exhibit on press photography. They mounted the photos and text on newsprint which scrolled from giant rolls of paper around steel drums throughout the exhibit space. Dad, Mom, and Grandaddy, the newspaper crew, would have loved the presentation. They also would have agreed that when freedom of the press gets quashed by political agendas no one is safe. So, speak up.

How are things with you all? I still get lovely notes from many of you and also people take me aside at concerts to ask how I’m doing. Thank you all. I truly appreciate your care. As I say in my new song “Hey, Dad,” “I’m trying to make my way. I’ve got friends here who all say, I’m doing alright.” 

I take more pleasure than ever in going over my repertoire in my room, messing around with a fiddle that my friend George let me borrow (thanks George!), trying not to let the melodeon get the better of me (that's the melodeon I found in a flea market in Germany at the top of this newsletter!), sewing things for my shows, and mooching around charity shops and carboot fairs (sort of like a flea market to my USA friends).

Here I am sewing with a little fan at a private festival I played in Norfolk back in July. I sing with this sewing machine in my show which has proved to be incredibly fun! See it here thanks to a fan who captured this performance in Beverley, Yorkshire. P.S. I am playing in Beverley on September 29th, if you missed the first show.

“We had things we wanted to do. Adventures – me and you.” Dad and I had lots of ideas about things we were going to do. We thought about going back into the court files and writing a book about the death of my great great grandfather. We thought about keeping bees again. And we thought about having our own letterpress business. We used to dream together about possibilities and making stuff. 

I am sorting out what of those things I’d like to do on my own, if any, or if there are some other adventures awaiting me. Mainly, right now, I am keeping my antenna up for new songs and stories.

I have been thankful over the last few months for the concerts, the time to share my new songs, and to enjoy your reactions. I’ve also written a few new songs that are popping up at shows, too. And I am looking forward to the concerts coming up this month in the UK, and in October & November in the USA. Most of the details are up on my website and I’ll be filling in more info soon! So, have a look and come along. 

I love what I do and I feel incredibly lucky to make art for my vocation. You all make that possible because you sing with me and you carry me along on your kindness!

THANK YOU. 

LOVE,

Jeni