Funky soul rock poured over rice and beans.

14 MP3 Songs in this album (55:45) !
Related styles: URBAN/R&B: Soul, LATIN: Latin Jazz

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Details:
A smoke ring from a Cuban cigar wafts through a city kitchen as a soul singer croons on crackly vinyl; freshly diced onions sizzle as they hit the olive oil in Sundayâs morningâs panâ¦.â With a pungent mix of soul, Latin, Funk, reggae, and good olârock ân roll, Jen Kearney and the Lost Onion will take you into the kitchen to find that sweetness in the soul food you crave.

ââ¦Whatever you want to call it, Kearney and the Lost Onion provide a dense musical potpourri that is ever surprisingâ¦The Stevie Wonder comparisons that follow Kearney around are evident on tunes like âPick Yourself Up,â while a more jazz/funk tune like âAmityâ suggests Aretha Franklin joining Blood, Sweat, and Tears for a gig in Brazil.â (Jay Miller, Patriot-Ledger, 2/07)

Perhaps Kearney owes it all to her Uncle Sal, who taught her to play piano by ear at the ripe old age of four (if you ask Uncle Sal, heâll swear it was even earlier). Coming from a musical family, Jen was immersed from the start. However, her attempt at the classic âlady down the streetâ piano lessons ended after three weeks of young Jenâs efforts to try to develop the ladyâs appreciation for Fats Dominoâs catalog that Jen had learned by earâ¦

Later, even though she still couldnât read music, Jen was accepted into UMASS Lowellâs highly regarded Music Performance program. She considers this experience âdivine interventionâ in terms of the musical connections sheâs made with the incredible people she plays with to this day.

After many underground âhootenanniesâ and open mics, she also taught herself to play guitar, expanding her songwriting to both instruments. Taking the skills learned in college while staying true to her primal instincts, Jen has been honing her own singing, songwriting, and performance style in bands like Cabbage Stew, Kearney Square, and her current Lost Onion configuration.

Kearney was still a teenager when she left Umass and started recording, and her first appearance was on the now-legendary Poorhouse Records compilation, working with Merrimack Valley luminaries like The Shods, Melvern Taylor, and D-Tension. Since that lofty inauguration, Kearney has recorded three albums, and her most recent, âEatâ has garnered kudos from Cambridge to Colorado, the US to Japan.

The album, âThe Year of the Ox", represents a different approach for Kearney. A rarity for so long, itâs an actual concept album. Taking a darker direction lyrically and musically, the concept is loosely based on The Ten Ox herding Pictures of ancient Buddhism. Jen found these after pondering over a zodiac placemat at a Chinese restaurant, and was taken by the simplicity of the herder taming the ox that represents the mind.

Working again with Pete MacLean, Carl Johnson, Brian Coakley, Yahuba Garcia, Mark Mullins, Dan Abreu, and many special guests, recorded ably by Bob Nash of Wonka Sound, âThe Year of the Ox â is sure to be a thought-provoking meditation on our universal state of mind.