Based in Arizona, JENNIFER SPECTOR is a 2004 National Finalist in the Troubadour Competition at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, a 2004 Top Ten Finalist at the Tucson Folk Festival's National Songwriting Contest, and a 2000 Winner as Songwriter's Favorite at the Phoenix Acoustic Music Awards. Performing and songwriting since 1994, Jennifer released her first full-length recording, Ahead of the Game, in 2002.

Jennifer moved to Arizona in the record heat of summer 1994 as a new songwriter with just 3 tunes to her name. She began writing like mad and after performing for about a year at open mics and on friend's breaks, she landed her first night all her own at the Historic Willow House in downtown Phoenix April of 1995. The spring of 1996 she recorded her first cassette at Fiddler's Dream Folk Club "Jennifer Spector Live" (now out of print) She took these with her on the streets of 13 European Countries that summer and busked her way solo across the continent -- Dublin to Warsaw, Athens to Seville. She sold all that she could hold stuffed in with her clothes in her backpack and found her voice and her true calling.

1997-2001 She formed and fronted two bands that hit the local Phoenix scene with an eclectic fresh mix of Rock, Jazz, and Folk. The Bloomsbury Group (1997-1999) and Treehouse (1999-2001). This is where she met her partner David Tieman. After the bands desolved, Jennifer gave full attention back to her acoustic routes and her original love ---contemporary folk music.

After playing every venue in the Phoenix Valley and other out-of-town Arizona venues, 2002 saw the release of Jennifer's first full-length recording Ahead of the Game. She produced it herself with David's help, who also played bass and lead guitar on the CD.

Summer of 2003, Jennifer embarked on her first big tour to Chicago and back as well as a Texas tour earlier that spring. She continued to play regional venues after returning but stayed relatively close to home until she was honored with her first major accolade as TELLURIDE TROUBADOUR NATIONAL FINALIST in June of 2004 at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. It was just the month before where she earned another National Finalist title at the Tucson Folk Festival there in her home state of Arizona.

Jennifer recently has had the honor of being asked to share the stage with respected national artists David Wilcox and Loudon Wainwright III (Acoustic Music Arizona, 2004-2005 season). She recently performed with folk great Christine Lavin in Las Vegas (Sept 25th, '04 Acoustic Routes Series) Jennifer now is in the process of recording her second CD, tentatively titled Greasy Spoon. She will embark on a national radio and print publicity campaign this time around and is currently seeking a professional booking agent to help her manage her future heavy touring schedule.

We were thrilled to have Jennifer Spector open for Banshee In The Kitchen and her performance was so captivating that we are looking forward to having her back here for a longer set sometime soon. Be sure to visit Jennifer's website at www.jenniferspector.com.