Jean Spencer
Jean Spencer is a well respected Athens songwriter who has quietly been putting out great collections of songs for the last 10 years. Long compared to singer Bonnie Raitt and songwriter Lucinda Williams, "Where the Pavement Ends" is her first cd and she takes advantage of some gifted local musicians (William Tonks from Barbara Cue on dobro, Michael Steele from the Randall Bramlett Band on mandolin, guitar, and bass, and Susan Staley from the Solstice Sisters on harmonies) to showcase her recent work.
Jean started out with the rock band 28 Days, sharing songwriting duties with Melissa Selby and backed by drummer Mark Cooper Smith of the popular Squalls. Her sound has evolved into a more acoustic, vocally oriented one, but the songs remain strong, sincere, and well crafted. In 2001, Jean was a finalist in two songwriting competitions sponsored by the Georgia Music Industry Association.
She has appeared on "It's Friday," "Georgia Gazette," and "Songsmiths," an NPR series that also features such Georgia musicians Patterson Hood, Randall Bramlett, Nathan Shepard, Vic Chesnutt, and the Indigo Girls.
Jean is currently singing with the vocal trio Bluewing with Jenny Derevere and Amber Fetner.