jennifer dorothea

This is where an artist usually tells the cool story of how they basically came into the world with musical notation threaded through their DNA. That is not me.

I don't know how to read music. I taught myself to play guitar in college, but it was just for me and I didn't impress myself. Before my first album, I think perhaps a total of two people could testify in court that I could actually play said instrument (not that they would say I played it well). I never sang when I played. I wasn't confident in my speaking voice, so never considered that bursting into verse would make for a good ego move.

Fast forward many years and I have two albums professionally recorded in an actual studio. Why? Because while I've always considered myself a writer, I didn't put words to music nor voice them until my best friend convinced me that doing so wasn't going to lead to therapy. In fact, perhaps it could serve as therapy for me and just maybe mean something to someone else.

So that's the story. I'm just a regular person who went to college to get a real job, went to grad school to get more letters after my name, and then realized that my DNA may actually have some music in it after all.